Truth Number One. If everyone is patting you on the back – you’ve missed the opportunity. You have to be early. It was in the depths of the technology downturn of 2001, that Lukies realised that the building for this new mobile money ecosystem would have to be done, and that it would be a lonely road where many would underestimate his staying power.
Truth Number Two. “You can’t build an ecosystem without humility,” Lukies says. I see this again and again as large companies believe that they control the pace at which change is going to affect them. Lukies knew that if his vision for the mobile money ecosystem would work, it would have to work for everyone - the banks, the operators, the merchants, the consumers. It was a gruelling process of building bottom up a global infrastructure and industry. When he signed one of the early first banks, he texted me this message: “178 meetings, 65 trips to Edinburgh, 34 nights away from my wife.” That is what it takes to adopt a new customer if you are an entrepreneur.
Truth Number Three. Hire extremely good people. Monitise’s senior management team is a Rolls-Royce team pulled from the banking and telecoms industries.
While the financial services industry has been shaken over the last years, the UK has given birth to a new industry, mobile banking, and one of its own firms, Monitise, has led the way.
The UK was uniquely positioned to own this industry, because of our historical footprint and our leadership in trade, financial services, and international relations.
Alastair Lukies is a unique business person who had the vision and the internal stamina as a former athlete to drive hard through the obstacles. Will we be able to spot the next Alastair Lukies when he or she arrives on the scene? Surely our economic growth in 2010 and beyond depend on it.
Julie Meyer is the Founder of Entrepreneur Country, the CEO of Ariadne Capital, the Managing Partner of the ACE Fund, and a Dragon on the BBC's Online Dragon's Den. She has been an advisor to Monitise since 2004.
