Nigeria at 61: We Will Continue to Tell Our Stories
Today, the 1st of October 2021, Nigeria celebrates sixty-one years of independence from colonial rule. At sixty-one, there is a lot to be thankful for and one is that we are happy people with a positive disposition towards life. With a population estimated at 200 million, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and the 7th most populated country in the world. The population also makes it a fertile ground for global trade. Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and the 11th largest producer and exporter of oil in the world.
Nigerians are highly creative, resilient, maintaining humour, hope and faith in all situations. They are high flyers in intellectual and educational endeavours, business, international diplomacy and military and political leadership.
RefinedNG uses this independence anniversary to celebrate twenty Nigerian entrepreneurs and how they are shaping the country through their various initiatives. Some of these entrepreneurs have leveraged the power of technology to provide innovative solutions to local and international problems in different sectors of the economy such as Information Technology, Finance, Healthcare, Entertainment, and Hospitality sectors, to name a few. More importantly, their work is providing simple solutions to everyday problems and paving the way for many young Nigerians to make a difference too.
We identify these entrepreneurs who are working to change the narrative of Africa, from accessible payment services to global film partnerships, healthcare and education technology. These bright Nigerians (in no particular order) are rising to new heights in the global scene and redefining our narratives from the inside out.
Mark Essien
Mark Essien Is the founder of Hotels.ng, an online hotel booking agency and the first of its kind in Nigeria. Since its establishment in 2013, Mark has managed the growth of hotel listings on the site from over 100 at launch to over 7000 hotels in 21 regions of Nigeria as of 2014. The company has also paved way for employment in Nigeria. In January 2020, the company employed 150 full-time staff and over 300 agents.
Tayo Oviosu
Tayo Oviosu is the Founder and Group CEO of Pagatech, Nigeria’s leading mobile payments solution company. Paga currently has over 200 employees, 27,000 agents nationwide and its platform is used by more than 17 million people. Tayo Oviosu previously served as Manager, Corporate Development as Cisco Systems in San Jose, California and was Vice President at Travant Capital Partners, Lagos.
Mitchell Elegbe
Mitchell Elegbe is the Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, an integrated payment and transaction company. Mitchell Elegbe has led Interswitch to drive revolutionary payment innovation and social impact in Africa and has delivered strong growth in revenue and profits. He has also led the company to win numerous industry awards and has earned some for himself including the CNBC/Forbes All African Business Leader (AABLA) for West Africa in 2012.
Chijioke Dozie
Chijioke Dozie is the Co-founder and CEO of Carbon, a leading financial services platform. Carbon provides simple and easy access to loans without guarantors, collaterals or long forms. The company also offers market-leading returns on savings and investments. Chijioke previously served as an investor with the International Finance Corporation and has led several companies across Africa.
Sim Shagaya
Sim Shagaya is a leading technology entrepreneur who has been named in Forbes list of 10 Most Powerful Men in Africa. He is the Founder of uLesson, a platform created to make quality education available to all learners across Africa. With the best-in-class teachers, media, and technology; uLesson creates high-quality, interactive, affordable and accessible learning experiences for users. Sim is also the Founder and former CEO of Konga.com, West Africa’s largest e-commerce website.
Kunle Afolayan
Kunle Afolayan is an actor, film producer and CEO, Golden Effects Pictures; a film and production company founded in 2005. Kunle Afolayan has made several films including The Figurine: Araromire, Phone Swap, October 1, and recently, Citation. He has represented the Nigerian film industry in several festivals and recently inked a deal with Netflix to make three feature films including a screen adaptation of Sefi Atta’s book Swallow, whose trailer was released recently.
Bolanle Austen-Peters
Bolanle Austen-Peters is a movie/theatre director and founder of Terra Kulture, the foremost Nigerian Art and Culture Centre in Lagos State. She partners with Google Arts and Culture Institute to create an online museum of TerraKulture. Bolanle’s movie and theatre company, BAP Productions has produced musicals including Saro The Musical, Moremi The Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens and most recently Death and The King’s Horseman. It has also produced films including 93 Days and Bling Lagosians.
Maya Horgan Famodu
Maya Horgan Famodu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, founder and partner at Ingressive Capital, a venture capital fund investing in Africa-based technology firms and positioning them for global capital. Maya Co-founded the High Growth Africa Summit, a two-day conference on how to launch a high growth African business and also founded Tech Meets Entertainment Summit, a deal-focused event for African celebrities and tech companies to build revenue-based partnerships. Maya has been named in 2018 Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 tech.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is the General Partner and Co-founder of Future Africa, a platform that connects investors to mission-driven startups turning Africa’s most difficult challenges into global business opportunities. Iyinoluwa has spent the past eight years building ventures in the education, technology, and financial space including Andela and Flutterwave. He has been cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African Magazine in 2019 and was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Enterprise Technology category.
Read Also: Tomi Adeyemi
Ire Aderinokun
Ire Aderinokun is Nigeria’s first female Google Developer Expert specializing in the core front-end technologies HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. She is the Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer and VP of Engineering at Buycoins, a cryptocurrency exchange for Africa. Ire has spoken at conferences worldwide and has written over one hundred technical articles on her blog – bitsofcode.
Onyeka Akumah
Onyeka Akumah is a technology entrepreneur with a focus on the agriculture, transportation and real estate sectors. He is the founder of Plentywaka, a ride-share and bus-booking platform based in Lagos; and Co-founder of Farmcrowdy, an agric platform that connects investors to farmers via a digital platform. Onyeka has been named one of Africa’s 30 Innovators by Quartz and has received an award for being one of the 100 under 40 Most Influential Young Persons in Africa.
Shola Akinlade
Shola Akinlade is the Co-founder and CEO of Paystack, a technology company helping businesses in Africa to become profitable and reliable. Paystack is Nigeria’s first startup to enter Y Combinator and it is backed by strong global partners such as Stripe. Paystack serves over 60,000 businesses, processes 15% of all online payments in Nigeria and is valued at over $200 million.
Bosun Tijani
Bosun Tijani is a Nigerian-British entrepreneur, Co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub, a Pan-African innovation enabler that works at the forefront of accelerating the application of innovation and social capital for a better society. The company stands at the forefront of the fastest moving technology industry trends and has maintained its focus on shaping the economy and the future of Africa.
Kola Oyeneyin
Kola Oyeneyin is the Founder and CEO of Venia Group, a venture creation and development company, recognized by the London Stock Exchange. Its subsidiaries, Venia Business Hub, provides services offices and co-working spaces for startups and SMEs while AutoGenius is Nigeria’s first digital insurance platform. Kola previously served as a Business Analyst at Hewlett-Packard in the UK before he joined Lekki British School as Business Manager.
Olugbenga Agboola
Olugbenga Agboola is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, a financial solution that makes it simpler to process payments across Africa. In 2020, Flutterwave expanded from specializing in digital cash to hosting digital storefronts, helping more than 20,000 businesses suddenly to set up online shops, receive payments and arrange delivery options. Before Flutterwave, Olugbenga contributed to the growth of fintech solutions at various tech companies and financial institutions such as PayPal, and Standard Bank.
Temie Giwa-Tubosun
Temie Giwa-Tubosun is the Founder of LifeBank, a business enterprise working to improve access to blood transfusions in the country. LifeBank uses data and technology to discover and deliver essential medical products to hospitals in Nigeria. In the past four years, LifeBank has distributed over 26,000 products to more than 10,000 patients in almost 700 hospitals in Nigeria. Temie’s impacts have been celebrated both locally and internationally.
Oluwatosin Olaseinde
Oluwatosin Olaseinde is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of experience spanning audit, financial accounting, corporate finance and investments. She is the Founder of Money Africa, a financial literacy platform and Ladda, a one-stop investment platform that provides access to an array of products including Savings, Mutual Funds and Stocks. Oluwatosin has worked with several multinationals including Bloomberg TV, CNBC Africa and BAT.
Dr Ola Brown
Dr Ola Brown is the founder of Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Group and Director of Greentree Investment Company. The Flying Doctors Healthcare Group invests and operates across the healthcare value chain in air ambulance services and logistics, consulting/healthcare technology, hospital/clinic construction, diagnostics and equipment, health facility management and pharmaceutical retail.
Toba Obaniyi
Toba Obaniyi is the CEO of WhoGoHost, Nigeria’s foremost web hosting provider, catering to both local and international clients. With the help of a dedicated and motivated team, WhoGoHost has made her mark, with excellent services.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Odunayo Eweniyi is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest, a fintech company; and Co-founder and Partner of FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage angel fund focused on investing in African women with bold entrepreneurial ideas. Odunayo sits on the board of Village Capital and serves as a Venture Partner at Rally Cap Ventures.
We are greatly proud of their writings in the sand of time and their constant elevation of the Nigerian story locally and globally.