In Nigeria, tech has become the way many young people respond to the challenges around them. It’s not simply an attempt to force innovation or amass wealth; it’s a natural response from a generation that has had to find creative solutions to everyday problems. We see this in finance—how do we get paid, how do we save, what happens to our money in the long term? We see it in healthcare too—what happens when you get into a life-threatening accident? Who gets life-saving blood to the hospital on time?

With a median age of just 18.3 years, according to available data, Nigeria is one of the youngest countries in the world. In many ways, Lagos has become a city powered by that youthful energy and innovation.

Among the many entrepreneurs shaping the country’s future, here are some Nigerian tech founders you should know.

Olugbenga “GB” Agboola (Flutterwave)

Image Credit: Flutterwave

Many conversations about the Nigerian tech ecosystem begin with Olugbenga “GB” Agboola—and with good reason. In 2016, alongside Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and a team of co-founders, Agboola launched Flutterwave, a fintech company built to simplify payments and connect African businesses to the global economy. Less than a decade later, Flutterwave has grown into one of Africa’s biggest technology success stories, becoming a unicorn and serving businesses across multiple markets. Its rise stands as a testament to the vision Agboola set in motion in 2016.

Odunayo Eweniyi (PiggyVest)

Image Credit: Maglazana

Odunayo Eweniyi has one of the best founding stories in Nigerian tech. She and her co-founders came across a tweet from a woman who said she saved her money in a traditional kolo—the piggy bank generations of Nigerians grew up using. The tweet sparked an idea: if young Nigerians were becoming increasingly digital, shouldn’t saving evolve too?

That simple question led to the creation of PiggyBank, now known as PiggyVest. Nearly a decade later, the company has become one of Nigeria’s most popular savings and investment platforms, helping millions of people build healthier financial habits.

Temie Giwa-Tubosun (LifeBank)

It’s not just finance where Nigerian founders are changing lives.

Temie Giwa-Tubosun, the founder and CEO of LifeBank, has spent the last decade tackling one of Africa’s most overlooked healthcare challenges: getting essential medical supplies—including blood, oxygen and critical equipment—to hospitals quickly and efficiently. Founded in 2016 after her own experience with pregnancy complications, LifeBank combines technology, logistics and data to connect hospitals with life-saving resources across Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (Andela and FlutterWave)

Image Credit: @iaboyeji

With Andela, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji set out to create opportunities by nurturing talent. As the co-founder of Andela,  Aboyeji helped build one of Africa’s most influential technology companies around a simple but powerful belief: brilliance is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.

Founded in Lagos in 2014 alongside Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and a team of co-founders, Andela began by identifying exceptional software engineers across Africa, training them to global standards and connecting them with some of the world’s biggest technology companies. In doing so, the company helped reshape global perceptions of African tech talent. Two years, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji would go on to work with Olugbenga “GB” Agboola to co-found Flutterwave, firmly making his mark as one of the most impactful tech founders out of Nigeria and Africa.

Shola Akinlade (Paystack)

When news broke in 2020 that Paystack had been acquired by U.S. payments company Stripe in a deal reportedly worth more than $200 million, it felt like a landmark moment. It was a huge win for Nigeria’s technology ecosystem, but perhaps even more importantly, it showed a generation of young Nigerians what was possible.

The acquisition came just five years after Paystack became the first Nigerian startup accepted into Y Combinator. Under the leadership of co-founders Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, the company built the payment infrastructure that made online commerce significantly easier for businesses across Africa, cementing Paystack’s place as one of the continent’s defining technology companies. Today, Shola is reshaping the football world with his company, Sporting Lagos.

To take part in Lagos’ bustling tech community with events like Moonshoot by Tech Cabal and Africa Prosperity Summit, get a ticket to Diaspora Week Lagos