Behind some of Nigeria’s most promising startups are universities doing more than awarding degrees; they are producing a growing pipeline of entrepreneurs building businesses, creating jobs, and reshaping industries.
As the country’s startup ecosystem continues to evolve, a closer look at the founders behind these ventures reveals the universities emerging as key breeding grounds for entrepreneurial talent.
From established institutions to rising contenders, these are the Nigerian universities leading the pack in producing startup founders.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU): One of the institutions that has produced African unicorn founders is OAU.
The university has produced two African unicorn founders who studied engineering before independently building companies in the payments industry.
Olugbenga Agboola studied Electrical Engineering at OAU before going on to earn an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and then accumulating years of experience at PayPal, Google Wallet, Standard Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Agboola co-founded Flutterwave in Lagos in 2016 alongside Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Adeleke Adekoya, bringing to bear his technical education rooted in OAU’s engineering faculty and a global payments career that had taken him across four continents.
Flutterwave became a unicorn in March 2021 after raising $170 million at a valuation above $1 billion; a Series D in 2022 pushed that valuation to $3 billion, the highest valuation achieved by an African startup at the time.
Tosin Eniolorunda, co-founder of Moniepoint, is another unicorn founder who studied at Obafemi Awolowo University. He was admitted to study Mechanical Engineering at OAU in 2002 and graduated in 2007.
He joined Interswitch as a software engineer in 2009 and programmed the company’s first point-of-sale software, giving him a front-row seat to the structural gaps in Nigeria’s payment landscape.
Eniolorunda and Felix Ike co-founded TeamApt in 2015, later rebranding it as Moniepoint Inc.
The firm crossed $1 billion in valuation in October 2024 when it raised a $110 million Series C from Development Partners International, Google’s Africa Investment Fund and others.
While Eniolorunda graduated from OAU, Felix Ike, the co-founder and chief technology officer of the firm, graduated with a first-class degree in Computer Science from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Opeyemi Awoyemi, Olalekan Olude and Ayodeji Adewunmi, the co-founders of Jobberman, all graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Awoyemi and Olude earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering, while Adewunmi studied Medicine and Surgery at OAU. The trio launched Jobberman as students in August 2009 while studying at the university.
The University of Benin (UNIBEN)-Interswitch: Mitchell Elegbe, the founder and group CEO of Interswitch, graduated from the University of Benin, where he obtained a B.Eng. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
He founded Interswitch in 2002 after studying at UNIBEN and building a career in engineering and technology across Nigeria and Scotland.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)- Flameless: Lawrence Oba and Paschal Ugwuanyi, founders/members of Team Flameless, are graduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where they studied Mechanical Engineering.
The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN)- Kuda Bank: Musty Mustapha, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Kuda Bank, graduated from the University of Ilorin. He obtained his first and postgraduate degrees in Computer Science from UNILORIN and UNILAG, respectively.
Bayero University Kano (BUK)- REINLIGHT: Lamba Danwawo, the inventor and developer of REINLIGHT, was a student at Bayero University Kano. REINLIGHT is a portable, electricity-free water purification and disinfection system developed by Team Schrodinger Energy from BUK.
The innovation won third place at the global Ericsson Innovation Awards 2022 and earned additional international recognition in Sweden and Germany.
Covenant University: Odunayo Eweniyi, Joshua Chibueze, and Somtochukwu Ifezue, founders of PiggyVest, were graduates of Covenant University.
Eweniyi, the COO and co-founder of PiggyVest, graduated with first-class in Computer Engineering; Chibueze, co-founder & CMO, graduated in Computer Science, while Ifezue, co-founder & CEO, graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Covenant University.
Experts believe that Nigeria’s next generation of successful startups may increasingly emerge from university campuses, where talent, research, innovation and entrepreneurial ambition converge.
However, the universities that will truly lead the pack will be those that move beyond producing graduates to building ecosystems that actively support founders, from providing access to funding, mentorship and industry partnerships to commercialising research and creating pathways for ideas to become scalable businesses.
Bribena Efriye, the CEO of TAMIEF International Limited, believes that as Nigeria continues to pursue economic diversification and technology-driven growth, it must strengthen these university-led innovation ecosystems, which he said is critical to creating globally competitive companies, generating jobs and attracting investment.
“The future of Nigeria’s startup landscape will depend not only on which universities produce the most founders today, but also on which institutions equip them to build resilient businesses, solve pressing local challenges and compete on the global stage tomorrow,” he said.
Charles Ogwo is a proactive journalist, driving education, and business innovations for over 10 years. He leads initiatives leveraging tech to enhance storytelling and build topnotch performing team. Charles is passionate about harnessing technology to inform, engage and empower communities.
