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‘Fahim Saleh was one of us and was loved by us,’ Nigerian tech community mourns death of Gokada founder

How the tech community reacted to the death of the 33-year-old tech investor.

Fahim Saleh, who founded Gokada in 2017 has been killed in New York City

Saleh was found dead in his New York City apartment on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, with his body headless and dismembered.

News of his death sent shock waves all through the Nigerian community who considered the 33-year-old part of their own.

With Gokada, Saleh pioneered bike-hailing service in Lagos when he launched the app in 2017 which later became a logistics company following the government’s ban on passenger motorcycle.

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In a statement about the death of its CEO, Gokada described the death as ‘sudden and tragic loss’.

We are deeply saddened to inform you about the sudden and tragic loss of our founder and CEO, Fahim Saleh. Fahim was a great leader, inspiration and positive light for all of us,” Gokada said.

Our hearts go out to his friends, family and all those feeling the pain and heartbreak we are currently experiencing, here at Gokada.

“Fahim's vision and belief in us will be with us forever, and we will miss him dearly. Thank you for understanding as we get through this.

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“All updates and changes will be communicated with you, as it unfolds. Forever in our hearts.

Entrepreneur Deji Oduntan, who co-founded Gokada with Fahim, said he is 'utterly shocked and deeply saddened by the news'.

"Fahim was passionate about building the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem and definitely left an indelible mark in it," Oduntan said with a Linkedin post.

"His constant drive and commitment were truly an inspiration to me during the time we spent building Gokada.

"My thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones. May God comfort them in this difficult time and may his soul Rest In Peace."

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Nigerian entrepreneur and co-founder of Andela Iyinoluwa Aboyeji expressed his shock as he paid tribute to Fahim whom he described as ‘one of us’.

"I’m still in shock about the murder of my brother and fellow entrepreneur Fahim Saleh,” Aboyeji who also co-founded fintech company Flutterwave wrote on Twitter.

As far as the Nigerian tech ecosystem is concerned, Fahim was one of us and was loved by us.

“He was a fearless entrepreneur who showed us opportunities to create jobs we overlooked in our own backyard.

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He lived out his incredibly high standards and his deep passion for building a business with impact by providing economic opportunity for thousands of people in the mobility space across multiple emerging markets.

“We will miss him and we trust the US authorities to ensure his murderers are brought to justice soon.”

Tech investor Osaretin Asemota also took to Twitter to react to news of Fahim’s killing and described it as ‘scary’.

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