#MentalNote · #productideas · Big Ideas

Decoding the Chaos: Welcome to Wahala Economics

During my time navigating the vibrant streets of Lagos, I often found myself observing patterns that defied conventional economic wisdom. What initially appeared as disorganization or inefficiency hinted at something more complex, a hidden logic beneath the surface-level ‘wahala.’ It was there, amidst the bustling markets and intricate social dynamics, that the idea of ‘wahala economics’ began to take shape for me – a lens through which to understand the underlying, often unconventional, economic forces at play in such environments. It’s about recognizing that what looks like chaos might actually be a rational, if not always optimal, response to a unique set of constraints and incentives.

Consider the real estate market in Lagos. An outsider might observe seemingly high property prices, perhaps juxtaposed with visible signs of economic hardship. Scratch a little deeper, and you might hear about the lucrative returns some are making through platforms like Airbnb. This visible success, even if enjoyed by a relatively small fraction of property owners, can act as a powerful signal. The perceived profitability of short-term rentals creates an impression of high returns across the board. Consequently, buyers and investors, perhaps lacking granular data on actual Airbnb occupancy rates and profitability across different properties, may bid up prices, not just for Airbnb-suitable apartments, but for real estate more broadly. What appears ‘irrational’ – higher prices even for properties less suited to short-term rentals – becomes a rational response to the distorted incentives created by the highly visible, though potentially unrepresentative, success of some Airbnb ventures.

This phenomenon in the Lagos real estate market isn’t an isolated quirk. Across ‘wahala economies,’ you often find that the incentives themselves are skewed in ways that would seem counterintuitive in more conventional settings. What might appear as irrational behavior – individuals making choices that don’t maximize standard economic utility – often becomes rational when you understand the distorted incentive landscape they navigate. For instance, in environments where trust in formal institutions is low or where scarcity is pervasive, seemingly ‘inefficient’ behaviors like hoarding resources or prioritizing immediate gains over long-term investments can become logical responses to the prevailing conditions. The actors aren’t necessarily irrational; their rationality is simply calibrated to a different, often more challenging, set of incentives.

Beyond the immediate distortions of information asymmetry and skewed incentives, another layer of understanding in ‘wahala economics’ comes from the perspective of ‘infinite games.’ Unlike finite games with clearly defined players, rules, and an end goal, infinite games are about continuing to play. In environments marked by uncertainty and ongoing challenges, actions that appear ‘inefficient’ in the short term might be strategic moves within a much longer, undefined game. Consider a seemingly convoluted or time-consuming negotiation process. From a purely transactional viewpoint, it might look like a waste of resources. However, within the context of an ‘infinite game’ – where building relationships and establishing trust for future interactions is paramount – that extra time and effort might be a crucial investment.

Ultimately, ‘wahala economics’ invites us to look beyond the simplistic metrics of efficiency and immediate transactional gains. The seemingly chaotic dance of these economies often reveals a deeper, adaptive logic rooted in navigating information gaps, responding to skewed incentives, and playing the long game in environments where trust might be localized rather than widespread. The ‘inefficiencies’ we observe on the surface can be understood as the emergent strategies of actors responding rationally (within their context) to the particular ‘wahala’ they face.

What examples of ‘wahala economics’ have you observed in your own experiences or travels? Share your insights!


#productideas · Self-Revelation · Technology

Culture is the New Interface: What the Village People Firewall Taught Me About the Future of Tech

When we released the Village People Firewall for April Fools’ this year, it was a joke—sort of. Yes, it spoofed the hyper-complex jargon of cybersecurity and metaphysical tech. But underneath the satire was a real critique: most technological revolutions are framed through a Western, highly academic lens. And that’s a problem.

In the era of quantum computing, climate dashboards, and AI models with billions of parameters, a lot of people—most people—are left out of the conversation. Not because they lack intelligence or interest, but because the language, metaphors, and cultural assumptions behind these technologies don’t speak to their lived realities.

Whose Revolution Is It, Anyway?

We talk about carbon footprints, but what does that mean to a farmer in Kano who just wants to increase his yam yield by 30% before the rains stop? We rave about quantum entanglement, but what does that mean to a nine-year-old girl in Dakar who’s more interested in charging her tablet off a solar grid so she can watch cartoons—or maybe, teach herself to code?

The problem isn’t just access. It’s interpretation.

The Western Bias of Tech Discourse

Much of modern technology is developed and discussed within paradigms shaped by Euro-American academia, media, and venture capital. The metaphors we use—“clouds,” “nodes,” “quantum leaps”—are often opaque to anyone who hasn’t been steeped in those specific cultural and educational systems.

And yet, culture is interface. Without the right cultural lens, even the most powerful tools can feel irrelevant or suspicious. That’s what Village People Firewall poked fun at: how absurd it is to think you can roll out innovation without embedding it in cultural logic people understand.

When Quantum Meets Juju

Take the mock research paper we released—The Quantum Spiritual Interface. It was dense with metaphysical jargon and spiritual pseudoscience wrapped in quantum computing lingo. But it hit a nerve because it mirrored how tech often gets presented to the rest of the world: powerful, inaccessible, and totally disconnected from local wisdom.

And yet, what if there’s a real insight here? What if your grandmother’s stories, or your neighborhood herbalist’s rituals, or your community’s shared rhythms, were seen not as folklore but as operating systems? Systems for meaning, safety, identity, and—even—optimization?

Designing with Culture at the Core

Instead of asking, “How do we get more Africans into tech?” we might ask, “What does technology look like when it emerges from African ways of knowing?” What if rural farmers drove climate tech strategy, because they already understand seasonal cycles better than most PhDs? What if the interface for AI wasn’t chat boxes but talking drums, market banter, or shared communal rituals?

Designing from this perspective isn’t just inclusive—it’s more effective. Culture isn’t a distraction from innovation. It’s the operating system beneath it.

Reframing the Frontier

So yes, the Village People Firewall was a joke. But it was also a provocation. If the spiritual internet exists (and honestly, who’s to say it doesn’t?), maybe it starts in places where science hasn’t looked yet. Maybe it listens more than it logs. Maybe it understands that firewalls aren’t just code—they’re prayers, taboos, social contracts.

As we build the future, let’s not just ask what’s possible. Let’s ask possible for whom? Because until we design with cultural context in mind, the biggest breakthroughs may still feel like someone else’s revolution.

#productideas · business · product · startups · Technology

Disrupting VC

2 years ago, when tiphub was started, our core team had a couple of initial assumptions that came to be true.

  1. Bootstrapping is important, however majority of disruptive technologies need early capital.
  2. Venture capital is broken. With failure rates that would not be accepted in any other industry, most vc’s continue business as usual. The best ones have found ways to de-risk their investments by leveraging marketing strategies but its not a sustainable model for all vcs in a given ecosystem.
  3. The decision making process for investment selections was purposefully arbitrary. It allows gate keepers to claim a higher power than a regular person at picking companies that have the best chance of success.
  4. Lack of diversity in decision making leads to unequal representation and missed opportunities.

Now, to throw a wrench in it all, bring in the African perspective. Not enough vc activity, not enough opportunities to invest in, not enough capital, etc etc.

The major issue with the private market is that its supposed or destined to be the engine of growth for developed and developing countries alike. However, we don’t have the correct scale-able processes, or institutions in place to really push the needle of investment at scale. The two major problems are;

  1. How do you assess risk in a way that is accurate?
  2. How do you match risk, interest, and expertise to ensure optimal outcomes?

So early on in the inception of tiphub, the idea and the hope was that we would create a platform that would exactly what is missing in the vc community. A platform that could learn, overtime, the best investments for an investor based on different inputs. We called this project tracker.

2 years later, on the anniversary of tiphub, I can say we’ve gotten to the second phase of the tracker which is a platform that will bring together experts, investors, and startups to learn from interactions, and we’ll move on to phase three, where things will start to get really interesting.

Stay tuned as we build what we hope will be a game changing platform that will improve outcomes for all entrepreneurs and investors.

 

#productideas · product · Uncategorized

All Products Go To Heaven

Earlier today, Dropbox announced on their blog (here) they would retire Carousel and Mailbox, two products part of the Dropbox family. Dropbox acquired Mailbox for $100 million and made several acquisitions to improve the Carousel product.

From a user perspective, I understand the anger that comes from people who used either of the products. Mailbox, an IOS only email client, had a huge user base before the acquisition. Carousel was a great way to manage photos already stored on Dropbox and uploaded pictures from my phone gallery. The essence of Mailbox and Carousel will live on in new products Dropbox develops.

The product/ strategy guy in me knows Dropbox is shifting away from mass consumer products to more enterprise collaboration tools. Products like the newly minted Paper are the future of Dropbox’s enterprise strategy. It will allow them to compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Box and other enterprise companies.

Products phased out in large companies never really die. They often live on as core features within new projects. Product teams diffuse onto other projects and bring their experiences. Distressed users go on product hunt to find replacement products that solve their particular pain point. All products do make it to heaven. Its just a matter of how they get there.

#MentalNote · #productideas · business

Must Protect This House: Defending My Email Inbox

#MentalNote

I probably spend a lot more time than I should sorting through emails. I need to create a system that defends my personal inbox, curtails my professional email inbox, and make sure everything else in between falls into place. I’ll figure something out this weekend and share with everyone. Heck, maybe I’ll find a product idea in all of this.

Anyone with cool apps, extensions, and/or strategies to tame my inbox?