Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, has urged Nigerian entrepreneurs to combine ambition with disciplined execution, encouraging them to start with practical solutions to real problems, build with scale in mind and use knowledge gained through experience to create sustainable businesses.
Elegbe made the call while delivering a keynote presentation at the 2026 edition of The Platform Nigeria, hosted by The Covenant Nation at The Covenant Place, Iganmu, Lagos. Held under the theme, “Dream BIG. EXECUTE with knowledge.” the event brought together business leaders, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to explore practical approaches to building businesses, driving innovation and creating sustainable growth.
Reflecting on what it takes to build and scale businesses in Nigeria, Elegbe encouraged entrepreneurs to focus on identifying opportunities, solving relevant problems and developing the knowledge and capabilities required to build for the long term. He urged them to look beyond the size of an initial idea and concentrate on the execution, learning and capabilities that can create a foundation for sustainable growth.
“Execution is more important than the size of the dream. But once you get it right, it’s called knowledge. It’s called experience. With experience, you can then scale.” said Elegbe.
Drawing from his entrepreneurial journey, Elegbe explained that Interswitch’s growth began with a clear focus on solving a specific need within Nigeria’s payments ecosystem. As the company developed its solution, gained market experience and built the capabilities to serve customers at scale, it identified opportunities to extend its impact into other markets and across the broader payments and digital commerce ecosystem.
He said the experience reinforced the importance of starting with a problem that can be clearly understood and solved, while making deliberate decisions from the outset that can support future growth.
“When problems are local, solutions must be local. You have to understand the environment in which you are operating and design solutions that respond to the realities of your customers. At Interswitch, we started with focusing on a problem we could see and understand in Nigeria, and as we developed the solution and built the capabilities around it, we began to see opportunities to take what we had learned into other markets,” he continued.
Elegbe encouraged entrepreneurs to think about scale from the outset, even when starting with a small operation. He noted that considerations around people, partnerships, technology, systems and business architecture can help position businesses to respond effectively as new opportunities emerge.
He further distinguished between growth and scaling, noting that increasing revenue or customer numbers alone does not necessarily mean a business has achieved sustainable scale. According to him, entrepreneurs must pay close attention to unit economics and ensure that their business models can support profitable and sustainable expansion.
“When you are starting small, start thinking about how to scale. The decisions you take at the early stages will affect your ability to scale, because you are laying the rails for the people, the systems, the architecture and the partnerships that will support the business later,” Elegbe said.
Reflecting on Interswitch’s evolution since its establishment in 2002, Elegbe noted that the company’s journey has been shaped by its ability to understand customer needs, respond to opportunities and continuously develop its capabilities. He highlighted the company’s evolution from addressing specific needs in electronic payments to building a broader payments and digital commerce business serving markets across Africa.
He also encouraged entrepreneurs to approach local markets with an understanding that solutions and business models developed elsewhere may require adaptation to succeed in different environments. Referencing the African context, he described this as the need to “tropicalise” knowledge, strategies and business models rather than simply replicate approaches developed for other markets. “Silicon Valley is not the Tropical Savannah,” Elegbe said, emphasising the importance of combining global knowledge with an understanding of local markets, customer behaviours and opportunities.
Elegbe identified food and agriculture, energy and clean cooking, water and sanitation, healthcare, housing and construction as areas where entrepreneurs can develop solutions to meet evolving needs across Nigeria and Africa. He encouraged young entrepreneurs to consider the opportunities that could emerge over the next 25 years as Nigeria’s population and economy evolve, and to begin developing the skills, businesses and solutions that can serve those future needs.
“The opportunities are huge. The challenges are real, but do not allow the challenges to make you not think about the opportunities. The opportunity is to take what we have, understand our environment, build the right solutions and create businesses that can grow sustainably,” he said.
Elegbe’s presentation reinforced the central message of The Platform Nigeria 2026: that ambitious ideas must be matched by knowledge, execution and the discipline to turn practical solutions into sustainable enterprises.
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