In a landscape often dominated by Silicon Valley narratives, two Nigerian entrepreneurs have leveraged their exclusively local education to build one of Africa’s most influential fintech companies, Moniepoint Inc.

Their rise from national universities to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list is reshaping perceptions of where world-class innovation originates.

Co-founders, Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, graduates of Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Lagos respectively, have constructed Africa’s largest financial services distribution network in Nigeria without pursuing advanced degrees abroad.

Instead, they credit their deep, contextual understanding of local challenges, honed within Nigeria’s educational system, as the bedrock of their success.

Eniolorunda, a mechanical engineering graduate, pioneered industry-first solutions for Nigeria, including instant POS transfers and the country’s first virtual account services.

His work is rooted in firsthand experience with the nation’s banking infrastructure gaps. “These were deeply contextual innovations born from intimate knowledge of local needs,” the company notes, highlighting how his education enabled him to build solutions from within the community he serves.

As Chief Technology Officer, Felix Ike, a first-class computer science graduate, has architected the scalable, secure systems that power Moniepoint’s infrastructure, now serving over 10 million businesses and individuals across the continent.

His technical leadership underscores the capacity of Nigerian institutions to produce engineering talent capable of building globally competitive, mission-critical technology.

Since its 2015 launch, Moniepoint has expanded into an all-in-one financial ecosystem, offering payments, banking, credit, and business management tools across all 774 local government areas in Nigeria.