Nigerian universities educated successful start-up founders
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day Nigeria
Several Nigerian universities, including Obafemi Awolowo, Covenant and Lagos, have educated start-up founders who are building companies and creating jobs. Obafemi Awolowo University educated Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder of Flutterwave, which has become a company valued at more than $1 billion, Business Day Nigeria reports.
Nigerian universities have educated several founders of start-ups that have grown into major companies, including Flutterwave and Moniepoint, Business Day Nigeria reports. Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ile-Ife, was attended by Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder of Flutterwave, and Tosin Eniolorunda, co-founder of Moniepoint.
Agboola studied electrical engineering before co-founding Flutterwave in Lagos in 2016 with Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Adeleke Adekoya. The company’s valuation surpassed $1 billion in March 2021 following a $170 million funding round; another deal in 2022 took it to $3 billion.
Eniolorunda studied mechanical engineering at the same university, then worked at Interswitch, where he helped develop the company’s first point-of-sale payment software. He founded TeamApt in 2015 with Felix Ike; the company later took the name Moniepoint. It passed the $1 billion valuation mark in October 2024, after raising $110 million.
Ike, Moniepoint’s co-founder and chief technology officer, graduated in computer science from the University of Lagos. Nigerian universities are also associated with the creation of Jobberman: its co-founders Opeyemi Awoyemi, Olalekan Olude and Ayodeji Adewunmi studied at Obafemi Awolowo University.
