President Muhammadu Buhari has conferred National Honours on six Nigerian tech entrepreneurs as the country commemorates its 62nd anniversary of independence.
The awardees are Funke Opeke, Founder & CEO of MainOne; Ezra Olubi and Shola Akinlade, Co-founders of Paystack; Ola Brown, Founder of Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company (FDHIC); Olugbenga Agboola, Co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave; and Iyin Aboyeji, Co-founder at Flutterwave & Andela.
Funke Opeke and Ola Brown were awarded the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), while Ezra Olubi, Shola Akinlade, Olugbenga Agboola, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji earned Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) along with Kofo Akinkugbe, founder and CEO of SecureID. Ogbonnaya Onu Former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Federal Republic of Nigeria was awarded CON.
The award, which was presented on October 11, 2022, honours 437 phenomenal Nigerians and friends of Nigeria who have rendered service to the nation.
Other notable non-tech Nigerian entrepreneurs on this list include Jim Ovia, Zenith Bank’s founder; Tony Elumelu, Board Chair at the United Bank of Africa (UBA); Innocent Chukwuma, the Chairman of Innoson Group of Companies; Prof. Oladipo Olujimi Akinkugbe, Foundational Chairman of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation; and Amina Muhammed, the United Nations’ Deputy Secretary General.
