Stamp Nigeria
At Stamp we track over 100,000 Nigerian startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Nigeria based Partner operating in the Venture Capital space. If you think a Partner is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected]
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
Venture Partner of HOF Capital
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is the Founder and former CEO of HOF portfolio company Flutterwave, a business building payments technology and infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. Under his leadership, the company has become one of the fastest growing payments technology businesses of all-time, processing over $2B across over 50M transactions, and attracted significant investment from experienced players in the space, including Y Combinator (investors in Stripe), Greycroft (investors in Braintree), Greenvisor Capital (led by the Former CEO of Visa), and Mastercard. Previously, Iyinoluwa Co-Founded Andela, Africa’s largest engineering organization with over 1000 software engineers that has received investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Google Ventures. Iyinoluwa holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Waterloo, and sits on the board of several institutions including Paris’ Share Africa Project, Rainbow Educational Services Limited, and Filmo Realty. He served as the Deputy Director General for Madam Oby Ezekwesili’s 2019 Presidential Campaign, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, and a member of Nigeria’s Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council.
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About Fora, Future Africa, HOF Capital: HOF Capital is a global multistage VC firm with $1 billion in AUM that partners with ambitious entrepreneurs from idea to IPO.
Kola Aina
Partner of Ventures Platform
Kola Aina is an entrepreneur, technology operator and investor with vast experience working in Africa’s largest economic market. His prior entrepreneurial experience spans several sectors including venture capital, technology, media, agriculture, infrastructure, publishing and real estate. As an angel investor and while leading the early stage African VC firm Ventures Platform. Venture Platform is a leading early stage African VC fund that provides founder friendly capital and support to early stage companies in a framework that is buoyed by corporate governance and hands-on support. Kola has lead investment in about 28 companies including Payments company; Paystack, Connectivity company; Tizeti, Healthcare company; MDaaS and the Agric-tech company; Thrive Agric. Kola, founded the enterprise technology company Emerging Platforms Limited, 9 years ago, quickly growing it to become one of the leading technology service delivery companies and leaders in the e-learning space in West Africa providing services to over 100,000 students. Emerging Platforms Limited is a software and technology firm that specializes in developing innovative technology solutions in education, national security and enterprise sectors. Prior to focusing on full time entrepreneurship, Kola worked in corporate finance, administration, corporate turn-around and strategy. He led strategy and finance for one of the largest publishing companies in Nigeria up till 2009. Before that he worked in corporate finance proving financial analysis at Fifth Third Bank in the USA. Kola is a leader in the African startup and investing ecosystem, a Ted speaker and volunteers his time advising founders, speaking at events and serves on the Presidential Committee for Job Creation and Youth Employment as well as the Private Sector Advisory Group to the Presidency on Creativity and Technology. Kola studied Electrical Engineering and then secured a Master in Business Administration degree with a specialization in Finance from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He has received further education from Berkley University, Harvard University and the Lagos Business School.
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About Ventures Platform: An early stage discovery fund for Africa.
Kayode Oyewole
Partner of Ventures Platform
Kayode is Head, Investment and Portfolio Support at Ventures Platform. He was an early employee at max.ng (Techstars NY16) and led growth there. He is a serial entrepreneur and has spent the last 6 years building and supporting companies focused on the application of technology in solving problems across Africa. He is a mentor at the African Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) and was an EIT at Meltwater.
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About Ventures Platform: An early stage discovery fund for Africa.
Omobola Johnson
Senior Partner of TLcom Capital Partners
Omobola Johnson is Senior Partner of TLcom Capital, a venture capital firm with recent focus on deal flow generation, investment and value generation in technology companies in sub-saharan Africa. Before joining TLcom, Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Prior to serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries, transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations. Omobola serves on the Board of a number of leading Nigerian and multi-national corporations. She also serves on the Board of the World Wide Web Foundation is the Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Management and Business. Omobola has a Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester; a Master’s in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the School of Management of Cranfield University. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumna award from Cranfield University and the Lagos Business School.
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About TLcom Capital Partners: TLcom Capital is an Africa focused VC firm, backing Africa’s top founders from Seed to growth.
Idris Ayodeji Bello
Founding Partner & Portfolio Manager of LoftyInc Capital Management
The ‘Afropreneur’ (entrepreneur with an African focus), as he self-describes, Idris Ayodeji Bello is a Partner at LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited and co-founder of The Wennovation Hub, an innovation platform based in Nigeria, that has successfully accelerated the launch of several technology start-ups in social impact sectors. He is also a Founding Partner at Loftyinc Capital Management, owners of the Afropreneurs Fund (I&II) The ‘Afropreneur’ (entrepreneur with an African focus), as he self-describes, Idris Bello is a Partner at LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited and co-founder of The Wennovation Hub, an innovation platform based in Nigeria, that has successfully accelerated the launch of several technology start-ups in social impact sectors. He is also a Founding Partner at Loftyinc Capital Management, owners of the Afropreneurs Fund (I&II) A first class honors graduate of Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, he has an M.Sc in Computer Science & Data Mining from the University of Houston; an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Strategy from Rice University in Houston and an M.Sc in Global Health Science from the University of Oxford, where he was a 2011 recipient of The Lord Weidenfeld Scholarship for demonstrating remarkable potential as a future leader from an emerging economy. Idris spent the greater part of a decade working at Chevron Corporation and ExxonMobil USA, where he led several large upstream technology projects across the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa. Idris has also worked with the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative where he played a major role in the deployment and evaluation of Swaziland’s first mobile health patient appointment reminder system as part of the country’s National AIDS Program. Listed among CNN’s Top Ten African Technology Voices, he is a Singularity University Impact Fellow, Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance Associate, Clinton Global Initiative University Fellow, MIT Global Start-up Fellow, SAP Ashoka Global Changemakers Award Winner, Dell Technology Award Winner, StartingBloc Innovation Fellow and a Nigeria Leadership Initiative Future Leader. As a leader, Idris has mentored and catalyzed scores of contributors across the growing African landscape and is an angel investor and advisor to several African startups including Andela, Flutterwave, RelianceHMO, among others. He continues to devote his efforts to the development of innovation-driven, technology-enabled social enterprises that empower the underserved and develop transformative ideas to change lives on the African continent. He spends most of his time between Lagos, Cairo, or airport lounges.
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About Google, LoftyInc Capital Management, Mono, OnePipe, Wennovation Hub: LCM manages social impact investment vehicles such as the LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund.
Rotimi Oyekanmi
Partner of Apis Partners
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About Apis Partners: Apis Partners is a private equity asset manager focused on Financial Services in Growth Markets.
Dr Emmanuel Owobu
Partner & Co-founder of LabEight* Africa
Medical doctor, social entrepreneur and mobile health enthusiast with passion in public health, research, ehealth and ICT4D. I am particularly interested in solving social problems in communities using ICT, ranging from healthcare to access to education and finances. As co-founder of MOBicure, I have learnt skills varying from project development, deployment, project management, content development, capacity building and team management amongst others. A lover of new technologies and innovative trends as well as always seeking to improve skills with every project done. I am big fan of The Big Bang Theory and Silicon Valley, two T.V shows that help relax and educate me
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About LabEight* Africa, MOBicure: Incubation Launchpad and Venture Fund for African Founders & Investors
