Born in Nigeria, Olugbenga Agboola has already had the type of career that most people can only dream of.
After moving to the United States, he earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From there, he went on to achieve his IT security certifications from EC-Council University, which is located in New Mexico. Never one to rest on his laurels, he continued with his education – first earning a Project Management and Advanced Computing degree from the University of Westminster, before going on to earn his Master’s Degree as well.
When his career began in earnest, he held the position of a Technology Product Developer and Project Manager at the Standard Bank of Nigeria. This was a role that he served from 2010 to 2014. At that point, Olugbenga Agboola went onto become the Head of Mobile Financial Services for Sterling Bank.
It was in 2016 that the career of Olugbenga Agboola really began to make waves across the financial technology industry. He served as the Senior Entrepreneur in Residence at Africa Fintech Foundry from 2016 to 2018. At the same time, however, he founded the company Flutterwave with a few of his colleagues. Flutterwave is a digital payments system that helps to offer secure banking services to banks and businesses alike. He was originally the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Flutterwave, before then going onto become the CEO.
Flutterwave was notable because it brought together the brightest talent from a wide range of different financial technology companies. That included experts from not only Google Wallet and PayPal, but also Standard Bank as well.
Throughout his career, Olugbenga Agboola has earned a wide range of different achievements. In 2015, for example, he was part of the Young African Leaders Initiative at the Young African Leaders Initiative Network. In 2020, he managed to raise no less than $35 million to empower the expansion of Flutterwave moving forward. That money is critical, as it will allow the service to move into even more countries than it already is.
Olugbenga Agboola is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Great Life Alumni Association Inc., which is made up of a number of esteemed graduates from a university in Nigeria. He was also honored by being recognized as one of the Quartz Africa Innovators in 2019. In 2019 he also became one of just six entrepreneurs from Africa to join the non-profit organization Endeavor, which supports like minded individuals around the world.
All told, it’s safe to say that Olugbenga Agboola has contributed significantly to the development of the types of innovative financial solutions that many of us rely on daily. When you consider all that he has accomplished up to this point, it is truly exciting to think about what the future may hold.
