The Nigerian tech ecosystem runs on capital decisions, product bets, and public conversations. Some happen behind closed doors; others unfold where everyone can see. The 22 influential tech personalities on this list shape what gets funded, what gets built, and how the story gets told.
To put the list together, we considered influence across five categories: Capital & Kingmakers, Ecosystem Architects, Business & Media Voices, Builders & Operators, and Future Shapers. We looked at digital footprint (social engagement and media visibility), deal activity, community impact, and what we call the multiplier effect—how many people’s opportunities grow because of their work.
The selection was debated extensively by our editorial team, with active influence in 2025 carrying more weight than legacy or title.
Many exceptional figures didn’t make the final cut. But as we see it, these 22 are defining Nigerian tech right now.
Capital and Kingmakers:
1. Kola Aina
Kola Aina is one of the continent’s most consistent venture investors, blending conviction capital with policy advocacy. Through Ventures Platform, he’s backed over 90 startups—including Paystack, PiggyVest, and LemFi—helping define Nigeria’s early-stage playbook.
Aina has also pushed investors toward patience and structure, arguing for decade-long horizons over quick exits. In 2025, he remains the quiet power broker linking founders, regulators, and capital at a time when local confidence matters more than ever.
2. Confidence Staveley
Confidence Staveley sits at the intersection of cybersecurity, access, and advocacy. A member of the Forbes Technology Council, she leads CyberSafe Foundation, one of Africa’s most active organisations driving digital safety and inclusion, especially for women. Her CyberGirls programme has trained thousands across the continent, while campaigns like #NoGoFallMaga have taken online-safety awareness to mass audiences.
Staveley’s strength lies in translating complex security ideas into language people can use. She’s the author of “API Security for White Hat Hackers” and a frequent voice on cyber policy and digital rights. Her work has earned multiple global honours, including the Cybersecurity Woman of the Year (2023) and Women in Tech Africa Award (2024).
Her influence extends beyond advocacy — shaping how Africa’s digital economy understands safety, trust, and inclusion in the next growth phase.
3. Maya Horgan Famodu
Maya invests in Africa’s early-stage tech startups, with a portfolio spanning Paystack, Tizeti, 54gene, Bamboo, and Mono, nearly 40% led by women. Her firm also connects founders to international investors, accelerators, and follow-on funding.
By 2025, she’s helped 50+ clients and facilitated 35+ venture investments, shaping who gets backed and how Africa’s tech ecosystem grows.
4. Sultan Akintunde (Hacksultan)
Sultan Akintunde, better known as Hacksultan, is a software engineer and co-founder of AltSchool Africa and TalentQL. He is also the founder of DevCareers, a non-profit organisation that supports developer training through scholarships and mentorship.
With over 150,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), Hacksultan has become a respected voice in Nigeria’s tech education space. His NTBTS newsletter, one of the most-read tech newsletters in Africa, offers updates on programming, career tips, and industry trends.
5. Odunayo Eweniyi
Odunayo Eweniyi is shaping African fintech as co-founder and COO of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s top digital savings platform, turning saving into a habit for nearly seven million users and facilitating trillions of naira in payouts. She also co-founded FirstCheck Africa, backing over 15 women-led startups since 2021 to tackle funding gaps.
Recognised by Forbes, Bloomberg, and TIME, Eweniyi blends operational rigour with a focus on inclusive financial access, making her one of the continent’s most influential tech personalities today.
Ecosystem Architects
6. Dauda Sulaimon Abiola
Dauda trains African tech talent through Skill Afrika, reaching 3,000+ people with in-demand tools like Notion, GoHighLevel, and Make, and has built a 150k+ following on X. He also advises high-growth and Fortune 500 companies on ESG strategy, Net-Zero targets, and sustainable finance, helping them cut emissions, secure funding, and lead in sustainability.
His work bridges talent development and corporate impact, influencing both people and industry practices across the continent.
7. Chisom Nwokwu
Chisom Nwokwu is a Microsoft engineer, author, and mentor shaping the next wave of Nigerian tech talent. With over 140,000 followers across X, LinkedIn, and YouTube, she shares career insights, hosts free masterclasses, and coaches young people breaking into tech.
Author of A Techie’s Guide into Big Tech Companies, Chisom has spoken at more than 40 global events on AI, data engineering, and gender inclusion, building a community around learning, opportunity, and giving back.
8. Bolaji Ajibare
Omobolaji “Billions” Ajibare is one of Nigeria’s most influential voices in digital strategy and creator education. As founder of TheSocialMediaOga, she’s built a 130,000-strong cross-platform community and worked with brands like Hootsuite, SEMrush, Later, and Metricool, bridging content, storytelling, and strategy.
Through her YouTube channel, podcast, and community spaces like The Social Media Haven, she’s trained hundreds of aspiring managers, shaping how creators think about impact, storytelling, and sustainable growth online.
9. Semudara Abayomi
Semudara Abayomi is a rising product designer and tech content creator who has carved a niche through short-form, insightful commentary on X (Twitter) and TikTok. His 60-second tech explainers and design-thinking videos have become a go-to source for young professionals learning about Africa’s fast-changing tech scene.
Blending creativity and clarity, Semudara uses storytelling to simplify UI/UX concepts, fintech design processes, and product-development culture. His growing audience of 18.5k followers on X and 33.5k on TikTok values his mix of professional design expertise and approachable content style.
As part of Nigeria’s new wave of design-led creators, he represents how authenticity and simplicity can make technology more inclusive.
Business and Media Voices
10. Fisayo Fosudo
Fisayo Fosudo is one of Nigeria’s most recognisable tech voices, known for his thoughtful gadget reviews and financial explainers on YouTube. His storytelling blends creativity with data, helping audiences make informed technology and spending decisions.
With 772k subscribers on YouTube and millions of views, Fisayo’s channel has redefined content-quality standards in African tech media. His precise visuals and structured analysis have earned him awards such as Tech Influencer of the Year and recognition from YouTube’s Black Voices Fund.
Through his consistency and depth, Fisayo continues to shape how Nigerians evaluate consumer technology and digital-finance tools.
11. Benjamin Dada
Benjamin Dada is a journalist, publisher, and the founder of Condia, a fast-growing Nigerian digital media platform focused on technology, innovation, and startups.
Before founding Condia, Benjamin Dada built his reputation for data-driven storytelling through his Africa-focused tech publication, originally known as benjamindada.com. He developed a strong career in tech media and communications by contributing to several publications while managing his own platform, earning recognition for his clear reporting and focus on Africa’s digital economy. His platform now has over 31.7K followers on X (Twitter) and continues to grow its audience across Africa’s tech ecosystem.
Benjamin is known for breaking down complex tech stories into simple insights, helping readers stay informed about the people, products, and ideas shaping Nigeria’s digital future.
12. Peace Itimi
Peace Itimi is a tech storyteller and educator best known for her YouTube series Founders Connect, where she interviews African entrepreneurs and investors. Her channel, with 50.8k subscribers, has become an essential archive of startup stories and lessons.
Through insightful interviews and relatable questions, Peace shares deep insights on entrepreneurship, innovation, and startup funding, helping Africa’s growing community of founders and investors understand how to build and scale successful businesses. Her authentic approach has earned her partnerships with global accelerators and tech brands.
She stands out as a storyteller who humanises entrepreneurship and builds trust through knowledge.
13. Fatu Ogwuche
Fatu Ogwuche is a strategist, writer, and founder of Big Tech This Week, known for her sharp business insights and accessible analysis of Africa’s digital economy. Her newsletter and YouTube channel reach 1.37K explore strategy, leadership, and startup growth.
Her clarity and depth have built a community of professionals who turn to her for practical and thoughtful takes on tech leadership. Fatu represents the analytical side of influence, merging business strategy with cultural storytelling.
She embodies a new breed of digital thinkers whose insights shape how Africa’s founders and operators grow companies.
Builders and Operators
14. Prosper Otemuyiwa
Prosper Otemuyiwa, popularly known as @unicodeveloper, is a co-founder of forLoop Africa and Eden Life. He is one of Nigeria’s most respected developer advocates and community builders. He has over 17.3K followers on Twitter and a strong presence in Africa’s engineering networks.
Through mentorship and open-source projects, he has trained thousands of developers and advocated for collaboration within the tech community. Prosper is proof that influence in tech can be measured by the people you empower, not just the audience you attract.
15. Seye Bandele
Seye Bandele, founder of Paid HR, has emerged as a prominent voice in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem through his transparent founder-led commentary on X. His audience, currently 19.8K followers, engages with his insights on building teams, leadership, and scaling startups.
Seye’s content reflects the challenges of entrepreneurship in real time. By sharing both successes and setbacks, he has built a community rooted in authentic learning and empathy.
Through his practical approach to leadership and people operations, Seye is reshaping how Nigerian founders think about culture and growth.
16. Oluwatosin Olaseinde
Oluwatosin Olaseinde is one of Nigeria’s most influential tech personalities, shaping how Millennials and Gen Z engage with finance. Through Money Africa, she turns complex investment and savings strategies into accessible, relatable guidance for hundreds of thousands of users. With Ladda, she bridges knowledge and action, enabling retail investors to grow wealth via savings and stocks.
Her work has earned global recognition, from BBC and CNN features to partnerships with the UN supporting low-income women. Across LinkedIn, X, and Instagram, Olaseinde’s voice reaches over 350,000 followers, cementing her role as an influential tech personality driving financial literacy and fintech adoption across Nigeria and beyond.
17. Babajide Duroshola
Babajide Duroshola is an operator and ecosystem builder whose insights on X (Twitter) influence how founders and investors think about growth in Africa. With a following of 35.9K on X, he has become a trusted voice for startup execution and leadership.
He has led expansion roles at M-KOPA, SafeBoda, and other fast-growing African startups, bringing hands-on experience in operations, team building, and market strategy.
Babajide represents the practitioner’s perspective, a builder who teaches through experience and shares practical lessons from real-world execution.
18. Kelvin Umechukwu
Kelvin Umechukwu is the co-founder and CEO of Bumpa, the retail-tech startup powering Nigeria’s small-business boom. Used by thousands of vendors across the country, Bumpa helps merchants run their stores, track inventory, and accept payments directly from their phones.
Under Kelvin’s lead, it’s become the go-to operating system for informal retail—giving small traders access to the same digital tools big brands use. His impact sits at the intersection of commerce and inclusion: building tech that makes everyday business visible, measurable, and scalable.
19. Adora Nwodo
Adora Nwodo is a software engineer, author, and speaker who advocates for women in tech and STEM education. With over 62K followers on LinkedIn and a growing community on Twitter and YouTube, she has become a leading voice in developer advocacy and tech education.
As the founder of NexaScale, Adora creates learning opportunities and mentorship programmes for young engineers. Her writing and talks focus on career development, cloud computing, and technical excellence.
She represents influence through empowerment, proving that authentic education and representation drive lasting change.
Future Shapers
20. Oluchi Enebeli
Oluchi Enebeli stands at the intersection of code, community, and change. Nigeria’s first female blockchain engineer, she’s spent the past decade turning Web3 from a niche experiment into a network of opportunity for women across Africa.
As founder of Web3Ladies, she’s built one of the continent’s most active learning communities—where thousands of women move from curiosity to paid blockchain work through project-based mentorship. Now as co-founder of Crevatal, a Web3 design and development agency, Enebeli is helping global companies and local innovators build decentralised solutions with the African context in mind.
21. Chuta Chimezie
Chuta Chimezie is one of Nigeria’s most consistent voices in blockchain and fintech. As Founder of the Blockchain Nigeria User Group and Vice Chairman of the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN), he’s spent the past decade turning what was once a niche conversation into a national industry. Through community building, policy engagement, and public education, Chimezie has helped shape how regulators, startups, and developers understand digital assets.
He has advised on Nigeria’s SEC Fintech Roadmap, led Africa operations at Paxful, and now guides innovation at Blockspace Africa and Kinesis Money. His events and advocacy have created the largest blockchain community in West Africa, a network that connects thousands of enthusiasts, founders, and policymakers.
22. Sam Aiyesoro
Sam Aiyesoro is shaping practical tech solutions in Nigeria. He founded ShopNig and now leads Wiseki, which houses Plug.ng, Sekiapp, MyNig Homes, Sekidev, Shades of Sam, and GistLoop—platforms simplifying payments, digital assets, real estate, and content for everyday users.
His work has earned local recognition, including Oyo State 100 Most Influential Young Persons and Web3 Company of the Year for Sekiapp. Driven by a passion for technology and community impact, Sam blends business with creativity, drawing on sports, art, and photography, making him one of Nigeria’s most influential tech personalities today.
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