Abasi Ene-Obong

Abasi Ene-Obong

Abasi Ene-Obong is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of 54gene, a health technology company committed to advancing the state of healthcare through large scale discovery and translational research, advanced molecular diagnostics, and clinical programs for the benefit of Africans and the global population. The ever-progressive Abasi Ene-Obong is our MCM for today.

Abasi Ene-Obong holds a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of London, a Masters’ degree in human molecular genetics from Imperial College, London, and a Masters’ degree in Business Management from Claremont Colleges, California. 

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Prior to 54gene, Abasi Ene-Obong worked with leading healthcare organizations, including Fortune 100 pharmaceutical companies, academic and research institutions, and governments as a management consultant with PwC and IQVIA (formerly Quintiles IMS). He has also worked as a cancer researcher and published a seminal paper on pancreatic cancer immunology, Gastroenterology Journal.

With extensive experience operating in the US, UK, and Nigerian healthcare industries, It is Abasi Ene-Obong’s belief that African genetic data may hold the key to unlock the untold medical discoveries as African populations are proven to harbor the greatest genetic diversity in the world. In line with this, he founded 54gene; an African genomics company established to significantly improve the inclusion of African populations in global genomics research by building the world’s largest Pan-African bio-bank.

Founded in 2019, 54gene has made the Time Magazine list of 12 innovations that would change healthcare in the 2020s and has been listed by Nigeria’s Punch newspaper as 1 of 5 innovations that would improve healthcare for Africans. 54gene also made the Fast Company list of the world’s ‘Most Innovative Companies’ in 2020. It was also awarded the best health technology solution by AppsAfrica.

As a value-driven entrepreneur, Abasi Ene-Obong was listed as 1 of 30 most innovative entrepreneurs on the African continent in 2019 by Quartz Africa. In September 2020, Abasi Ene-Obong was labeled a Nigerian hero in the fight against COVID-19, by the Nigerian newspaper, ThisDay, and also included in Fortune’s 40 under 40 most influential people in healthcare for the year 2020.

Moving forward, Abasi Ene-Obong hopes to add 40,000 DNA samples as he builds a Pan-African genetic database, with the vision for more African countries to be included and a goal of 200,000 samples by the end of 2020.

As a visionary, Abasi Ene-Obong is a force to reckon with.