The new-age entrepreneur using technology to change payments in Africa

folarin okunola

August 2, 2017 10:10 AM

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the 26-year old serial entrepreneur is his ability to recognize opportunities that have the potential to scale massively.

Iyin Aboyeji

In some very private circles,

The 26-year old found success in his entrepreneurial journey with Andela, the company that trains and connects African developers with global companies for work, which Aboyeji co-founded.

In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, through their Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative not-for-profit, led a $24 million funding round for Andela, the biggest raised by an any African startup at the time.

Shortly after, and rather surprisingly, Aboyeji left Andela to co-found another company — a payments API that makes it easier for banks and businesses to process payments across Africa.

That company, Flutterwave, just raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital. Other investors include Y Combinator, Social Capital and Omidyar Network, amongst others.

Aboyeji tells CNN Tech’s Sara Ashley O’Brien that he left Andela because he wanted to use technology to empower more people not for now, but for the effects that action would have in 30 years.

ALSO READ: Andela's co-founder has left to head his own startup called Flutterwave

But what is perhaps the most fascinating thing about the 26-year old serial entrepreneur is his ability to recognize opportunities that have the potential to scale massively.

As is evident with Andela, which he helped build to a $100 million market cap in two years, and Flutterwave, which has since processed more than $1.2 billion in payments across 10 million transactions.

Flutterwave also accepts 350 currencies across 30 African countries and makes its money by charging merchants a fee which it shares with the banks.

“We can’t wait to build the future of a united Africa with you all,” says Aboyeji.

Aboyeji has also made smart moves. With Andela he came back to Nigeria as the only African co-founder, holding the position of Director of Recruitment, to highlight a largely hands-on approach Aboyeji has taken with his businesses.

With Flutterwave, Aboyeji headquartered the company in San Francisco, USA (despite his knowledge of the Nigerian business terrain) a move that largely helped the company raise seed funding.

These and many more make Iyinoluwa Aboyeji one of the entrepreneurs to watch in this generation and who knows, he just might be the first dollar billionaire currently under 30.

folarin okunola