Wale serves as Group CTO and Chief Software Architect for AppZone overseeing product architecture, R&D, Technology Strategy, Cloud Infrastructure, Cyber Security, and Cognitive Computing. In addition to core technology oversight, Wale also oversees AppZone’s digital Banking product divisions.

A graduate of Computer Science with Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he finished amongst the top in his class, Wale is known as a Software Prodigy haven become versatile in many programming languages and software application packages at a very young age. Wale has gone ahead to amass more than fifteen years of experience in the modelling, design, and implementation of enterprise software. At various times he has been deeply involved with various technologies including Blockchain, serverless computing, distributed computing, embedded applications, machine learning and rapid application development frameworks amongst others.

Previously, Wale served as Head, Research & Development of Parkway Projects Limited where he was responsible for conducting research, recommending technologies and leading a team of application developers. Before Parkway Projects, Wale worked with the Nigerian arm of Enliven Solutions USA; a Software solutions company, where he served as a lead software developer.

Elendu Uche is the Co-founder of AppZone. As co-founder, he launched Zone, a layer-1 blockchain payment infrastructure that connects financial institutions to enable a faster, cheaper, and more reliable flow of value in a peer-to-peer fashion.

He is a financial service and payment solutions expert with over 12 years of experience designing and delivering payment solutions to financial institutions and businesses as an adept software engineer and business leader and studied Computer Science at the National Open University of Nigeria.

Amongst his several achievements, he was Head business development team at the parent company. He spearheaded the design and sale of the earliest and most successful internet payment gateway solution in Nigeria, across more than 70% of the banks, to become the market’s dominant consolidated payment gateway solution. He was pivotal to the growth of the parent company, overseeing sales and the management of strategic customer relationships.

He led the research, development, and delivery of the blockchain payment infrastructure, Zone. He is also a blockchain engineer with experience in permissioned and permissionless blockchain system design and development.

Elendu is passionate about localising the Web3 payment infrastructure and integrating it into the continent’s rapidly evolving payment ecosystem, connecting every financial institution and payment facilitator to create a fully digital and inclusive payment network.

Elendu and the team are focused on accelerating the adoption of digital currencies, by enabling seamless interoperability with existing financial systems and regulatory compliance.

Francis is a seasoned sales and business development leader with over 10 years domain expertise in payments and fintech.

As the Chief Commercial Officer for Zone, Francis Ogbuka leads the sales, business development and product management teams where he oversees customer acquisition, new product development/commercialization and revenue growth.

Francis Ogbuka’s specialties range from developing winning go-to-market and sales strategies to top level engagements with a variety of decision makers across cutting edge brands.

Prior to joining Zone, Francis held several digital banking and payment positions at United Bank for Africa and also led sales and partnerships at Seerbit.

Francis is an alumnus of Heriot Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School and the University of Nigeria.

Tim is our Group CFO and is responsible for investor engagement, corporate development, and all things finance and accounting. Tim brings over 15 years of experience in private equity and investment banking across EMEA and the US.

Most recently, Tim was an Investment Partner at Ethos Private Equity, where he spent 10 years acting in both executive and company director roles. At Ethos, he was responsible for origination, execution, and portfolio management in Africa’s tech and telecommunications sectors. Having executed deals in excess of $1.5bn, Tim left Ethos to embark on his own entrepreneurial venture. After some invaluable lessons and further venture experience Tim joined Zone.

Tim has a Masters in Finance from INSEAD, is a CFA charter-holder, and holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town.

Omonuwa serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer, bringing to bear a wealth of knowledge and an array of experiences across diverse sectors including Financial Services, E-Commerce, Non-profit and Technology.

In her role leading the HR team Omonuwa Olulano works to help Appzone Group connect, develop and nurture its exceptional and passionate talents, while helping them discover and maximise their potentials. Her team oversees a wide range of functions – Talent acquisition, Talent development, employee wellbeing and engagement, business partnering in creating an immersive and delightful employee experience.

Omonuwa holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management.

Olayiwola Osoba is the VP of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Zone where he leads brand, growth, and corporate communications effort globally.

Before joining Appzone, Osoba was Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications for Africa at Tek Experts, a global IT company offering specialized tech support for some of the world’s biggest tech companies. He was responsible for driving growth, marketing programs, partnerships, brand management, and corporate communications efforts across Africa.

Prior to joining Tek Experts, Osoba led marketing, corporate communications, sales, and partnership efforts for several global and local technology companies. During his time as Andela’s Regional Marketing Manager, he was responsible for the company’s regional marketing operations and brand-building efforts, including end-to-end management of talent supply generation projects, co-marketing activities, and all CSR initiatives in West Africa.

During his time at Intel, Osoba supported Intel’s PC acceleration project in Africa. The project delivered strong growth records in the adoption per household in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya between 2017 and 2018 and ensured sustainability in an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Osoba holds a bachelor’s degree from Babcock University and an MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology in Washington DC. Osoba is a member of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and a member of the Advertising Practitioners Commission of Nigeria.

Emeka is a Chemical Engineer with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. He has immense exposure in Product development and business management for Technology and Technology enabled products.

His entrepreneurial drive led to the setup of Ceerom Ventures, a table water production and manufacturing business enterprise which he co-founded in 2005 while at the same time following his passion for IT and ultimately foraying into electronic prepaid airtime distribution. In 2006, he founded Nigeria’s premier mobile airtime distribution service; RechargePlus, which enabled the purchase of airtime via web and mobile channels.

As co-founder of Appzone, Emeka is responsible for new business incubation and service delivery operations as well as overseeing all of the company’s financial Inclusion product divisions. His domain knowledge, entrepreneurial insights, attention to detail and unrivalled ability to execute have been invaluable to the successful founding and growth of Appzone.

Wale serves as Group CTO and Chief Software Architect for AppZone overseeing product architecture, R&D, Technology Strategy, Cloud Infrastructure, Cyber Security, and Cognitive Computing. In addition to core technology oversight, Wale also oversees AppZone’s digital Banking product divisions.

A graduate of Computer Science with Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he finished amongst the top in his class, Wale is known as a Software Prodigy haven become versatile in many programming languages and software application packages at a very young age. Wale has gone ahead to amass more than fifteen years of experience in the modelling, design, and implementation of enterprise software. At various times he has been deeply involved with various technologies including Blockchain, serverless computing, distributed computing, embedded applications, machine learning and rapid application development frameworks amongst others.

Previously, Wale served as Head, Research & Development of Parkway Projects Limited where he was responsible for conducting research, recommending technologies and leading a team of application developers. Before Parkway Projects, Wale worked with the Nigerian arm of Enliven Solutions USA; a Software solutions company, where he served as a lead software developer.

Wura Abiola is the Founder and Managing Director of Management Transformation Limited; a management consulting firm with clients in Nigeria and West Africa focused on the areas of leadership, governance, organizational development, risk management, strategy and public sector policy consulting since 1999.

Prior to founding MT, Wura was a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. (New York and then in London) where she worked primarily in the areas of strategy and organization for the financial and health sectors. She served on the Nigeria Financial Sector Strategy (FSS) 2020 Subcommittee on Human Capital Development Strategy and is also now a Senior Lecturer (Adjunct) – Organizational Development at the University of Lagos.

Wura has a B.Sc. in Accounting from the University of San Francisco (summa cum laude) with an MBA (specializing in the Management of Innovation and Technology) and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from Imperial College, London University. She holds a diploma in Environmental Risk Assessment and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a certified Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) by the Human Resource Certification Institute and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria.

Tobi Oke is the lead partner at V8 Ventures; a business incubator that combines co-working space facilities, capacity development services and venture funding to enable technology startups achieve rapid commercial growth.

Before starting V8 Ventures, he was the Head of Intel Capital Africa and has over 15 years’ experience in investing and partnering with investors across various markets especially Africa. Before Intel Capital, Tobi worked as an Associate Director for Standard Chartered Private Equity and as an associate for HSBC Principal Investments covering the African continent with deals executed across West, East and Southern Africa.

He has also worked in the technology practice at Booz & Company advising companies in Europe on transformational technology projects and was a founding member of the engineering team at Motorola that delivered the first generation of Telematics products globally. Tobi holds a Master of Engineering degree in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College, London and a MBA from the London Business School.

Yomi Jemibewon is one of the founding partners of Cardinal Stone, Managing Partner of CardinalStone Capital Advisers Limited and author of renowned book based on his memoirs; “Risk and Return”.

Yomi is a Private Equity professional with a focus on making growth investments in small and mid-size businesses in key economic sectors of the Nigerian and West African market.

Yomi served as Vice President – Financial Advisory in Avante Capital. Prior to joining Avante, Yomi worked at the New York offices of Bain & Company. At Bain, Yomi worked primarily on executing strategic due diligence and developing post-acquisition growth strategy and turn-around initiatives for various private equity and corporate engagements.

Yomi holds BSc. and MSc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Ike Echeruo is the managing partner and co-founder of constant capital; an Africa focused investment firm where he is responsible for the overall strategic direction and business performance of Constant Capital and the other companies that make up the Constant Capital Group.

Prior to founding Constant Capital, Ike worked in Thatcher Proffitt & Wood handling Corporate finance, derivatives, and structured products transactions. In various capacities Ike has advised on many key transactions including USD100m convertible debt offering by Polaris Bank and a USD100m secondary offering by ACTV. Ike also advised several Nigerian banks in structured financing transactions with nominal value exceeding USD500m.

Ike holds an LLB from the university of Nigeria, as well as an LLM and MBA from Indiana university.