Timothy Kotin is the co-founder of SuperFluid, a data solution platform helping  businesses to harness untapped potential through predictive data analytics, business intelligence and dynamic customer insights leveraging both traditional and alternative data sources.

Seun Onigbinde is the co-founder of BudgIT, a non-governmental organization that helps citizens access and understand public budgets. BudgIT breaks down the national budget in simplistic charts, and track contracts and projects the government are working on. This is a classic case of doing good with tech.

Opeyemi Awoyemi is a tech entrepreneur with 10 years experience in internet startup business development. He has founded and managed three technology startups including WhoGoHost, a web solutions company. He is also the co-founder of Jobberman. Jobberman is Nigeria’s largest job search portal with over one million job seekers and 10,000 companies registered. Jobberman’s mission is to solve the unemployment problem in Nigeria.

This was a live podcast with an audience Nasir Yammama is the founder of Verdant, an agritech platform that aims at providing agricultural data science, market information, managerial support, and access to financial services to rural farmers for improved food production using mobile phones. Verdant though a simple low-cost technology, is solving one of the biggest challenges and transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, in the UK in May 2010 She is currently the director of Book Buzz Foundation, Nigeria- a non-governmental organisation whose main aims are promoting literacy through the creation of reading programmes for children and developing reading spaces.

Onyeka Akumah is the CEO and co-founder of Farmcrowdy, an agric-tech platform.   Farmcrowdy gives Nigerians the opportunity to participate in Agriculture by connecting farm sponsors with real farmers for the purpose of producing high-quality farm produce.   Onyeka returned to Nigeria from India in 2016 and has since then worked with business like Konga, Wakanow, Jumia and Deloitte before going ahead to start his first business, QuickGist.

Akin Alabi is the founder of Nairabet, an online sports betting platform. Akin grew up with the hopes of being rich.  According to him, he wasn’t too particular about his profession as long as it was legal and it made him rich. He started his career by selling ebooks, CDSs, audio tapes and manuals. In 2009, he launched Nairabet.

Erik Osiakwan is an entrepreneur and an investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership. He is the manager partner in Chanzo Capital, a growth capital firm investing in Africa’s digital economy. Erik is a consultant for the world bank. He has worked in 32 African countries setting up high-tech startups

Adeyinka Adewale is the co-founder  and CEO of Kudi.ai, a financial service provider that allows you pay people and businesses over messaging interfaces like Messenger, Skype ,Slack and Telegram. He is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University. Kudi.ai is not Yinka’s first foray into running a business, he was the co-founder and CEO of Sanwo Touch2pay, which started out as a payment platform for universities in Nigeria

Raphael Afaedor is the CEO and co-founder of Supermart, an online store for groceries and basic home amenities. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and a former CEO at Jumia.

Fikayo Ogundipe is the CEO and cofounder of ToLet, a real estate company he founded with his friends while in the university. ToLet is a web-based platform for property, rentals and sales. The founders all made a monthly contribution of N20,000 to start the business. Interestingly, they had to hit the ground running as there was a competitor they needed to beat to the market.

Franz Struwig is the cofounder of iKubu, Franz started out as a lover of technology before going on to study Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria. He is a lover of technology, business and people. He started with advising, consultancy, building products for others. Looking for interesting solutions to problems was the bane of the company. A totally random cycling day happened to give birth to a whole idea of helping cyclers prevent accidents.

Trevor Kimenye is the CEO of Ongair, a web based social CRM tool that enables businesses to interact and communicate with their customers on popular Instant messaging platforms from a single dashboard. This  is a global solution built in Africa. Businesses, regardless of where they are stationed need to communicate with their customers. This is what Trevor and his team make happen.

Rasaq Ahmed is the co-founder and CEO of CowryWise, an automated savings platform. CowryWise aims to make savings worthwhile for everyone by making it simple to do and highly rewarding. Rasaq has one of the most interesting stories in the Nigerian ecosystem. His family narrowly escaped death while they were living in the northern part of Nigeria.

Adia Sowho was the Head of Digital Media and Director of Digital Business at Etisalat Nigeria. She started her career as an engineer with United States Cellular, a CDMA operator in the US. She obtained her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

Aisha Pandor is the co-founder and CEO of SweepSouth. An online platform for booking, managing and paying for home cleaning services SweepSouth is the first South African startup to be accepted into 500 Startups. Aisha did not start out as an entrepreneur, she is a scientist who completed her Ph.D. in Human Genetics at the University of Cape Town. In 2016, Forbes Africa featured her as a top African millennial.

Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder at Piggybank.ng She is also the Chief Operating Officer at SharpHire Global Limited, the organization behind Push CV, Piggybank and a new product in the pipelines.

Chika Uwazie is the CEO of TalentBase. TalentBase makes it easier for businesses to manage their HR processes such as payroll, benefits, staff evaluation and time tracking. Chika joined the startup as the VP of business development immediately after moving back to Nigeria from the states. She has since then risen to the position of CEO and has gone on to represent TalentBase at 500 Startups.

Catherine Luckhoff is a serial entrepreneur. She founded her first business as a fourth year undergraduate. Her wide-ranging business acumen consists of business development, mobile, big data, music, startups and innovation in Africa. She now runs NicheStreem, an end-to-end solution for anyone including content owners, artists and music enthusiasts who want to launch their own audio/music streaming service.

Olamide Brown is the founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria. Already, you understand how unique and important what she is doing is. Millions of people have lost their lives because they could not be transported to the right doctor or medical facility in time. Her sister, was one of these people. She decided to do something about it.

On today’s episode, we have Demi Owoseje, founder of Majeurs Chesterfield.   Majeurs Chesterfield specialises in “preloved” leather and fabric furniture. They also deal with brands such as classic twentieth century pieces. They’ve got a fondness for Chesterfield sofas, and pride themselves in delivering nothing short of  stunning. Demi has an interesting story.  She has excelled in a male dominated industry.   In this episode, she weaves an interesting story about her journey and the...

Temie Giwa-Tunbosun is the founder of LifeBank. LifeBank is a platform that makes blood available when and where it is needed in Nigeria. LifeBank has one goal… to save lives. In 2016, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg found her work intriguing and rightly said “If she can actually pull it off, she’ll show a model that will impact not just Lagos, not just Nigeria, but countries all around the world.”

This is to introduce the Season 2 of Building the Future Podcast. One-on-one interviews with people who are using technology, entrepreneurship and innovative ideas to shape the future of Africa. This season is in partnership with the British Council Nigeria.

We have come to the end of Building The Future Podcast Season 1! It has been an interesting journey full of learnings and exposure. Season two starts next year, and already we have an impressive lineup of entrepreneurs as well as a special series planned I have given a bit of insight into what you can expect on Buildng The Future Podcast season 2. I look forward to sharing this journey with you!

This was a live podcast recorded in Abuja! Tola Onayemi is in the economic team of the office of the Vice President. He serves as a Special Adviser on the industry, trade and investment cluster by providing technical policy assistance. Tola is strongly of the opinion that crude oil is not the solution Nigeria desperately craves. He says, “ if we are ever going to take off as an economy, it’s not just oil.”