Without the tens of thousands of individuals who have dedicated themselves to furthering Africa’s digital revolution and continue to do so, it would not exist.
They are the driving forces behind the transformation of infrastructure, mobile connection, online activism, e-commerce, and financial services. Some are creating digital cultural venues, while others are seeking financing for technology businesses.
As part of our focus on Africa’s technology, we’ve chosen ten pioneers in the move from Tanzania to Tunisia, with South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya being particularly well-represented.
Dr Trinity Tom, Founder Trinidad Corporation,
Dr Trinity is the CEO of Trinidad Corporation which comprises 12 different companies fully registered in Nigeria, Ghana, Dubai and Lebanon.
Trinidad Corporation believes that business is a ministry and a key tool in human capital development, poverty alleviation and economic development.
Trinidad Corporation currently employs 782 staff across Africa and Asia Pacific through different innovations and establishments which pans across different sectors; Tech, manufacturing, aviation, ICT, Automobiles, construction, suppliers, and hospitality.
Chipper Cash co-founders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled
In 2014, the two co-founded the company, which soon grew to become one of Africa’s most valued startups. Chipper Cash secured $250 million and opened offices in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2021 to facilitate global remittances to Africa. In November of last year, Ham declared that the company’s key goal in 2022 will be to continue its expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Omolabake Adenle, founder Aja.la Studios
Omolabake Adenle is a Nigerian-American financial strategist and technologist who founded Aja.la Studios, a mobile app development firm specializing in African language voice solutions.
Adenle earned a PhD in Bayesian Signal Processing from Cambridge University and was the creator of SpeakYoruba, a defunct software that taught children Yoruba. She was a recipient of the Women in Voice (WiV) DEI In Voice award for her outstanding contributions to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the voice.
Munashe Mugonda, co-founder, Ruzhowa
Munashe Mugonda works as a Technical Product Lead and Data Engineer at Cummins Inc. She is also a co-founder of Ruzhowa, a Zimbabwean community bank that uses fintech to enable Zimbabweans residing in other countries to invest in their home country. Mugonda went a long distance from Zimbabwe to Purdue University, where she is pursuing an MBA.
Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of MFS Africa
Dare and his fintech company have made sending and receiving money in Africa as simple as making and receiving phone calls. So, last year, he met his objectives by raising a huge sum of money (about $100 million) through debts and shares. Last year, his company was one of the top 20 African startups in terms of funding.
Yonas Beshawred, Founder of StackShare,
Yonas Beshawred is the Founder and CEO of StackShare, a platform where software professionals and technology organizations can talk about the technologies they use and how they use them.
The Ethiopian entrepreneur formerly worked in IT consulting at Accenture and Cube. StackShare began as a side project on a WordPress site and has since grown to a platform with over 500,000 engineers and over $5 million in investment.
Tope Awotona, Founder Calendly,
Only a few entrepreneurs can lay claim to having created a unicorn. The number of black unicorn innovators is even less, and Tope Awotona, founder of the scheduling tool Calendly, is one of them.
Despite continuously experiencing difficulties while establishing Calendly, including going to Ukraine during a war, the Nigerian demonstrated incredible perseverance in constructing a firm worth more than $1 billion.
