Kashifu, Agboola, others Listed among Top 10 Tech Leaders in Nigeria

Kashifu, Agboola, others Listed among Top 10 Tech Leaders in Nigeria

Serial tech entrepreneur and the Founder/CEO of Future Africa, Mr. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the CEO of Flutterwave, Mr. Olugbenga Agboola, the DG of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, and the CEO of MTN Nigeria Plc, Mr. Karl Toriola, have been named, among six others, as the “Worldex Top 10 Tech Leaders” for Nigeria in 2021.

The “Worldex Top 10 Tech Leaders” recognizes and honours the most influential men and women, in both the public and private sectors, who drive the growth of the ICT industry throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Worldex (World Digital Exhibition) is a technology trade fair that seeks to link up SSA with the rest of the global technology community. The inaugural edition of the event is expected to be held in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria, in February 2023.

These other six who were on the “Worldex Top 10 Tech Leaders” list for Nigeria for both 2020 and 2021 are the Federal Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the CEO of MainOne Cable Nigeria Limited, Ms. Funke Opeke, the Chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, the Founder/CEO of Interswitch Group, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, and the CEO of SystemSpecs Nigeria Limited, Mr. John Obaro.

The “Worldex Top 10 Tech Leaders” list was first published in June/July 2020, featuring such leaders in eight countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi and Botswana. In 2021, the list of countries will be expanded to 12, comprising leaders drawn from both public and private sectors.

The list is compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit (BIC) of Alford Conferences Limited, the owner and producer of the annual Worlex. Contributions to the list were made by a few selected ICT journalists and tech bloggers drawn from several countries in the SSA region. SSA is the second most populated region of the world after Asia, with over 1 billion people. Majority of the youths in this region are digital natives.

Over the past six years, many of these African youngsters have earned the respect and investment of notable venture capital (VC) firms in Europe and North America. In 2018, VC companies, especially from Europe, invested $1.63 billion in start-up companies founded by these young Africans, based mainly in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The figure rose to $2.02 billion in 2019.

Ms. Linda Idakwo
Head, Social Media
Alford Conferences Limited
Abuja, FCT, Nigeria