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

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

0:51 - Background

4:11 - Favourite City in Southern USA?

4:39 - Favourite Memory growing up?

5:37 - How did you meet your Cofounders at Kopo Kopo and move to Kenya?

7:29 - What skills/ roles did you focus on at Kopo Kopo?

8:09 - Favourite part of Kopo Kopo?

13:12 - How did Kopo Kopo deal with Safaricom's monopoly in Kenya?

18:26 - How did you know the right time to leave Kopo Kopo and start Hover?

24:08 - Anything you learned from that experience that you won't do again?

25:33 - How did you meet the coFounder for Hover?

28:57 - Why did the company start as a B2B not B2C?

31:25 - What is the vision of Stax?

33:13 - What's the view thinking that drives Stax's offline vision?

36:36 - Financial Inclusion Philosophy at Hover

38:57 - What has been the sign that the pivot from Hover to Stax was the right decision?

41:11 - How is Stax building and incorporating safety and security for users?

45:35 - How do you conceptualize Stax?

48:10 - What countries are Stax in?

51:00 - Challenges faced building Stax?

53:17 - How has building in Africa and African Fintech changed you as a person?

55:08 - Do you think Hover is a great place to work?

57:13- Is there anything you would have wanted me to ask you? (Advice)