Paystack From a Small Development Place to a Unicorn

• Nigeria
• Information Systems Management

Case Study Summary

This teaching note focuses on the business model of Paystack - an online payments platform in Africa, with locational footprints in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa - as it scales within the digital ecosystem in the region. Leveraging a rapid scaling strategy, students are expected to analyse the critical business areas for the platform to prioritise, considering the domestic and international resource contexts, and the necessary trade-offs Paystack will have to make to enable this rapid growth. The case elucidated the transitional journey of co-founders - Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, from Klein Devort (a software development company) to Paystack (a fintech startup venture). It showed how a small financial service provider became one of Africa's largest Fintech companies. Paystack leveraged cutting edge technology to provide accessible finance to the underserved Nigerians - individuals, and SMEs. Of particular interest was how the company's business model evolved alongside the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem. The case shall also highlight the challenges Paystack has dealt with in its evolution given the intensity of competition in the ecosystem as well as its plans and potentials for expansion outside of Nigeria.

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Case Study