17 Women Behind Some Of The Biggest Tech Start-Ups In Nigeria
- Anu
- March 21, 2024
- Career, News
- affiong williams, autogirl, babymigo, bankly, bitmama, chinazom arinze, damilola olokesusi, edukoya, Fara Ashiru Jituboh, female led start-ups in nigeria, Female Start-up Founders In Nigeria, healthtracka, herconomy, hervest, honey ogundeyi, ife durosinmi etti, ifeoluwa dara johnson, ifeoma uddoh, Jessica Anuna, jumoke dada, kemi olawoye, klasha, lifebank, money africa, odun eweniyi, okra, piggyvest, reel fruit, ruth iselema, shecluded, shuttlers, solape akinpelu, taeillo, Temie Giwa-Tubosun, tomilola adejana, tosin olaseinde
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A list of female tech start-up founders in Nigeria.
What a man can do, a woman can do even better, right? The technology sector in Nigeria has seen a massive and tremendous rise in female-led start-ups over the last couple of years.
Across the health, finance, education, transportation, and e-commerce sectors, these women have shown they have what it takes to drive innovation, inspire inclusion, and make an impact.
In commemoration of International Women’s Month, FabWoman.ng highlights 17 women who are female start-up founders in Nigeria and are changing the technology landscape.
1. Jessica Anuna (Klasha)
Jessica Anuna fondly called Jess, is the founder and CEO of Klasha, a technology company building cross-border solutions to power African commerce.
She started Klasha in 2017 with a $120,000 investment from an international startup accelerator called TechStars Dubai to enable African consumers and businesses to access global goods and services.
Before founding Klasha, Jess spent several years working in technology and e-commerce for Amazon, Net-a-Porter, and Shopify.
Jessica holds a degree in Journalism from City University, London.
In 2022, Klasha became the first technology company in Nigeria to launch a menstrual leave policy for its employees.
2. Ife Durosinmi-Etti (Herconomy)
Ife Durosinmi-Etti is the founder of Herconomy (formerly AGSTribe), a fin-tech company that empowers women to access tools and opportunities to help them thrive in their careers, businesses, and finances.
Herconomy helps women to earn, learn, save, and thrive via the focus pillars of financial services, capacity building, community, and partner discounts. Since its launch, they have trained over 85,000 women online and offline. Selected as one of the top 10 tech startups in Africa by the prestigious Startup Bootcamp Accelerator Program, Herconomy is positioned to become one of the top fintech companies in Africa and is on a mission to reach 1 million women in Africa by 2025.
With over 10 years of management and leadership experience working in the fashion, marketing, and manufacturing Industries. Durosinmi-Etti holds a first degree in Biochemistry and an MBA in Global Business. She is a One Young World Ambassador and a 2021 Mandela Washington Fellow.
3. Affiong Williams (Reel Fruit)
Affiong Williams is the founder of ReelFruit, a popular agribusiness company that processes and distributes locally-grown fruits.
She is said to have started the company in her apartment in Surulere, with an initial savings of $8,000. Willimas is a graduate of physiology and psychology from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in business management from the same university.
In 2015, she was listed among Forbes’ Africa’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs. In 2022, she emerged as the winner of the first-ever Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award in Nigeria.
4. Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson (HealthTracka)
Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson is the founder and CEO of HealthTracka, a health tech company making medical diagnostics accessible and affordable with at-home lab testing in Africa.
Founded in 2021, Healthtracka offers API infrastructure for telehealth service providers, hospitals, and pharmacies, empowering them to provide at-home blood testing for their patients. Health Tracka is the first of its kind in the country reaching thousands of Nigerians since its launch.
Dare-Johnson is a graduate of the University of Ilorin.
5. Odun Eweniyi (Piggyvest)
Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer (COO) of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest online savings and investment platform with over 4 million registered users.
Alongside Somto Ifezue and Joshua Chibueze, Eweniyi launched PiggyVest in 2016. Before PiggyVest, the trio had previously launched PushCV.
She graduated from Covenant University with a first-class degree in Computer Engineering. In 2018, Eweniyi won the Future Awards Africa Prize in Technology. In 2019, she was on the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 Technology list. She won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award in 2022.
6. Honey Ogundeyi (Edukoya)
Honey is the founder and CEO of Edukoya, an education technology company connecting African learners to the world’s finest educators through real-time online learning.
Before Edukoya, she founded Fashpa.com, a Nigerian e-commerce site that designed and sold its products online and in-store from the international market to Nigerians. She also worked at McKinsey & Company, Ericsson, and Google.
Ogundeyi is a graduate of the University of Birmingham with a BSc in Public Policy and Management.
7. Damilola Olokesusi (Shuttlers)
Damilola Olokesusi is the co-founder and CEO of a leading Nigerian technology-driven transportation startup, Shuttlers. Predominantly in Lagos, it enables users to book trips along fixed routes.
Olokesusi says:
“My aim of setting up Shuttlers, Nigeria’s leading tech-enabled scheduled mass transit company was to provide safe, reliable, and affordable transportation solutions to Nigerians, with a focus on creating impact in communities across the country”.
In 2020, she launched an initiative called Shemoves Shuttles, an all-female shuttle service that has impacted 600+ female professionals by turning their commute time into learning time.
Olokesusi is a graduate of Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos and is a Forbes 30 Under 30 (2019) Recipient for Technology.
8. Jumoke Dada (Taeillo)
Jumoke Dada is the founder and CEO of Taeillo, an e-commerce furniture business in Nigeria that enhances the customer experience by allowing them to envision furniture designs through augmented reality and virtual reality.
In December 2022, Jumoke helped raise $2.5 million in funding from Aruwa Capital for her start-up company. Her vision is to become the ‘IKEA of Africa’.
She is a Pritzker Fellow and was among the ‘100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria’ in 2021.
9. Tomilola Adejana Majekodunmi (Bankly)
Tomilola Adejana Majekodunmi is the co-founder and CEO of Bankly, a licensed payment service provider and microfinance bank in Nigeria launched in 2019.
Since its launch, Bankly has achieved remarkable milestones in its pursuit of financial inclusion.
Tomilola is a graduate of Physiology from the University of Lagos. She also has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), specializing in Investment Banking and Financing, from the S. P. Jain School of Global Management.
10. Ruth Iselema (BitMama)
Ruth Iselema is a Nigerian entrepreneur and crypto trader who is the founder and CEO of Bitmama, a platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies and digital assets in Africa.
After a bad experience while trading crypto in 2016, which made her lose N250,000 (~ $1,200 at the time) to a scammer, she was motivated to start building a platform where people can trade their cryptocurrencies safely and conveniently. Bitmama was launched in 2017 as a peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency exchange that quickly grew into a platform where individuals can trade and manage cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Iselema studied Pharmacy at the University of Port Harcourt before leaving Nigeria for Ghana, where she later completed her education.
11. Solape Akinpelu (HerVest)
Solape Akinpelu is the CEO and co-founder of HerVest, a fintech company that provides inclusive finance to African women through goal-oriented savings, impact investing, and credit options for smallholder women farmers and women-led SMEs.
With over 30,000 members, HerVest is dedicated to improving women’s lives through financial access and services.
Akinpelu has a background in financial marketing, having previously served as the Head of Marketing at Meristem, a leading investment and wealth management conglomerate in Nigeria.
Solape serves as the Global Co-Chair of Marketing for the Women in Tech Global Movement and as the Country Manager for Nigeria.
12. Temie Giwa-Tubosun (LifeBank)
Temie Giwa-Tubosun is the founder of LifeBank, a medical distribution company that uses data and technology to improve access to blood transfusions in the country as well as deliver essential medical products to hospitals in Nigeria.
The birth of her first child and the complications arising from that experience inspired the launch of the health startup in 2016.
A graduate of Minnesota State University, Giwa-Tubosun was listed as one of the BBC 100 Women in 2014. On November 16, 2019, Giwa was named the winner of Jack Ma’s Africa Netpreneur Prize worth $250,000.
Giwa was awarded the Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader for her work in addressing blood shortages in Nigeria, and LifeBank’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2020.
13. Tosin Olaseinde (Money Africa)
Tosin Olaseinde is the founder and CEO of Money Africa, a fintech startup in Nigeria. It is also dubbed the No. 1 financial literacy platform in Africa.
She is also the founder of Ladda.ng, an investment platform and a sister company to Money Africa. Her inspiration to found Money Africa was born after she returned to Nigeria broke and armed with two degrees from South Africa.
Olaseinde has a B.Sc in Accounting from the University of Johannesburg and a Masters in Accounting from the University of South Africa.
She previously worked at British American Tobacco as a Commercial Finance Manager (West Africa Markets).
14. Fara Ashiru Jituboh (Okra)
Fara Ashiru Jituboh is the co-founder and CEO/CTO of Okra, an open finance infrastructure that enables developers and businesses to build personalized digital products & services.
Before founding Okra in 2019, Fara gained experience building and scaling products in emerging markets and venture-backed startups by working with organizations such as Canva, Techhustle, Sana Benefits, and Dorsata.In 2020, Okra raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.
15. Kemi Olawoye (Baby Migo)
Kemi Olawoye is the co-founder and CEO of Babymigo, a pregnancy and parenting platform that aims to reduce maternal and child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Nigeria, by providing expert-led information, tools, and resources via the community-led platform. It was launched in 2017.
Olawoye studied physiotherapy at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos in 2014.
Kemi is a recipient of several awards and recognitions, including the 2022 Future Awards Africa Nomination Award, 2021 Woman Entrepreneur & Spirit of GIST by the US Department of State, 2021 Female Entrepreneur of the Year by Africa Choice Awards, 2020 AXA 50intech Female Entrepreneur, among several others.
ALSO READ: 7 Nigerian Finance Influencers To Follow In 2023
16. Chinazom Arinze (AutoGirl)
Chinazom Arinze is the founder of Autogirl, a mobility tech startup that offers online vehicle rental services, rentals, maintenance, and diagnosis across three categories: cars, boats, and jets.
She was inspired to start Autogirl as a regular car dealership selling cars and getting commissions while she was in university.
Launched in 2019, AutoGirl has completed 3,000 rides in Nigeria and provides mobility services to about 123 companies.
Arinze is a Law graduate of Babcock University.
17. Ifeoma Uddoh (Shecluded)
Ifeoma Uddoh is the founder and CEO of Shecluded, a female-focused fintech company dedicated to creating economic prosperity for women through access to financial services. It was launched in 2019.
In December 2019, Uddoh was one of five female entrepreneurs to emerge as winners of a UK-Nigeria Tech Hub competition sponsored by the British High Commission in Lagos. The winners received sponsorship to travel to the United Kingdom for the January 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit.
