The Nigerian Tech ecosystem has grown remarkably in recent years with the country positioning itself as a major source of Tech startups export with several companies attaining global prominence.
Those behind these companies did not appear from nowhere as they have always been in and around the Tech space, but where were they before their companies rose to prominence?
Olugbenga “GB” Agboola — Flutterwave and Andela
Long before Flutterwave and Andela, Olugbenga Agboola was an engineer at PayPal, Standard Bank, GTBank, and worked on Google Wallet integrations. He studied Legal Studies at Waterloo.
He founded Flutterwave in 2016, with Iyin Aboyeji and before then co-founded Andela, a marketplace for hiring talented engineers in 2014. with a valuation of $3+ billion and $1.5B+ respectively, both companies have since attained unicorn status.
Flutterwave powers payments for Uber, Netflix, Microsoft and is Africa’s most valuable startup while Iyinoluwa Aboyeji has since gone on to start Future Africa, a Venture Capitalist firm.
Mitchell Elegbe — Interswitch
A former engineer at Schlumberger and Telnet, Mitchell Elegbe was a visionary who saw the gap in Nigeria’s payments rails and as a result founded Interswitch in 2002 to sort challenges in Nigeria’s payments infrastructure.
The company is currently valued at $1B+ of the back of an investment by Visa in 2019, he built Quickteller, Verve cards, and Nigeria’s first major payment switch.
Tosin Eniolorunda — Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt)
He was a software engineer and product manager at Interswitch before starting TeamApt in 2015 before its rebrand to Moniepoint in 2023.
With a valuation of $1B+, the company is an SME and Agency banking unicorn that serves 2M+ businesses globally and is ranked 2nd fastest-growing African company by Financial Times (2023).
Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi — Paystack
Shola Akinlade was a software engineer who previously built Precurio (open-source intranet software used in 20+ countries). He Co-founded Paystack in 2015 as one of Nigeria’s foremost payments and fintech brand.
Ezra Olubi on the other hand was a developer and systems engineer who helped scale Paystack to power 60k+ businesses in Nigeria and Ghana.
The company’s $200M acquisition by Stripe in 2020 made it the first Nigerian startup acquired by a Silicon Valley giant.
Sim Shagaya — Konga & uLesson
An Harvard and London School of Economics alumnus; Sim Shagaya worked at Google Nigeria and launched E-Motion outdoor advertising before tech.
He Founded Konga in 2012 and uLesson, an Edtech firm in 2019
Tayo Oviosu — Paga
The former Visa executive with an MBA from Stanford; worked in private equity before launching Paga, a mobile money platform in 2009 with 20M+ users currently and a large agent network.
The company has been at the forefront of Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive with 140M+ processed transactions.
Odunayo Eweniyi — PiggyVest
A lot of people have warmed up to Piggyvest founded by this Computer Engineering graduate from Covenant University who co-founded PushCV before founding PiggyVest in 2016 with Somto Ifezue & Joshua Chibueze.
She is one of Nigeria’s most prominent women in tech as Piggyvest with 4M+ users and billions saved continues to drive digital savings culture in the country.
Bode Pedro — Casava
Son of Lagos State’s former deputy governor; serial entrepreneur; Bode pedro founded Veda Technology (Nigeria’s first computer manufacturer) and launched Casava in 2021 with a $4M pre-seed funding, a record figure in African insurtech.
It is Africa’s first fully digital insurance company, providing microinsurance to 66k+ users.
Chijioke & Ngozi Dozie — Carbon (Paylater)
Sons of Diamond Bank founder Pascal Dozie; with MBAs from Harvard (Ngozi) and Wharton (Chijioke), they founded Paylater later rebranded Carbon a digital lending platform.
They raised $15M+ seed funding at inception and were early movers in digital credit; now diversified into payments, wallets, and banking.
Etop Ikpe — Cars45 & Autochek
This former CEO of DealDey and executive at Konga built Cars45 (exit), and is now scaling Autochek founded in 2020 with a funding of $20M+.
This Automotive Tech company is Africa’s top digital automotive marketplace.
Femi Kuti — Reliance Health
This Doctor turned entrepreneur turned his passion for healthcare access into a Healthtech company called Reliance Health in 2015
It raised $40M+ (Series B, 2022) in its bid to create affordable healthcare and telemedicine for Nigerians and beyond.
Adia Sowho — Migo / MTN Fintech
The former electrical engineer at the Illinois Institute of Technology with an MBA from Kellogg; she previously served as Etisalat’s Nigeria Director of Digital Business.
She is a key operator at Migo, an AI-powered lending platform as well as the Chief Marketing Officer at MTN Nigeria scaling digital lending and telecom-led fintech inclusion.
She retains her pride of place as one of Nigeria’s top female leaders driving fintech and telco innovation.
Onyeka Akumah — Farmcrowdy & Treepz
A Marketing exec at Wakanow, Guaranty Trust Bank, and Jumia turned entrepreneur, he founded Farmcrowdy Agritech in 2026 and Treepz, a mobility firm in 2019.
With a $3M+ funding for Farmcrowdy and $5M+ for Treepz, he has been able to pioneer agritech crowdfunding; and expand transport services across Africa respectively.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the players constantly shaking up Nigeria’s growing Tech space which continues to grow and attain global acclaim.
