9 Nigerians Make Forbes’ 2018 List of Africa’s 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs

Forbes, the international magazine known for its celebration of fame, opulence and global business, has put out its list of 30 most promising young African entrepreneurs for 2018. The list, which is published annually, highlights the achievements of business people, typically below age thirty, who are building high networth businesses and positively impacting their countries and continent. Nigerians make up almost a third of the list, with nine people from the country taking their place on it. It’s an improvement on the 2017 compilation, for which Nigeria mustered five, and makes it the most represented country of all. These entrepreneurs are in tech, transportation, agriculture, education, and communications.

The Nigerians on the list

Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed Falalu

Falalu, 27, runs Falgates, a rice farming and milling company based in Kaduna. Forbes reports that his company mills 15 tons of rice per day, and operates a farm with a 180 person strong workforce. The clincher? Falgates raked in $400,000 in revenues in 2017.

Nasir Yammama

Yammama does things on a different end of the agricultural value chain. He’s boss at Verdant, an Agritech company which helps rural farmers with vital information concerning all stages of the agricultural value creation process. Verdant does this by supplying weather, soil, seed, harvesting, marketing and financial guides to farmers via mobile SMS and voice call interactions, as well as its mobile app.

Gossy Ukanwoke

Ukanwoke, whose involvement with tech-enabled education platforms goes back to his undergraduate days, also has his place on Forbes’ list. At age 24, he founded the Beni American University, Nigeria’s first online university. Six years on, his company, EduTech, is helping Nigerian universities take their courses online. He also runs BAU Executive Education, which provides online and on-campus executive courses to Nigerian business professionals.

Temitope Ogunsemo

Like Ukanwoke, Ogunsemo is deploying technology to bring Nigeria’s institutions of learning into an age of greater convenience and easier administration. Krystal Digital, the company he founded in 2010, develops information management software for schools seeking to document their data in a way that makes them easy to retrieve and use. According to Forbes, Krystal Digital records annual revenues of more than $3 million.

Oluwatobi Ajayi

Ajayi, 30, is cofounder and CEO of Jetvan, a luxury bus sales and leasing company. Ajayi’s self-driven personality probably reveals itself in this fact: at age 24, he was head of the Commercial Vans division at Mercedes Benz Nigeria. His time at Mercedes gave him insightful industry scoops; three years after Jetvan was founded, it sells hundreds of vehicles every year.

Etop Ikpe

Ikpe, who has worked in high level capacities at Konga and DealDey, has become more widely known for his entrepreneurship. He’s the founder of Cars45, Nigeria’s foremost auto auctioning firm. Cars45 grabbed news headlines last year when it secured $5 million in funding from the Frontiers Car Group, a German investor in used car marketplaces across the globe.

Harold Okwa

Okwa is a serial entrepreneur, with an eye for the luxury and high end products market. This is the common thread that runs through his founding of Vestates, a luxury real estate agency, and Jetseta, a private air travel service that targets upper class users. Jetseta’s services are accessible through its mobile app.

Ronke Bamisedun

Bamisedun runs BWL Agency, a brand development and communications company headquartered in Lagos. She’s a thoroughbred PR person, formally trained in communications, and has experience working with some of the world’s most famous music artistes. Since its founding, BWL has worked on projects for several multinational companies, and is building a formidable portfolio of accomplishments.

Obinna Okwodu

Okwodu, 27, has a sterling CV, but has opted to use his learning and experience to build a problem solving startup. The MIT graduate and former Morgan Stanley investment banker set up Fibre, which helps tenants in Nigeria find accommodation for which they can pay monthly. His aim is clear: solve the problem of having to pay expensive bulk sums as annual rent, and making it easier for working class households to manage their finances.