Afripreneur
Trueflutter – Matchmaking App for singles of African descent: Interview with Trueflutter’s Co-Founder, Dare Olatoye
Trueflutter’s Co-Founder, Dare Olatoye
Trueflutter is a matchmaking app built for single Africans on the continent and in diaspora, in search of committed, fulfilling relationships. An online community of Single Africans in search of something real, make genuine and authentic connections. The App takes you beyond surface appearances with the use of audio bios to hear what a person sounds like and what’s important to them even before you connect. In this interview, Alaba Ayinuola speaks with Trueflutter’s Co-Founder, Dare Olatoye on his experience growing a Matchmaking brand, successes and challenges in Africa. Excerpt.
Alaba: Could you briefly tell me about yourself, business and the gap it’s filling?
Dare: My name is Dare Olatoye, I’m the co-founder of Trueflutter which is a matchmaking app for Africans on the continent and in diaspora
Alaba: What’s the inspiration for the business idea, and your vision for Trueflutter?
Dare: My sister got married for the first time when she was 47 years old. She met a great guy and they have a beautiful family. The interesting thing is that the person she married lived just 15 minutes away from her and had also been searching for a partner for many years.
Thinking about that, I realized this was a problem that technology could solve, which is why my brother and I set out to build Trueflutter.
Our vision is to provide a platform where single Africans can easily connect with highly compatible partners.
Alaba: What makes your brand USP stand out and how has the market responded to your products?
Dare: The major challenge people have with online dating is that most of the profiles have sparse or superficial information. Our platform helps you get a much deeper insight into a potential match with the use of Audio Bios and responses to carefully thought out prompts.
Alaba: How long has Trueflutter been in business?
Dare: We launched the MVP in September 2018 and had over 15,000 users sign up. That helped us gain valuable user insight which we built into the current version that was launched in January 2021.
Alaba: What are the key initiatives for the success of the business and great accomplishments?
Dare: To us success simply boils down to assembling a great team at Trueflutter and building a great community around the product. This means the most important thing we can do is listen to our users and ensure our product continues to evolve based on their feedback.
Alaba: Kindly share your most difficult moment in business and what did you learn?
Dare: Our founding team has always been very goal driven and when we set targets, we drive ourselves incredibly hard to achieve them. We had set a goal to launch the new platform on January 8th 2021 and had all our promotional partners ready to go.
However we experienced a serious setback in timelines with our development and ideally should have postponed the launch date, but we literally worked 18 hour days to still meet the timeline.
Unfortunately we launched prematurely, with quite a number of bugs on the platform. We have since resolved these but that premature launch meant we lost many of the early adopters of the platform. The major lesson is that it’s okay to release a product that is not yet perfect, with the caveat that users know it is still on beta (just like what Clubhouse did). Public launch dates should only be set when the platform has been stress tested by thousands of users and you know the user experience will be flawless.
Alaba: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected Trueflutter’s growth and/or the user experience?
Dare: I think online dating is one of those few industries that thrived because of the pandemic. We saw an 820% spike in activity on our platform and a 270% increase in organic downloads. Our voice and video call features are also now used by more people with duration of calls at an all time high.
Alaba: What’s your favourite feature of the App so far?
Dare: Hands down it’s the Audio Bio feature, which also lets you reply with a voice note to users you like. People don’t actually realize how much your voice says about you, and when they listen to someone’s audio bio, it helps them easily decide whether or not they want to connect.
Alaba: Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?
Dare: As the primary platform where single Africans on the continent and in diaspora meet.
Alaba: How do you feel as an African entrepreneur?
Dare: I am incredibly proud to see what my peers on the continent are doing. Despite the challenges of funding and infrastructure, we are beating the odds to build incredible products that are solving real problems. And the rest of the world is sitting up to take notice.
Alaba: Finally, what advice would you give entrepreneurs and investors in your industry?
Dare: To entrepreneurs, I would say every challenge is teaching you something. Every investor that walks away from your pitch meeting without investing, does so for a reason and if you find out why, it will make you better prepared for the next pitch.
Every customer that leaves a bad review is communicating a problem that thousands of other users are also experiencing, so you shouldn’t take it personal but embrace the feedback with gratitude.
For investors looking at the online dating space, few people realize how profitable it could be until they start diving into the numbers. But they also need to realize that it’s a long game, and like most consumer tech products, needs to be approached from the perspective of a long term investment. Trueflutter has been very fortunate to attract these kinds of investors.
As part of Veuve Clicquot’s ongoing commitment to supporting and celebrating women in business, the Maison has created the Bold International Barometer in 2019 to shed light on and provide meaningful insights into the evolution of female entrepreneurship. Now in its 3rd year, the Barometer continues to lead the conversation around women and their presence in business, offering a deep dive into the data on female entrepreneurship in South Africa.
In 2023, over 49,000 women and men from 25 countries were surveyed. Encouragingly, South Africa’s data results speak to a robust female-led industry. The survey, which was self-administered online, asked respondents to give their views on several statements relating to the nuances of being a business owner and entrepreneur. Taking a global look first, the survey suggests that the rate of female entrepreneurship has slowed and is even diminishing in some countries. In some cases, this is due to both external—such as ongoing geopolitical crises—and internal factors, like striking a fair work-life balance.
This, however, is not the case in South Africa, where the data suggests a dynamic environment for women, fueled by a contagious desire among them to become entrepreneurs. Amanda Dambuza, Founder and CEO of Uyandiswa and the 2017 winner of the International Businesswoman Award by Veuve Clicquot says, “I am forever impressed by the spirit of South African female entrepreneurs. Despite the many challenges they face, they get up and back themselves to ‘bring home the bacon’. Next to Nigeria, we stand shoulders above the rest with high numbers of females identifying as entrepreneurs.”
In short, female entrepreneurship in South Africa is flourishing. South Africa stood out as one of the global leaders in female entrepreneurship where, currently, 61% of women self-identify as entrepreneurs (primarily aged between 20 to 29). According to the survey, they tend to be better educated and have higher incomes than their male counterparts. Yet they remain concentrated in lower-income sectors like beauty, food, retail, and fashion, while men dominate tech. However, in industries such as transportation, finance, and real estate, there is relatively equal representation, suggesting there could be potential for more women to succeed in these fields, should they want to diversify.
WHAT’S MOTIVATING WOMEN TO BECOME ENTREPRENEURS?
According to the data, 39% of female respondents said ‘that being your own boss’ was the biggest driver for becoming an entrepreneur. Despite this, most women and half of men agree that it is more difficult for women to become entrepreneurs. Further to this, most women concur that securing business funding is easier for men, a view that remains consistent with previous years.
“This finding resonates deeply with me,” says Morongwe Mokone, the 2024 Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot winner and Co-Founder of Mo’s Crib.
“It highlights the persistent gender and structural barriers that women face.” She continues by commenting on the need for strong role models among respondents, with most women and men agreeing on their importance. This emphasizes the need for female visibility and representation,” Morongwe adds. 72% of aspiring South African female entrepreneurs can name a successful woman they admire, surpassing the global average.
Refilwe Sebothoma, 2024 Bold Future Award winner and Founder of Hakem Energies adds, “It remains our responsibility to keep forging a way for those who come after us. In this way, success doesn’t become a too far-fetched idea but a reality which can be attained by fellow women entrepreneurs.”
However, as glowing as some of these statistics may be, women still face challenges that, in many cases, their male counterparts don’t experience. In addition to difficulties accessing funding, women also must navigate balancing work and family, with 63% of women and 56% of men agreeing this is harder for female entrepreneurs. Further to that, since the conversation about working women can’t happen without mentioning their families, half of the female respondents believe that female entrepreneurship disrupts family life, compared to only 25% who feel the same about male entrepreneurship.
“Women must know without a shadow of a doubt that despite cultural and family pressures, they deserve to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship,” says Amanda.
Further to this, two-thirds of women say that managing entrepreneurship with family life is harder for women, and about half say that working full-time affects family life. This indicates that while entrepreneurship is thriving amongst women in South Africa, there is still much work to be done to support women getting into business, as well as helping them stay there. “It is encouraging to see the growth and resilience of women in this field despite economic challenges,” says Morongwe. “However, it is essential to focus on breaking down the barriers that limit women’s participation in higher-revenue sectors and ensure equal access to funding opportunities. By addressing these issues and promoting diverse role models, we can further empower women and drive sustainable economic growth.”
“Authenticity, resilience, and just being ourselves is very important. As women, we need to keep making a difference, no matter how insignificant we think it is because when that impact is replicated, women will change the world,” concludes Refilwe.
Balladjigui FOFANA, a young Franco-Malian entrepreneur based in France. Passionate about law for several years, he is a lawyer and founder of MYJOBHELP.FR, a platform specializing in international recruitment, international mobility and the completion of administrative formalities for the employment of foreign employees.
Balladjigui has always believed that talent has no borders, and that it should be within everyone’s reach, no matter where they are in the world. In terms of training, he holds a Master 2 in Corporate Law and another in Management and Human Resources Management. He has had several experiences including at the Mutualité Française, then at Couleurs de Tollens and TGS France.
Driven by an entrepreneurial soul and a desire to impact his community, he decided to launch his own company: “MyJobHelp” in October 2022. Convinced that he had found his way, he decided 2 years later (in July 2024) to focus 100% on his career as an entrepreneur.
MyJobHelp makes it possible to secure the recruitment of foreign workers to offer French and international companies access to competent profiles from all walks of life. Work permits, changes of status, visas, residence permits, recruitment, expatriation… MyJobHelp takes care of everything! From now on, don’t worry about paperwork. By trusting MyJobHelp, you are choosing to work in complete serenity and security.
Brown T is a family business launched by two women, sisters, Soraya and Melissa Saidi, and afro-feminists. Born and raised in France in an environment where black/mixed-race women were underrepresented. Having both had the same educational background, they progressed in the world of nursing in order to help and safeguard the health of their neighbors.
However, Soraya and Melissa have always known that they had a mission within their community. To participate in its elevation, particularly with the emancipation of women in all its forms. Their background has allowed them to acquire skills in terms of listening and analyzing the needs of the population and they have therefore decided to use them in the world of marketing to meet the needs of Afro-descendant women.
Brown T wants to encourage the upliftment of black women from an economic, social and cultural perspective. To do this, Brown T is committed to exclusively highlighting Afro-descendant women designers. By giving them exclusive visibility, Brown T wants to be a pillar in the circular economy within the Afro community.
In addition, Brown T is socially engaged by focusing on creating a caring Afro-centered and feminine community that aims to help women on a daily basis feel better about themselves, accept themselves and embrace their differences and their history. Brown T aims to become the benchmark marketplace that offers a solution adapted to the specific needs of Afro women while favoring healthier products that are respectful of the environment and promote overall well-being and self-confidence.
Brown T marketplace offers more than just hair and body products; it provides a holistic experience that values health, natural beauty, Afro entrepreneurship, and sustainability. The brand provides opportunities for Afro women to care for themselves holistically, with a focus on their health, well-being and cultural identity.
