Biographies, Profiles of Business, Tech and Influential Leaders
Women start more than half of Nigeria’s small businesses, yet very few receive investment to grow them. Ifeoma Uddoh noticed that gap from the inside, while working at a seed fund where hardly any women applied for money. She left a comfortable career to build a company that fixes it. This Ifeoma Uddoh biography follows … Read more
Few African fashion founders have started by launching magazines, and fewer still have dressed Beyoncé within two years of opening a brand. This Sarah Diouf biography follows a Paris-born, Abidjan-raised entrepreneur who left a career in publishing to build Tongoro, a label designed and produced entirely in Dakar, Senegal. She trained in marketing and communication, … Read more
Francis Duru was a Nigerian actor whose career spanned more than three decades and included some of the most recognizable films from the early years of Nollywood. He became widely known after playing Ahanna in Amaka Igwe’s Rattlesnake, a role that helped establish him as one of the familiar faces of Nigerian cinema. Beyond acting, … Read more
Most founders pick a lane early and stay in it. Dr Aisha Pandor has worked in three very different ones: scientific research, home services technology and women’s healthcare. This Aisha Pandor biography follows a South African geneticist who co-founded SweepSouth, Africa’s first online platform for booking and managing home services, and later co-founded Pandora Health, … Read more
For most of the 2000s, Nigerians who wanted to send money had two choices: carry cash across the country or queue at a bank that many of them did not use. Tayo Oviosu saw that gap while working in Silicon Valley and then in Lagos, and he decided to build a company around it. That … Read more
Some founders start with a technology and look for a use. Onyeka Akumah does the opposite. He spots something broken in a traditional industry, such as a clumsy bus ride or a farmer who cannot raise money, and builds a business around fixing it. Over two decades, that habit produced ventures in agriculture, transportation, property … Read more
Plenty of Nigerian conglomerates started with inherited capital or a government contract. John Alamu started with ₦100,000 and a small lending experiment among farmers and market women in Ibadan. Over a decade, that experiment grew into CapitalSage Holdings, a group with interests in fintech, agribusiness, manufacturing and healthcare, operating across Africa, Asia, Europe and the … Read more
Eyitope Kola-Oyeneyin is a Nigerian business executive, management consultant and transformation specialist known for her work in banking, digital financial services and public policy. She has held senior positions at FirstBank Nigeria and McKinsey & Company, where she helped financial institutions and public organisations improve their operations and expand digital services. In July 2026, President … Read more
Artificial intelligence depends on computing power, much of which sits in data centres owned by companies outside Africa. Nigerian-born AI entrepreneur Alex Tsado built his recent career around this challenge. He spent years at NVIDIA helping major cloud providers deliver AI computing. He then turned to a different question: how can African students, startups and … Read more
Running a company with 160 years of history means inheriting habits as well as brands. Philipp Navratil took over Nestlé in September 2025 after more than two decades inside the company, and he has since shared one lesson that shaped how he manages people: give honest feedback, even when it feels uncomfortable. His recent comments … Read more