Ben Lyon is the CoFounder and CEO of Hover Developer Services, the parent company of Stax. Stax is a company which has as its core the mandate to provide a simple & secure way to transfer money, buy airtime, & pay bills in Africa without dialling USSD codes or relying on an internet connection. In this episode of Founders Connect, I ask Ben questions about his background, growing up in the South of the United States of America, moving to Africa and acquiring a global perspective of life, all of which influenced his decision to create a startup that aims at Financial Inclusivity. It is a great discussion, you'll love it. Download Stax here: https://stax.me/ Watch the Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Wxv-1EN_g Video timestamps - Background 0:51 - Favourite City in Southern USA? 4:11 - Favourite Memory growing up? 4:39 - How did you meet your Cofounders at Kopo Kopo and move to Kenya? 5:37 - What skills/ roles did you focus on at Kopo Kopo? 7:29 - Favourite part of Kopo Kopo? 8:09 - How did Kopo Kopo deal with Safaricom's monopoly in Kenya? 13:12 - How did you know the right time to leave Kopo Kopo and start Hover? 18:26 - Anything you learned from that experience that you won't do again? 24:08 - How did you meet the coFounder for Hover? 25:33 - Why did the company start as a B2B not B2C? 28:57 - What is the vision of Stax? 31:25 - What's the view thinking that drives Stax's offline vision? 33:13 - Financial Inclusion Philosophy at Hover 36:36 - What has been the sign that the pivot from Hover to Stax was the right decision? 38:57 - How is Stax building and incorporating safety and security for users? 41:11 - How do you conceptualize Stax? 45:35 - What countries are Stax in? 48:10 - Challenges faced building Stax? 51:00 - How has building in Africa and African Fintech changed you as a person? 53:17 - Do you think Hover is a great place to work? 55:08 - Is there anything you would have wanted me to ask you? (Advice) 57:13

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#FoundersConnect: Ben Lyon, CEO and CoFounder of Stax, an Offline Payment App for Africans

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