Olugbenga Agboola: Meet Nigerian Tech Billionaire Who Co-founded Flutterwave

Olugbenga Agboola is one of the leading tech entrepreneurs in Africa. He is the co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave, a leading African fintech company that provides payment services across the continent.

GB, as he is fondly called, has undoubtedly put Africa on the map as a hub for technology and entrepreneurship.

Therefore, this article presents important details you need to know about the Flutterwave co-founder and current Chief Executive Officer.

Olugbenga Agboola biography

Olugbenga Agboola, OON, was born in 1985 in Lagos State, Nigeria. He got his education in Nigeria before moving out of the country in search of more academic pursuits. Agboola has a master’s degree in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. He also has a master’s in behavioural engineering and information technology security.

In addition, Agboola holds standard IT security certifications from Albuquerque, New Mexico’s EC-Council University. Later, he graduated with a degree in Advanced Computing and Project Management from the University of Westminster in London, United Kingdom.

In November 2012, Agboola participated in the Fundamentals of Finance for The Technical Executive course. He also took part in the Essential IT for Non-IT Executives training and the Supply Chain Strategy and Management program in November 2014.

Other certifications Agboola earned include server administration, agent management systems, ethical hacking, JavaScript, PHP, PHP Apps, product innovation, product life cycle management, product management and retail banking.

Olugbenga Agboola career

Before co-founding Flutterwave, Agboola spent several years working in various positions for financial institutions. From January 2003 to January 2004, he worked as an Application Developer for British Telecom Professional Services. He also worked as an application engineer at Paypal. Then he moved to Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) where he became part of the Enterprise Infrastructure Solution Development team.

Agboola later worked for Standard Bank Nigeria as the Technology Product Manager and Developer, where he developed a Biometric Payment Solution for the bank. He also served as a Product Manager for Google Wallet and Head of Mobile Financial Services at Sterling Bank. From November 2014 to May 2016, Agboola was the Head of Digital Factory and Innovation at Access Bank.

In 2016, Agboola founded Flutterwave with another Nigerian tech guru, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. The duo was inspired by Africa’s limited options for consumers to send money across borders or platforms. Hence, Flutterwave was created to provide solutions by developing a single-use payment system which would enable any merchant or small business to take payments without having to deal with the issues associated with using multiple payment providers.

In 2018, Aboyeji later stepped down as CEO to concentrate on helping other entrepreneurs grow their startups and giving back to the community. As a result, Agboola became the CEO of the fintech company.

By February 2022, Flutterwave was valued at $3 billion having raised $250m in Series D. Hence, the company became the most valuable African startup, surpassing the $2 billion valuations set by OPay, and cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash in 2021.

Achievements

Part of the Young African Leaders Initiative at the Young African Leaders Initiative Network from May 2014 to June 2015.
Raised $35 million to facilitate more payments at Flutterwave. The fintech company used these funds to expand its operations in other countries.
Completed the Series B Extension round of financing, with investments from MasterCard, CRE Ventures, Fintech Collective, 4DX Ventures and Raba Capital.
Part of the board of directors for the Corporate Council on Africa.
Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Great Ife Alumni Association Inc.

Awards and recognitions

Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) awarded by President Muhammadu Buhari in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of technology, innovations and economic development.
Quartz Africa Innovators 2019
Listed on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 in 2020.
Time’s Next 100 list in 2021.
Tech Investor of the Year award in the Business Insider Africa awards in 2022.

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Olugbenga Agboola exploits in diaspora

Agboola’s achievements with Flutterwave made him one of the tech gurus to come from Africa. Under his leadership, Flutterwave has been valued at $3 billion and has reached over 15 nations with its influence.

As a result, Agboola has been selected to represent Africa in many prestigious tech events. In 2019, he was a member of Fast Company, a monthly American business magazine, and Impact Council, which consisted of entrepreneurs, technologists, corporate chieftains, and designers. Agboola was also part of the panel for the US Africa Business Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, where he spoke during the session, Transforming African Economies Through Digitalization on June 20, 2019.

In addition, he was selected as one of six African entrepreneurs to join Endeavor, a non-profit organisation that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. This was in May 2019 at Endeavor’s 87th International Selection Panel in Madrid, Spain.

Olugbenga Agboola’a net worth

Verified information about Agboola’s estimated net worth is unavailable. However, he is regarded as a Nigerian tech billionaire. In 2023, Agboola acquired a luxurious high-end residential property in Miami for a reported $7.1 million from Boschetti Group, a well-known Florida-based real estate development company that specialises in luxurious high-end properties.