Pitching with Power, Wi-Fi, and Ancestral Approval: A Day in the Life of a Beninese Startup Founder
By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Some founders worry about market size, funding rounds, or whether their SaaS model is “scalable and future-facing.” A Beninese founder worries about three things before anything else:
✅ Electricity
✅ Wi-Fi
✅ Spiritual greenlight from unseen ancestral shareholders
If all three are aligned, innovation can begin.
6:00 AM – Morning Rituals: Checking Power, Network, and Destiny
Our hero, Lionel (CEO of KpayoPay, a digital micro-payments platform for informal market traders), wakes up to the most critical KPI of the day: Does NEPA still love him? (Yes, he knows this is Nigeria’s utility slang, but the trauma is continental.)
Power is on. First small miracle.
Next: Wi-Fi. Still connected. Good sign.
He whispers a small prayer: “May today’s code compile, and may the investor not ask for unrealistic traction numbers.”
His grandmother passes by, peeks into his room, and asks, “So this your laptop work… is it real or just typing all day?” Lionel replies gently: “It’s fintech, Mami.” She nods with a mix of pride and mild suspicion.
8:00 AM – The Team Standup: Where Hope Meets Incomplete Features
The dev team logs in on a patchy Google Meet call. One member’s mic sounds like it’s inside a deep forest. Another joins late, blaming “rain on the roof, network shaking.” No one questions it—meteorologically induced Wi-Fi weakness is an accepted law.
Updates:
- Frontend guy: “Landing page ready—except the responsiveness is still debating its identity.”
- Backend guy: “API almost done, but the database keeps rejecting our relationship model like a disappointed mother-in-law.”
- Intern: “I watched three YouTube tutorials on Flutter, and I think I’m emotionally ready to write code.”
Lionel claps virtually. “Good job, everyone—let’s believe.” Belief is their unpaid co-founder.
10:00 AM – Preparing the Pitch Deck for the European VC Who Loves the Word “Impact”
Lionel adjusts the pitch deck for the 9th time. African investors ask: “How much profit in 6 months?” European ones ask: “How do you uplift humanity through culturally inclusive frameworks while promoting ESG alignment?”
So he adds a new slide: “We empower informal traders (70% women) by providing transparent financial inclusion while promoting digital literacy and long-term resilience.”
He doesn’t fully know what that means… but experience has shown this sentence increases investor smiles by 42%.
12:00 PM – Coffee Shop Meeting: Hustler’s Coworking Space
He relocates to a café in Cotonou that unofficially doubles as a startup hub. Every table is either:
💻 Someone coding
📊 Someone pitching
📱 Someone voice-noting, “Bro we go scale big, just believe.”
He buys one coffee and stays five hours—founder economics.
At the next table, another founder whispers to a designer: “Make the app look futuristic. Investors must think we’re two months away from being a unicorn, not two hours away from asking our parents for electricity money.”
2:00 PM – Investor Call: Wi-Fi vs Fate
The VC appears on Zoom, smiling with suspicious enthusiasm.
Lionel starts strong: traction numbers, TAM, competitive moat. Suddenly—Wi-Fi trembles. The screen freezes at the worst possible frame: Lionel’s face mid-blink, looking like he’s reconsidering life.
He panics inside: “Is this a test from the ancestors or from my ISP?”
He quickly switches to his phone hotspot. He returns breathing heavily. The investor says, “Ah, passion! We love founders who show intensity.” Lionel nods with dignity, pretending it was intentional emotional storytelling.
4:00 PM – Family Review Meeting (Informal Board of Elders)
Back home, his uncle asks: “So when will this your business start building houses and buying cars?” His mother: “Have you thought about a government job? It has a pension.” His younger cousin: “Can I put ‘Chief Technology Advisor’ on my Instagram bio?”
Lionel smiles politely and replies: “We are in a pre-revenue but high-potential stage.” They nod, pretending to understand. Grandma simply prays aloud: “May this laptop work turn to money before he grows old.”
6:30 PM – Debugging with Fear, Hope, and Caffeine
A bug appears in production—right when they demo for a potential client. The payment gateway refuses to authenticate. The developer mutters, “If this keeps happening by midnight, we may need fasting and prayer.”
He fixes it before midnight. They all exhale. Live to code another day.
9:00 PM – Reflection and Reassurance
Lionel updates the team WhatsApp group: “Investor said they will get back soon.”
One dev replies: “Soon like African government project, or soon like fintech funding round?”
Lionel replies: “Soon like… we stay hopeful.”
Emoji reactions: 🙏🔥💻💪
10:30 PM – Night Manifestation Session
As he closes his laptop, he whispers into the soft Cotonou night: “Dear future Series A, I am ready. I have my pitch deck, MVP, and a clean conscience. Please align with stable Wi-Fi and ancestral approval.”
He sleeps. Tomorrow, version 2.0 of the dream restarts.
Final Thought
In Benin, startup founders are not powered by arrogance or adrenaline. They are powered by:
⚡ Electricity (when available)
📶 Stable Wi-Fi (when the gods approve)
☕ Café coffee (one cup, four hours)
🙏 Unshakeable belief (even if traction wavers)
👵 And one silent fear: “What if Grandma is right and I should have become a banker?”
But still… they wake up. They pitch again. They code again. They debug like warriors.
Because here, ambition is not chaotic—it is patient, spiritual, and quietly unstoppable.
Coming Up Next: When Market Women Start Using Mobile Wallets Better Than Bankers: Inside Benin’s Fintech Shift
Author: John S. Morlu II, CPA is the CEO and Chief Strategist of JS Morlu, leads a globally recognized public accounting and management consultancy firm. Under his visionary leadership, JS Morlu has become a pioneer in developing cutting-edge technologies across B2B, B2C, P2P, and B2G verticals. The firm’s groundbreaking innovations include AI-powered reconciliation software (ReckSoft.com), Uber for handymen (Fixaars.com) and advanced cloud accounting solutions (FinovatePro.com), setting new industry standards for efficiency, accuracy, and technological excellence.