What happens when someone comes to your city, your market, your street and sees what you stopped seeing?
In today's episode, Adrian tells the story of Deepankar Rustagi, an entrepreneur from India who crossed oceans to find a gap in West Africa's economy and turned $50,000 into $120 million.
Deepankar came to Lagos, Nigeria to research business opportunities. He searched "Lagos Nigeria" on Google. It kept redirecting him to "Lagos, Portugal". Most people would have shrugged. He saw millions of small businesses; provision shops, kiosk owners, open market traders who are completely invisible to the digital world. And he built Omnibiz Africa to fix that.
We break down:
-How the informal trade economy really works in West Africa — and why it's the backbone of commerce, not a footnote
-The "Lagos Portugal" moment that sparked a $120M company
- How Deepankar spent years inside FMCG and logistics before building anything
- Why Omnibiz calls itself a data company, not a logistics company and why that distinction is everything
- The jaw-dropping numbers: 71,818% revenue growth from 2020–2023, $280K to $120M, net profitable by 2024
- Why Ghana is inside this network
-What this means for Accra's business owners and entrepreneurs
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Connect with Us
Website: https://thesoundofaccra.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesoundofaccrapodcast
Social Media: https://linktr.ee/thesoundofaccrapod
📧 Contact
Email: info[at]thesoundofaccra.com
🔗 Connect with Adrian
👥 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielsadrian/
Timestamps
0:00 A man from India turns a Google glitch into $120M
0:37 About Sound of Accra Podcast
0:42 The invisible backbone of West African trade
1:18 Thriving in the physical world, invisible to the digital one
1:41 Deepankar's $120M lightbulb
2:34 What the Google redirect really means
3:48 Who is Deepankar Rustagi?
4:35 The Toleram Group & Indomie connection
5:00 We Connect
5:22 Launching Omnibiz in 2019
5:46 West Africa's informal trade economy explained
6:29 The broken supply chain
7:15 What Omnibiz actually built
7:54 Operating in Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast
8:04 The Uber/Airbnb model for African trade
9:00 The funding journey
9:52 The number you need to read twice
10:13 $280K to $120M
10:59 Ghana is in this network right now
11:29 The real lesson
12:01 The blind spot question
12:48 The informal economy is ours
13:08 Outro
🎙 About the Podcast
The Sound of Accra Podcast was established six years ago by Adrian Daniels in January 2020, on the back of running networking events in Accra and launching a failed online platform for Ghanaian tourists, visitors and business people. The show spotlights Ghanaian Entrepreneurs, Founders and Creatives worldwide with the aim of leaving listeners with meaningful takeaways to apply to life, business and career. The mission is to showcase Global Ghanaian Excellence.
#Omnibiz #WestAfricaBusiness #AfricanStartups #GhanaEntrepreneurs #InformalEconomy #SoundOfAccra #AfricanTech #DeepankarRustagi #GhanaInvestment #BuildingForAfrica