I watched an Iyinoluwa Aboyeji interview sometime ago & he explained something very profound. He was asked about Flutterwave's relationship with commercial banks & if they were disrupting payments for small businesses. He said; "At Flutterwave, we don't like the word 'disrupt,' infact, we forbid it. You would have to put money in the swear box for saying it. We believe instead in shared prosperity..."
What is Shared Prosperity?
It simply means doing everything for the benefit of all involved- including those that were there before you, those there right now with you & those to come after you.
In Flutterwave's case, commerical Banks were the incumbents, the whales that owned the space before. Instead of trying to bypass them, Flutterwave built their infrastructure relying on the data & network effect that commercial banks already had. This way, it was easier for them to scale & comfortable for the commercial banks because they didn't feel threatened.
According to Iyinoluwa, Shared Prosperity is also why Flutterwave doesn't charge users a direct fee for using their service, instead it charges them a % of their sales. That way, business owners only pay when they make a sale & Flutterwave has to ensure they built the right tools & resources for business owners to succeed on their platform if they themselves want to succeed. They are a $3B+ company today so I guess it worked out fine.
I think this frame of mind is extremely powerful & I want you analyze every part of your business & ask how you can create shared prosperity for everyone involved.
To help you get started, these are some questions you may ask.
1. How can you ensure that everyone involved wins?
2. How can we bring in & help more people?
3. What represents the most value for every single person? What represents success for each person?
4. How can we build for that value?
This week, I urge to think through this piece & start to implement. In the spirit of shared prosperity, share this newsletter with someone. Talk to you soon.