The KingMaker Philosophy is the notion that Kingmakers are behind the scenes, not seeking attention or recognition but working hard to empower people willing to take their destinies in their hands to become Kings.
This philosophy pretty much describes me and how I see development across the continent and has driven all that I have done so far. In Education, I am able to provide young people with the tools, resources and knowledge that empower them to make the changes required to improve their situation and influence their communities—to lead, serve, and succeed like Kings. As an Investor, I am able to provide guidance, resources and the access that our budding changemakers need to tap into the winning spirit they have, eager to be awakened by the right opportunities, to change the continent.
In a conversation with my good friend Azal yesterday, I realized that what defines me is the ability to reach a lot more people with what I have, so that they too can create a network of support and impact that will continue to grow on and on. This all makes sense now—why I have taken certain opportunities in the past and moved on from them; the ships became rudderless and got clouded in the drama of uncertain focus and lack integrity.
As I settled into early retirement in 2019, I quickly realized that all I had done previously will go a long way to pave the way, to create the dreams of what could be. However, one needs to be able to further these with more capital, access to market and a greater ability to bring many dreams to life. The dream of developing entrepreneurs, investing in communities, creating jobs and building a technology company that will start in Nigeria and scale across the continent.
As I made the decision to get back to work after consultations on what the next Adventure would be for me, a few questions lingered in my mind. These questions centered around how I will continue to do that which I loved while unlocking the new layer of doing more for people and building a great technology business.
My new adventure is…BetKing, a Sports Gaming Company that was established 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria. A company that started with a small team of less than 20 people and has now grown to be an employer of over 200 people in about 6 countries with operations across the African continent.
Joining as Managing Director, Nigeria and taking the keys to the Kingdom—as we fondly call our place of work—was a decision that came easily to me. Though a young company, I was very impressed by the contagious sense of ambition that pumps through the organization, its people, partners, and customers. The first time I met the Founder and Team, I instantly knew this was what I wanted to do next. The ambition to build this amazing technology platform company with an extensive agency footprint in Nigeria with the vision to scale across the continent bringing Entertainment to People, Developing Entrepreneurs, Investing in Communities and things that Matter, Creating Opportunities and, interestingly, driving the cash to digital change that the continent needs today.
What matters to me—Education, Health, Community and People Development will get better backing. I believe I am now in a much better place to invest in these things as we build out a great business at BetKing, developing world class technology and growing our Agent Network which is made up of tens of thousands of young entrepreneurs like myself building out their own businesses, employing young people and being beacons of development in their communities.
We have only just started on our domination of the continent and I am happy to say that the Kingdom is now in Ethiopia, Kenya and, of course, Nigeria. There are more places to go, more products to build to entertain, reward and bring people closer to the sports’ they love. As KingMakers, we will make Kings on the continental Kingdom.
As a Technology company, we will invest in developing the ecosystem, working closely with other players to build opportunities for talent development, market opportunity support across the continent and to mentor other businesses looking to grow as we have. In our 2 years, we have gained a lot of experience on how to scale Financial Technology, Engineering and Dev, Market Insights and there is lot of lessons we can share.
I have been away from the Tech Ecosystem. I am back 😊
You can follow me on this journey through my social media platforms — Twitter / Facebook. I will share my posts here on topics around Higher Education, Gaming, Technology, Human Capital Development and The Future of Africa.
Gossy Ukanwoke 