One of the reasons for this increased acceptance is the effort and achievements of certain distinguished, young Nigerians, who have excelled in their fields and are keen on carrying others along while building brands, companies, and digital products.
In recent years, the Nigerian tech space has experienced a huge growth in its ecosystem. Tech adoption has increased and more young Nigerians are creating a career for themselves in the tech space.
This post puts the spotlight on ten such fellows who are committed to making their mark in the tech ecosystem, and empowering others to make theirs.
Evans Akanno
Evans Akanno is a product manager and UI/UX designer with over eight years’ experience in building products, ranging from websites and brands, to other digital products for established companies and startups.
Starting off humbly by creating graphic designs as a freelancer in 2010, the graduate of Industrial Chemistry from the Imo State University landed his first stable job as a brand strategist with Jumia in 2012, before moving on to Konga in 2013.
He left paid employment in 2015 to set up Cregital, which he bootstrapped from $1,600 to over $700,000 in revenue. He later co-founded Disha in 2019, a platform for young professionals to showcase their work without coding knowledge, and is a strong believer in the future being a no-code society.
Evans is the recipient of multiple awards, most notably the Forbes 30 Under 30 award in 2019, and is currently working on building Vzy, an app that would allow you build websites on your mobile device without any coding or design skill.
Blessing Abeng
Born in the beautiful city of Jos, Nigeria, the story of Blessing Abeng, is nothing short of inspiring.
Her present career path began to take shape from her secondary school days, where she refused to be limited to the expected conformations of a science student, and pursued certain interests in the arts, while winning science and Maths competitions also.
She eventually gained admission to study Biochemistry in Covenant University, and it was here she began to venture into business, as a member of the school’s Business Writing Club. It was through business writing that she realised that she was developing an interest in business, first through writing business pitches, then through Branding & Communications.
Blessing Abeng has never looked back since she decided to formally pursue a career in Branding & Communications, and has worked with a wide number of companies of continental and global relevance. She was most notably the Chief Marketing Officer of Disha, which experienced an increase in revenue by 5,900% in her time there, alongside 20 times increase in user growth from 1,000 to 20,000. She resigned from Disha in 2021.
She is a co-founder of Ingressive for Good, an organisation which happens to be an edtech nonprofit organisation which uses technology to increase the earning power of African youth.
In this period, Ingressive for Good has grown to a community of over 200,000 people, almost have of which have been trained in an area of digital skill or the other, and a large number have also been placed in jobs after the trainings
She is also a speaker, mentor, and facilitator for other trainings in tech and the promoter of unique ideas for tech in Africa and women empowerment.
Blessing has spoken at international tech events across the world and has partnered with firms such as Facebook, Figma, Courser, and Alphabet, among others. Through these platforms, she has facilitated the awarding of scholarships worth over N32 million, also providing training materials and job opportunities for beneficiaries.
She is a recipient of multiple awards recognising her contributions towards Africa’s growth in tech and society.
Bolanle Banwo Osadolo
Bolanle Banwo is a Brand Identity designer/design advocate from Lagos, Nigeria. She helps brands tell compelling stories through creative designs.
She is largely focused on helping small and medium businesses create strong identities via good communication designs, something she has excelled at for over seven years. Bolanle also has a vision to train and empower 50,000 women in tech over 10 years, and has trained over 3,000 for free so far, through The Fe Iy male Designer Movement, an initiative she launched with a mission to train and equip women with design skill-set and increase female participation in the Nigerian tech space.
The Mass Communication graduate of Lagos State University is the founder of Geneza Brands and The Female Design Movement. She is also an instructor and teacher at the Geneza School of Design.
In the course of her career, she has worked with Afrinolly and Anakel Limited in design related capacities, including content strategy, comic illustrations, and proper brand communication and visibility.
She is also a prolific speaker and mentor who has featured on BBC Pidgin, the JAN/Microsoft DigiGirlz Camp, and she was listed on Wema Bank’s Alat.ng’s Women in Tech (Tech-Chicks). She has also appeared on other national magazines, newspapers, and television stations within the country, as she talks about her career and her future goals.
Kunle Yoloye
Kunle is a brand designer who seeks to provide design solutions to Nigerian business. The renowned designer initially spent a year as HOD, Valuation with Supo Ojo and co Estate Surveyors, having studied Real Estate at Covenant University, before he moved into tech in 2011.
His passion for branding came from a desire to ensure that startups do not enter or remain in the market with a mediocre or inferior appearance to their target audience and competitors. Because of this, he has helped a growing number of clients increase the value of their products by as high as 57% through rebranding.
Also an author, Kunle is committed to impacting the growing design community in Nigeria and his contribution constantly leads him to share his experience at several design groups, conferences, mentorship programs and publications including Behance Reviews, the Punch Newspaper, Daily Trust Newspaper among others.
He is currently the Lead Partner at Yox Novero, a design, communication and branding agency located in Abuja, Nigeria.
Adora Nwodo
Software engineer, author, and speaker, Adora Nwodo is one who is carving out a solid identity in the Nigerian tech space.
The unstack Africa co-founder was born into a family that was previously all male children, and at an early age, having her older brothers enrol in a computer school left her with no choice but to also apply herself to learning, and it built and drove her passion for computers.
She studied Computer Science at the University of Lagos, bagging a first-class degree, and landed a job with Microsoft as a software engineer less than two months after the send of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) service year, and she has been there ever since.
Adora is passionate about increased female participation in coding and programming, and is passionate about closing the existing gap in the tech space, especially in Africa. She chases this through Nexascale, and AdoraHack, two communities she founded.
She is also set to complete a business training at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. When she isn’t working, Adora prefers to hang out and disc jockey.
Chukwuka Madumere
Chukwuka is an influential and experienced designer recognised for his thought-provoking and disruptive designs. His expertise and innovative approach have significantly impacted the creative industry, bringing beauty, functionality, and marketability to the world’s communication systems.
He is a co-founder of Mogedy Technologies, a leading tech company in Nigeria, and Phantfashion, an innovative venture, Chukwuka has demonstrated his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to pushing technological boundaries. He has also contributed to developing Boldscholar, the first African indigenous journal platform, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
He is a speaker and an active design advocate, in addition to being one of the driving forces behind MannerHelp, a Canadian-based charity organisation expanding its services to Nigeria, Chukwuka has been involved in impactful initiatives such as the Girls in Tech project. He has personally trained over 100 Nigerians in UI/UX and Graphics, collaborating with organisations like Ifiok Beyond Design.
Chukwuka holds a Master’s degree in Information Technology with distinction, specialising in user experience research from the University of West Scotland, and an MBA from KROK University.
Princely Imonlemen
Princely’s passion for design and dedication to pushing the boundaries of creativity have made him a renowned thought leader in the industry. With over 9+ years of experience in the creative, digital, and tech sectors, he has gained a global reputation for his innovative approach to design. He has positioned himself as a leader and influencer throughout his career, constantly staying ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies.
Princely plays a pivotal role in designing experiences for numerous marketing campaigns at Andela. These campaigns attract thousands of technologists into Andela’s talent pool and contribute to the success of global initiatives such as The Coalition for Gender Fair Procurement, the Google African Developers Scholarship, the Rwandan Apprenticeship Leadership campaign, and many others.
In 2021, Princely co-founded The Nine Studios (https://thenynstudios.com), a groundbreaking design company quickly making its mark in the industry. The company offers a comprehensive range of services, from creative branding and UI/UX design to product development. Notable clients that have benefited from Princely’s creative touch include Konga, CleanAce, Zinox, Storm, Kobo 360, and BigiBet.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Princely is deeply committed to mentoring and empowering aspiring designers and professionals. Through his mentorship sessions on ADPlist, he has dedicated over 3,000 minutes and counting to providing guidance and support to fellow creatives. Recognizing the importance of nurturing young talent, he is currently co-building the Nine Academy and Community, an initiative under The Nine Studios that trains aspiring designers.
Godwin Akpan
Godwin Akpan is a dedicated, result-driven disruptive brand consultant with over 15 years of experience in building brands that connect businesses to customers. He has successfully accomplished a proven record of creating, executing, and managing the brands of high-profile businesses within Nigeria and abroad.
In his early years, Godwin was the Creative Officer for the former Starcomms Plc., one of Nigeria’s largest CDMA Telecommunication Operators. Today, Godwin is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer at mascot arthouse, which tops the Nigerian creative design industry with its bespoke brand design, strategy, marketing, and brand consulting techniques.
Godwin’s great ambition and focus on disruptive branding attained him a spot on Harvard Business School’s Disruptive Strategy Programme, where he had the opportunity to sharpen his knowledge and skills in developing innovative investments through branding that empowers businesses and lives. Godwin also trained in Creative Design and Digital Communication at Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos. He is currently undergoing an MBA in Media Leadership at the University of Cumbria, United Kingdom.
He recently launched a free online mentoring platform for young creative minds called Ifiok Beyond Design- (Wisdom Beyond Design). The platform is targeted at mentoring and connecting great minds, hence empowering them to do great exploits in their various fields of interest. The promise from Godwin Akpan is that every brand that encounters his presence should never remain the same. He brings a touch of finesse, keen attention to detail, rare and excellent craftsmanship – this has distinguished Mascot Arthouse as a leading brand consulting and marketing communication firm.
Adewale Yusuf
Adewale Yusuf is one name that easily comes to the memory as far as young people transforming the Nigerian tech space is concerned, especially in the area of programming.
A proven genius at building start-ups, having founded three himself, he is a tech champion driven by a desire to grow and promote programming talents outside of Lagos, as he believes the high concentration of tech talents in Lagos is unhealthy for general growth.
The graduate of Political Science from University of Ibadan, is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of startups like AltSchool Africa, a platform that trains people on technical skills and TalentQL, a platform building a world-class engineering team.
Through TalentQL, Adewale has been able to connect developers from Nigeria to the UK, US, Dubai and other parts of the world. TalentQL has also assisted many African companies to recruit the best available talents in the field of programming.
Adewale has further spread his start-up ability by building other tech startups in Nigeria, as he founded and led Techpoint Africa, a leading technology media platform. Techpoint Africa is instrumental in showcasing the impact of technology on the Nigerian narrative.
Adewale is also the Chief host of Techpoint Inspired, and Techpoint Build, Nigeria’s largest tech conference and Nigeria’s largest Startup Conference & Exhibition respectively.
Khalid Ismail
Fewer better things have come out of the North than Khalid Ismail, as far as software engineering is concerned.
With Over 7years as an experienced software engineer, Khalid has worked with small businesses and larger tech companies helping them build products that impact their customers, before starting Byte Khalid Launched a software coming Xnapsoft.
Byte is a suite of business tools accelerating growth and revolutionising business operations for business owners in Africa. From instant business accounts, inventory management, credit infrastructure, seamless invoicing and more, Byte is improving the ease for business owners to grow and scale faster.
Through his leadership, Byte has secured significant investments from both foreign and local investors and the team is focused on bringing a more scalable and acceptable solution to businesses.
