Redefining Success In The “New Economy”

We are coming up on two years of life with COVID-19. People are tired of lockdowns. They’re tired of travel restrictions. They’re tired of the ever-evolving virus that causes COVID-19. That exhaustion leads to a lot of talk about a “return to normal.” Yet, no one seems more excited about a return to normal than the legacy businesses that have had to rapidly adjust to the watershed event that has been the pandemic. These monoliths have been forced out of their comfort zones and to think flexibly. Their inability to adapt at speed has been exposed. In tandem, I’ve seen more small businesses and startups come into their element than ever before – challenging the status quo and ready to take on new challenges.

I experienced this dichotomy first-hand last year, during the recent Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. (I am a member of the inaugural class of Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts). The first, and perhaps most fitting example of this, was the visible squirming of legacy financial brands looking for ways to discount the success of blockchain and cryptocurrencies during a workshop. If the technology ‘truly worked,’ someone mused, then MasterCard
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would be already using it. 

This was summarily dismissed by other attendees as being incredibly myopic, especially among myself and my fellow Bloomberg Catalysts. It’s that kind of thinking that leaves legacy companies struggling to change course, when the startups that are truly disrupting markets blaze new routes to success.

My own entrepreneurial journey was once guided by the rules created by the large corporate players. You had to conduct business from one of the major global capitals, not someplace like Lagos, Nigeria. You had little choice but to have face-to-face meetings with legacy financial institutions or investors if you wanted to be taken seriously. You wouldn’t dream of trying to raise capital with a presentation given over a Zoom call. You were only considered legitimate if you could get on a plane and speak at the major global conferences that were the domain of the corporate glitterati.

It wasn’t until the global shutdown, prompted by a deadly virus, that the rules changed for everyone. The playing field shifted from the global analog arenas to the technological sandlots. That’s where the entrepreneurs know how to thrive. I couldn’t have been more impressed by the slate of Catalysts and their work disrupting sectors & markets around the world. This was always their domain, but the situation of the last two years has only made them more determined.

Yet a question remains: In the new economy, is there a standard size, agility or even style for a successful company? At AZA Finance, we have 150 employees spread across Lagos, Nairobi, London and Madrid. We built from nothing, technology platforms that manage more than $2.5 billion in global transactions. Yet, when I would share that we have $25 million in annual revenue, sometimes the response was, “Eh.” Keep in mind: this was from more ‘legacy’ companies, not from the Catalyst community.

So, that’s not successful enough? This smacks of “old-economy” thinking. We have to look seriously at the market cycle that we’re in and at the companies that are forming or coming together. We know that people don’t just want to work at large companies anymore. New graduates want to work at smaller companies. That’s because smaller companies are more nimble. That’s important for a planet that is changing rapidly with ecological challenges, health challenges, and work-from-home challenges. Adaptability and agility are crucial but difficult for those who grew successful in the old economy.

One attendee was from DeepMind Technologies, the artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet. He talked about how they were using data to change the way vaccines and breakthroughs in health were being developed. With the data, they can model out biology and science without the need for traditional wet labs. It’s a radically different way to go about research. If you are a company that has invested billions in a research structure based on a model that needs wet labs, it is hard to unwind a change of this magnitude.

The Forum drove this home. We are already in a new economy. In this world, you can raise money from anywhere. Companies can look different and they will act differently. They will take radically different approaches and it will make it wildly harder for traditional companies to adjust. These “new economy” companies will be, just as we Catalysts were in Singapore, the people brave enough to poke the bear and challenge the status quo.