KEY POINTS

• Nigerian CEOs lead the continent’s tech revolution, driving digital transformation across multiple sectors.
• Visionary leaders are fueling the nation’s rise in mobile tech, e-commerce, and fintech, surpassing global averages.
• These top CEOs are shaping Nigeria’s digital future, setting standards for innovation and investment.

Over the past two decades, Nigeria has progressively evolved its tech environment and set the stage for this digital platform. 

While once Nigeria was seen as an ape of major players in the international technology market, Nigeria has become a country of growing potentiality and having marshalled out its strengths, it has claimed its own path in technology (Disrupt Africa – Nigerian Startup Ecosystem Report 2024). 

At the heart of this transition are strategic managers instrumental in the realization of the development agenda of the continent in leapfrogging the traditional development paradigms and moving to a digital economy.

As mobile technology began to develop, Nigeria quickly moved beyond average mobile phone usage and now has one of the most vibrant tech startup scenes in the world (Forbes Africa, 2024).

Nigerian tech startups are not a trend; they are a new structural phenomenon that’s rotated its way into several sectors including, but not limited to finance, engineering, telecommunications, and e-commerce (TechCabal – How Nigeria Became Africa’s Tech Hub).

These pioneers are not only innovating the new face of Nigeria online but also defining the new pace for change and opportunities on the African continent. 

On Leadership, We present the 10 CEOs who are remapping Nigeria’s technological destiny. These leaders are actively leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution through big investments, innovative waves and readiness to revolutionize every sector like financial services, telecommunications, etc for future leaders.

What they are doing is not only impacting Nigeria but the whole of Africa as well.

1. Mike Adenuga — Globacom

Nigeria’s second-richest man, Mike Adenuga, boasts a net worth of $6.8 billion, according to Forbes, making him one of Africa’s most influential tech magnates.

In 2003, Adenuga founded Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator, with over 60 million subscribers across Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin.

Globacom has made strides in technological infrastructure, including the Glo-1 submarine cable, which spans 6,100 miles connecting Africa to the UK.

Under Adenuga’s leadership, Globacom has won numerous accolades, including the 2023 Champion Newspapers Telecommunication Company of the Year award.

A philanthropist and owner of the Mike Adenuga Group, Adenuga’s investments also span oil, real estate, banking, and shipping, cementing his status as a diversified African business tycoon.

2025 Outlook: Globacom eyes expansion, 5G rollout, and digital innovation to drive growth and solidify market leadership in 2025.

2. Gbenga Agboola  — Founder of Flutterwave

The man behind Flutterwave, Gbenga Agboola, has perfectly astonishingly changed the face of Africa’s fintech industry, reshaping the face of Africa’s digital payment system. 

Founded in 2016, Flutterwave, one of Africa’s largest tech unicorns, decreases the payment barriers for businesses in Africa by easily processing cross-border transactions. 

At the helm of the firm, Agboola has secured over $475 million which afforded the firm a valuation of over $3 billion to become one of Africa’s most valuable startups.

Agboola has technical and financial experience from working at Google, PayPal, and Standard Bank of South Africa prior, and his experience propelled Flutterwave to partner with Visa and Mastercard.

For these reasons and more, Forbes and Bloomberg have acknowledged him as one of the current transformative leaders of African tech in the provision of financial inclusiveness and innovation. Apart from fintech, Agboola is a determinant of future employment and a mentor of African youth in the capacity of entrepreneurship.

He is currently doing so through Flutterwave, a company that aims to facilitate digital change across Africa’s constantly shifting economic sector.

2025 Outlook: Flutterwave targets expansion, product innovation, and increased market dominance across Africa’s fintech landscape in 2025.

3. Jeremy Johnson, CEO and Co-founder of Andela

Andela – a company founded by Jeremy Johnson- is altering the global tech landscape through the connection of the best African developers with leading companies worldwide. Johnson co-founded Andela in 2014 with the idea of selecting talent in Africa, which he believed was rapidly growing.

The company has since raised its valuation to over $1.5 billion, and placed, trained and connected thousands of engineers across Africa with companies such as Microsoft and GitHub.

Johnson directed the growth of more than 100 countries to have Andela where talented developers are hired to work with Fortune 500 companies.

Apart from business, Johnson supports workforce diversity as well as digital education in the growing markets to match Andela’s core values of empowering talent.

Johnson has already become known and was highlighted in the Forbes 30 under 30 list, as well as acknowledged by Time and Fast Company for Technologies and Education.

2025 Outlook: Andela aims to scale in terms of global tech talent, expand AI capabilities, and drive innovation across emerging markets.

4. Mark Essien, Founder & CEO of Hotels.ng

Nigerian-born entrepreneur Mark Essien has made his mark in Africa’s travel tech sector. With a background in computer engineering, Essien founded Hotels.ng in 2013, an online platform revolutionizing hotel bookings within Nigeria.

Essien’s commitment to shaping Africa’s digital travel ecosystem has also led to the creation of the HNG internships, which train and recruit top software developers from across the continent.

Recognized by Forbes as one of Africa’s most promising young entrepreneurs, Essien’s work continues to lay the foundation for a more interconnected and tech-savvy Africa.

2025 Outlook: Hotels.ng eyes regional expansion, tech upgrades, driving growth in Nigeria’s hospitality sector for 2025.

5. Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director/CEO of Interswitch

Mitchell Elegbe’s Interswitch, which started in 2002, is now a dominant player in Africa’s digital payments market. Having been involved in the central change of payments in Africa, Interswitch has now spread to other relevant African markets and fostered innovation in the credit sector. 

Interswitch under Elegbe’s management has been named among Africa’s fastest-growing technology businesses by Deloitte. An award winner with notable accomplishments in the area of technology innovation in Africa, Elegbe is a past winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year organized by Ernst and Young and the CNBC/Forbes African Business Leader award among others.

2025 Outlook: Interswitch targets growth through digital payments expansion, fintech innovation, and regional market penetration in 2025.

6. Tayo Oviosu is the Founder/CEO of Paga 

The visionary behind Paga is Tayo Oviosu who has had an immense impact and Inches in changing Nigeria’s Fintech Industry for the better by enhancing financial access across the country. Paga was launched in 2009 in Nigeria as Africa’s first mobile money operator which currently has over 20 million users and agents linked across 140,000.

Oviosu’s dream of eliminating cash has placed Paga in digital banking, processing person-to-person transactions, and charging bills, as well as providing merchant solutions.

Stanford-trained engineer, Oviosu has worked with big names such as Cisco, and he was motivated to fashion a business to address Africa’s largely cash-based society.

During his tenure as the Chief TMT, the firm has been able to source over $34 million making Paga one of the most important firms in the African digital finance industry.

Besides fintech, Oviosu has been supporting tech startups through Kairos Angels, an investment company he owns, to help propagate innovations in the continent. Esteemed for his role in the African ecosystem, he still impacts the development of the finance sector in emerging markets. 

2025 Outlook: Paga aims to expand mobile payments, enhance financial inclusion, and solidify its leadership in Africa’s digital economy.

7. Naadiya Moosajee, Co-Founder and CEO at WomEng

Naadiya Moosajee has been a pioneer in eradicating the gender divide in STEM, especially in engineering and technology.

In her capacity as the co-founder and CEO of the WomEng initiative, she has helped thousands of young women engineers in Africa. For her excellent leadership skills, Moosajee has been awarded and recognised as one of Forbes’ Top 20 Young Power Women in Africa. 

WomEng and other such programs like WomHub, have encouraged a diverse environment for engineering and tech by promoting women with high skills for engineering and technology fields. 

8. Tope Awotona, Founder and CEO of Calendly

Tope Awotona, a Nigerian businessperson, has made virtual business communications with Calendly, valued at about $3 billion as a global technology firm in the market.

Calendly is a company that was started in 2013 and now has ten million users, which include Lyft and La-Z-Boy.

When they were running several other failed businesses, Awotona’s hard work was rewarded with Calendly’s profitability in 2016. Possibly Africa’s biggest emerging tech entrepreneur, Awotona’s Square has also raised a staggering $350 million in funding.

9. Shola Akinlade, Co-founder/CEO of Paystack

Shola Akinlade is one of Africa’s foremost fintech activists having co-founded Paystack which is now one of Nigeria’s premier payment processing platforms.

Akinlade’s innovation was to simplify the payment process online for African businesses to enhance sometimes complex transactions on the website and mobile devices. 

Paystack grew very quickly and attracted global interest; Stripe acquired Paystack in 2020 for over $200 million, which was one of the biggest exits in Africa.

Akinlade has directed the growth of Paystack into every corner of the continent, helping tens of thousands of businesses process payments and drive financial access.

Besides the impacts of fintech, the founder has also supported the development of the general African tech ecosystem through funding and coaching of budding startup founders.

10. Sim Shagaya, Founder of uLesson

Sim Shagaya is a renowned personality in Africa’s tech industry, especially in the education sector, who has pioneered uLesson; an edtech company that integrates learning solutions for students in Africa.

Shagaya is an entrepreneurship guru who has all along been in business bigwigs such as Konga, an e-commerce firm in Nigeria, and other undertakings in media by E-Motion Advertising.

Launched in 2019, uLesson delivers quality and affordable education to students across West Africa providing education gaps with video lessons and quizzes interactive.

Shagaya is a Harvard Business School graduate and a leading investor in the African startup scene who is propelling change in the society and economy.

These milestones have placed him among the tech and education gurus in Africa, earning him accolades from CNN and Ventures Africa.