Africa’s young entrepreneurs keep moving the needle. They are taking more risks than ever before and building phenomenal businesses that are tackling problems and creating lots of jobs in the process.
Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi is a Director at SureGroup, a group of companies providing retail voucher solutions for gifting/loyalty (SureGifts), remittances (SureRemit) and credit (SureCredit), with offices in Nigeria and Kenya.
Prior to SureGroup, he managed data-intensive projects in Commercial Planning, Business Intelligence, and Financial Analysis at Jumia in Nigeria. He is a Senior Consultant at Venture Garden Group, advising on start-up investing, business risk, strategy, and finance. Olaoluwa also supports early-stage African entrepreneurs as a Venture Partner at Greenhouse Capital and Hacked Capital.
He studied Accounting and Finance at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, and is on a Masters in Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the London School of Economics as a Chevening Scholar.
Samuel-Biyi has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative technology ventures in Africa, either as a critical employee, investor, or entrepreneur.
With the help of his co-founders, Adeoye Ojo and Babafemi Lawal, Samuel-Biyi launched SureGifts, a digital shopping voucher aggregator and retailer in 2014.
“We pioneered the concept of gift cards in Nigeria and partnered with the biggest brands on the continent such as Game, Spar, Samsung and Jumia to power their digital gift card programs,” he says.
Today, the company operates in Nigeria and Kenya with over 200 retail brands and utility service providers on their network. SureGifts vouchers are used by over 250 major companies across the world like Airtel, KPMG and Coca-Cola for their employee and customer rewards programs.
His company also developed a project called SureRemit, a non-cash remittance product that will leverage cryptocurrency to power remittances intended for non-cash use-cases like utility payments, groceries and medicine, leveraging the SureGifts merchant network and other global partners.
“Again, my team finally brought Africa into the Blockchain playing field by executing the most successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) out of Africa yet, raising $7 million within two days from participants in 65 countries, including participation from the largest cryptocurrency fund in South Korea.”
The SureRemit cryptocurrency, $RMT, is currently on the market. They employ 30 people
Prior to SureGifts, he managed data-intensive projects in commercial planning, business intelligence, and financial analysis at Jumia in Nigeria. He is also a senior consultant at Venture Garden Group, advising on startup investing, business risk, strategy, and finance and supports early-stage African entrepreneurs as a Venture Partner at Greenhouse Capital.
