A testament to intentional excellence, where success is not a coincidence but a series of consistent choices. As the saying goes, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. For Babajide ‘Jide’ Thorpe, success has never been accidental. It has been the result of deliberate, consistent effort and a clear vision for impact. He is the rising product manager that has changed the fortune of QuickBucks. He reflects on his extraordinary journey so far in this interview.
Is it true that your background was in medical science?
That is partially correct. I studied Biochemistry up to Masters Level before I discovered that I was not interested in pursuing a career in the field. It first started when I was in secondary school, due to my love for Biology and Chemistry and I did extremely well in these two subjects. So when it was time to choose what to study in the University. I just joined Biology and Chemistry together and went for Biochemistry. At the time I did not know that Biochemistry was far different from what I thought. I struggled initially but I got a grip with it eventually and I was able to graduate with a second-class upper honour. After graduating, I was still not sure of what I wanted to do so I was convinced to give a master’s degree in Biochemistry a chance. But the Master’s degree was the straw that broke the Camel’s back. It was then, I realized I was not interested in a profession in this field. I completed the degree nevertheless but it was goodbye to it.
What happened thereafter, how did you get into Tech?
As I was on the Master’s programme I was already interested in the happenings in finance and economy. After I was done with the Master’s degree and I had decided I was not interested in pursuing anything in that field I saw an advert for an Entry level programme at Access Bank Plc. I applied for it and went through the recruitment stages. I eventually made it to the training school, which was essentially a mini MBA where I was grounded in economics and accounting concepts. After the training I resumed as a Relationship Officer in the Bank. This was around the time Access Bank rolled out QuickBucks. As a Relationship Officer I was at the forefront of interacting with customers and had to sell the product to them. I received a lot of enquiries about the digital product, and I noticed that most of them were interested in it, but they were ineligible, and for the ones eligible the process of accessing it took a little longer than expected. These customers wanted something fast to meet their immediate need. So, when an internal opening came up for a role at QuickBucks I immediately applied, and I was picked. I underwent some trainings and I was made a Product Manager. That was how I transitioned to Tech.
You have been credited as the brain behind the initiative that changed the fortune and laid the foundation for the success QuickBucks enjoys today.
I will put this down to my experience as a Relationship Officer which was a customer facing role. It exposed me to the issues the product had and the expectation of customers. After joining QuickBucks, I discussed these with some colleagues and my manager. I then came up with a proposal for a new process flow for the product that will address most of the short comings and address customers’ pain points. My solution was for the product to move to a pre-approval model, whereby people are pre-profiled based on the data we gather about them from partner institutions, instead of waiting for them to come to us to kick start the process. This way we already knew those that qualified for it and reached out to them before they even thought about coming to us. In essence we get data about their earnings, turnover, debt profile and so on, from the Bank and other institutions and determine if they meet the loan criteria and arrive at a figure they are eligible for. Then we reach out to them and tell them about this. It was a 50% reduction in processing time. I shared my insights with others, and I was encouraged to put it forward for approval with justifications. This is one of the things I liked about the environment at the time, everyone was encouraged to come up with innovative solutions. The proposal was approved and it took few months to implement. As soon as it was rolled out, the acceptance was huge and the results were extraordinary. I had estimated that it would result in about 500 million Naira in revenue for the first year but to our surprise it generated this in the first month alone and it was clear that this was a real game changer as it delivered incredible numbers. It ended up doing about ten times that amount in six months, which is about 5 billion Naira to be more specific.
What was the most challenging part of the process?
It certainly was establishing partnership and integrating with other institutions. Because this involved the exchange of data, other institutions were a little bit skeptical, but my experience as a relationship manager came to play here and I was able to convince those involved to see it as a win-win. Which proved to be true, as it did not only favour QuickBucks but Flutterwave, Remita and the rest have doubled their revenue by at least 2x since then.
It was certainly a big feat, were you rewarded for this?
Yes, I was recognized by my manager but seeing something I worked on become successful was rewarding enough for me. I also had personal correspondence with the senior management. There are a couple of other things that I cannot go into details here. It was a great time, I will say.
Will you say 2021 has been career defining for you?
In my professional Career in general, I will say 2021 has certainly been the hallmark for me. It is a good feeling to be noticed and talked about for doing something you love. I was just doing what I do best and I never thought a day will come that I will be recognized by various platforms including this, Techsoma.
What next should we expect from you?
Now I am concentrating on the big things happening at QuickBucks. Hopefully the day will come when it makes IPO. Also, I would like to do more in terms of community service, mentoring and knowledge sharing. I believe a lot can be done in financial and digital literacy.
