Iyinoluwa Aboyeji: The Serial Entrepreneur Building Africa's Tech Future

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, widely known simply as "E," has spent more than a decade building some of Africa's most consequential technology companies. Born in Lagos on March 28, 1991, to a family from Warri, Delta State, Aboyeji has gone on to co-found two companies that reshaped their respective industries across the continent — before turning his attention to funding the next generation of African founders.\

Early Life and Education

Aboyeji attended St. Saviour Primary School in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, before completing his senior secondary education at Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja in 2007.

He went on to study at Columbia International College, earning credentials in international development, legal studies, and economics, before completing a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Aboyeji has pointed to two formative events that shaped his path toward entrepreneurship: the loss of several school colleagues in a plane crash when he was 14, which drove an early interest in advocating for stronger safety standards, and a 2014 stampede at a Nigerian immigration recruitment event in Abuja, where thousands of young job-seekers were killed or injured — an experience that crystallized his focus on Africa's youth unemployment crisis.

Co-Founding Andela

In May 2014, Aboyeji co-founded Andela, a company designed to train African software engineers and connect them with global employers. Andela went on to provide training and job placements for more than 100,000 African software and technology professionals, attracting investment from high-profile backers including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google Ventures, and establishing itself as one of the continent's largest engineering talent organizations.

Building Flutterwave

Aboyeji left Andela to co-found Flutterwave in 2016, serving as its founding CEO until October 2018. Flutterwave built payments technology and infrastructure connecting African businesses and individuals to the global economy, and under Aboyeji's leadership became one of the fastest-growing payments companies of its era, processing more than $2 billion across over 50 million transactions. The company attracted investment from major global players including Y Combinator, Greycroft, Mastercard, and Uber, and went on to reach unicorn status in 2021 after raising $170 million at a valuation above $1 billion.

Future Africa and Beyond

After stepping back from Flutterwave, Aboyeji founded Future Africa in March 2019, serving as its CEO and General Partner. Future Africa has grown into one of the continent's largest seed-stage investment platforms, providing capital, coaching, and community to mission-driven founders and investing in more than 100 startups across Africa, with the platform's overall value now estimated above $6 billion.

Aboyeji has continued expanding his footprint across Africa's innovation ecosystem. He co-founded and chairs Talent City Inc., a construction-focused venture, and more recently launched Learn2earn, an initiative aimed at transforming African talent development. In February 2026, Learn2earn partnered with Nigeria's Digital Bridge Institute on an ambitious plan to train one million AI engineers, aligning with the federal government's broader 3MTT digital economy program.

Aboyeji was appointed to Nigeria's 3MTT Advisory Committee in November 2024, joining six other prominent figures tasked with improving employability in the country's digital sector.

Public Service and Recognition

Beyond the private sector, Aboyeji served as the youngest member of Nigeria's Presidential Council on Industrial Policy and Competitiveness and as Deputy Director-General for Oby Ezekwesili's 2019 presidential campaign. In October 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari conferred on him the National Honours Award of Officer of the Order of the Niger.

His accolades include recognition as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine in 2019, a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, and designation as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He sits on the boards of several corporate and non-profit organizations and regularly advises national and sub-national governments across Africa on supporting high-growth, innovation-driven enterprises.

A Career Defined by Building

Across Andela, Flutterwave, Future Africa, and his more recent ventures, Aboyeji's throughline has remained consistent: building the infrastructure — whether talent, capital, or payments rails — that allows African entrepreneurs to compete on a global scale. As he has put it in past interviews, part of the reward lies in showing that "some kid from Kwara" can build a global business from Nigeria.