What does it actually take to construct a startup in Africa—from the primary concept to the thousandth day? In Day 1–1000, we comply with founders by way of the uncooked, unfiltered journey of company-building: the early scrambles, the quiet breakthroughs, the painful pivots, and the milestones that form what a enterprise turns into. On this inaugural version, we sit with Tunde Akin-Moses, co-founder of Sycamore, to unpack how a easy lending concept grew into one in every of Nigeria’s quietly resilient fintech tales.
Day 1: A mortgage, a listing and a leap
Tunde Akin-Moses didn’t got down to change into a fintech founder. However ever since his days working in credit score at a consulting agency, he had seen a persistent hole in Nigeria’s lending system—one which appeared to punish the individuals who wanted credit score most.
Earlier than Sycamore, he was comfortably employed at a significant consulting agency and moonlighting as a small laundry enterprise proprietor. However the Nigerian credit score system handled these two roles very in another way.
“As a nine-to-five worker, banks lined as much as give me loans. However once I wanted a mortgage for my facet hustle, even with related income, it was not possible,” he recalled. The disparity nagged at him, nevertheless it was not sufficient to stop his job. That push got here later, at Lagos Enterprise College, the place he was enrolled in an MBA program that might alter the trajectory of his life.
Throughout a case examine on African fintechs serving SMEs, Akin-Moses found a stat that shocked him: SMEs accounted for simply 1% of all financial institution credit score in Nigeria.
Alongside along with his classmates—Mayowa Adeosun and Onyinye Okonji—who would later change into his co-founders, Akin-Moses started testing concepts for an answer.
Akin-Moses and his cofounders first explored about three concepts. First, they thought to provide out instructional loans to MBA college students, however the capital required for such giant ticket sizes was prohibitive. “It didn’t make sense to fund two college students once we might assist twenty small companies as an alternative,” he stated.
The group pivoted early.
Impressed by Lending Membership and Prosper within the U.S., they stumbled upon peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and realized its promise: a tech-enabled platform the place people might pool their cash to lend on to others—sometimes small companies or customers—with out counting on banks or conventional monetary establishments. The mannequin was radical however lean. It sidestepped the necessity for a banking license, required minimal capital, and thrived on the ability of distributed belief and digital effectivity.
In order that they launched Sycamore from Akin-Moses’ lounge.
Akin-Moses and his co-founders used their mixed financial savings and raised round $50,000 from associates, household, and LBS classmates to begin issuing microloans to SMEs. Whereas the corporate couldn’t afford engineers initially to construct its personal customized software, it modified a third-party platform and started lending in 2019.
Sycamore disbursed its first mortgage—about ₦1.5 million, or ~$4100—in 2019.
The corporate would get its first 100 prospects from its Lagos Enterprise College Community. “We had loads of goodwill once we began. You realize individuals have been at all times utilizing us as a degree of reference. And being from LBS additionally actually helped,” Akintunde recounted.
Sycamore’s main validation got here in 2020. A lender who had been watching the corporate quietly approached to speculate ₦100 million ($260,000 on the time)—ten instances the scale any earlier investor had dedicated to the corporate. “That was once we knew the dimensions of the enterprise had modified,” Akin-Moses stated.
Day 100: The Chaos comes residence
By the third month, the euphoria of launching gave technique to the grind of operations.
“Chaos is inevitable,” he stated. “We had customers now—actual debtors, actual lenders—and we needed to help them.”
Buyer complaints began flooding in. The trio of founders wore each hat: tech help, collections, finance, and advertising and marketing. “We had all of the departments on paper—HR, finance, operations—however they have been simply break up among the many three of us.”
Their “workplace” was nonetheless Akin-Moses’ parlor, which made hiring an uphill battle. “Individuals would come for interviews, see our setup, and ghost us,” he laughed. Even convincing an HMO rep to finalize a well being plan was awkward. “He sat in our lounge and regarded visibly uncomfortable.”
Nonetheless, they powered by way of. One early rent—a NYSC corps member—turned worker primary and stays with the corporate right this moment.
Akin-Moses tried convincing early joiners to be part of the corporate by leveraging the person and collective reputations of the co-founders, who had prior expertise at main international organizations akin to Accenture, PwC, Shell, and the Central Financial institution of Nigeria.
“We advised ourselves, Let’s simply get to 1 12 months. Some individuals stated they’d solely take us critically after that. So we locked in on that milestone.”
Day 1000: Firestorms, development spurts, and institutional validation
A few of Sycamore’s most pivotal moments got here between its second and third 12 months.
By 12 months two, the corporate had change into worthwhile. “Some VCs questioned it. One requested why we didn’t burn money on advertising and marketing as an alternative. However we began with the mindset of being money movement constructive from day one.”
After working from his sitting room for one 12 months, Sycamore moved into an workplace house in Ikeja. Sycamore now had extra construction and had began rising a small group. By 12 months three a few of these abilities have been already getting poached by different corporations, one thing Akin-Moses stated was fairly robust to take care of.
In its third 12 months, the corporate turned the primary digital lender to be accepted by the Federal Competitors and Shopper Safety Fee (FCCPC).
Sycamore was additionally transitioning from its third-party software program and had begun constructing its personal core banking software program by its third 12 months. “Constructing our personal core banking system was one of many hardest issues we’ve needed to do as a enterprise.”
The fintech needed to develop the core banking software program with a lean group of simply three builders and one product supervisor. By the point the corporate accomplished its tech stack, it had already acquired a big consumer base, which meant dealing with an information migration problem together with the everyday points that accompany core banking migrations.
Sycamore managed the core banking change effectively. Then got here a disaster.
In 2023, the Federal Competitors and Shopper Safety Fee (FCCPC) revealed a discover warning the general public to avoid the digital lender, mistakenly figuring out them as an unlawful lender resulting from a predatory mortgage app utilizing “Sycamore” in its title.
“We woke as much as see our title in ten newspapers. It was terrifying,” stated Akin-Moses.
The corporate leveraged each connection that they had—alumni networks, advisors, and associates in Abuja—to place out the hearth. “Individuals wrote LinkedIn posts defending us. One even contacted the Tech Affiliation of Nigeria on our behalf.”
Ultimately, Sycamore cleared its title, however not with out bruises. “The company by no means publicly admitted their error. Even when somebody revealed a correction, they acquired indignant.”
Nonetheless, Sycamore emerged stronger. That very same 12 months, Sycamore secured a BBB ranking from DataPro (making the startup on par with some business banks).
Current day
Regardless of early skepticism, Sycamore has grown right into a mid-sized group of over 60. Akin-Moses says his management type leans on respect, servant management, and main by instance.
“I don’t ask for effort I received’t put in myself. I consider in excellence by way of effort,” he stated. When prime expertise started leaving for greater alternatives, it stung. “Some roles have been onerous to fill. But it surely additionally examined our resilience and confirmed how we’d impacted individuals’s careers.”
Sycamore is now not only a peer-to-peer lending platform. Over time, it developed into an even bigger fintech firm with extra choices. In March 2025, the corporate secured a fund supervisor license from the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) to function as a fund and portfolio supervisor. The startup can be piloting operations in Europe, with new licenses and bulletins on the best way.
When requested what it takes to maintain a startup alive for this lengthy, Akin-Moses mentions three issues: “Set the course. Don’t run out of cash. Construct an ideal group.”
“Should you’re going to begin one thing, discover a area of interest you’ll be able to dominate. Mix your inner strengths with exterior alternatives.”
Would he do all of it once more? “Sure. However I’d spend extra time understanding the startup ecosystem upfront. We have been determining fundraising and VC relations on the go.”
Whereas Sycamore has constructed a lean and worthwhile group, it has largely stayed away from the general public’s eye. Akin-Moses says the startup is now warming as much as visibility. Within the final 12 months, Sycamore claims it has expanded its PR efforts and headlined some tech occasions. “We needed to construct substance first. Lots of people have been making noise with out having something strong,” he stated.
And now, over 1,000 days in, Sycamore is lastly able to make some noise.
