Flutterwave has the unique distinction of being one of only nine unicorns in Africa. Since its 2015 launch, the fintech has raised nearly half a billion dollars from investors. It now serves more than a million businesses, including household names such as Uber, MTN, Microsoft, and Air Peace.
But when it’s not teasing IPO plans or planning an expansion, it’s seeding a new generation of tech founders. In this article, we take a look at the former Flutterwave employees who have gone on to launch tech ventures.
Ridwan Olalere
Opening the floor is Ridwan Olalere, Co-founder and CEO of remittance startup Lemfi. Between 2016 and 2018, Olalere worked at Flutterwave as a senior software developer before joining OPay as director of payment products.
He co-founded Lemfi with Rian Cochran in 2020 as a fintech focused on providing fast, reliable, and low-cost money transfers to underserved migrant communities. The platform offers services such as multi-currency accounts and instant international transfers, and Olalere has spearheaded its impressive growth since inception. The company recently completed a Series B round, demonstrating growing investor confidence in its vision.
Ted Oladele
Until 2024, Oladele was a key part of the Flutterwave team, where he was at various times vice president of design and product development and vice president, emerging technologies & innovation.
In his role as VP of design, Oladele led the redesign of Flutterwave 3.0. In 2024, he co-founded Mira, a point-of-sale system for restaurants. Using Mira, restaurants can manage much of their operations, including taking customer orders in person and online, collecting payments, and keeping tabs on key revenue drivers. While it launched with a QR code system for taking orders, it has launched Mira Register, a point of sale device, which it prices at ₦360,000.
Douglas Kendyson
Kendyson spent ten months at Flutterwave as a software engineer for its Barter product, a customer success manager, and later, an intern manager. Before joining Flutterwave, he briefly worked at Paystack, where he began working on Selar.
In 2021, he went full-time on Selar, a decision that has paid off handsomely, with the startup quickly becoming a creator economy powerhouse and an example of how to build a successful startup without venture capital. Kendyson will teach the lessons from this at the upcoming Lagos Startup Expo, and you can grab a masterclass ticket here.
Eche Emole
Eche Emole spent a year at Flutterwave as a business development executive. His startup, Afropolitan, co-founded with Chika Uwazie, is a community-as-a-service platform leveraging blockchain technology to create new systems for governance, identity, and digital currency.
One of Afropolitan’s core offerings is the Afropass, a digital passport granting access to exclusive events, experiences, and more. The platform is poised to evolve into a fully-fledged “Internet country” with a long-term vision of building a sovereign digital nation.
Namnso Ukpanah
Namnso Ukpanah, a physiology graduate turned product designer, led product design at Hotels.ng from 2017 to 2019, focusing on UX optimisation. He later consulted for Alta Labs and joined Flutterwave, where he led the redesign of the company’s business dashboard. Ukpanah is currently Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Kimoyo Insights, a real-time market analytics startup that has raised over $400,000 from investors including Precursor VC and Google.
Olufemi Olanipekun
Olufemi Olanipekun began his career as a web content manager at Golden Effects Pictures after graduating from Olabisi Onabanjo University. He later transitioned into fintech, holding product roles at One Finance (now Carbon), PayWithCapture, and Flutterwave, where he helped design and develop core offerings such as the Rave payment gateway and Moneywave.
Olanipekun is now CEO of VeendHQ, a digital lending platform focused on salaried individuals. He previously founded EnsembleLab, marking his first foray into startup building.
Oluwadamisi Busari
Oluwadamisi Busari is the Founder and CEO of Sendsprint, a fintech startup launched in 2022 to serve African migrants with a low-cost remittance service. The platform charges a flat $5 fee and partners with over 3,000 retailers, including Shoprite and Dapper Monkey, to enable cross-border gift card transfers. Before Sendsprint, Busari was Flutterwave’s Global Head of Commercial Alliances & Strategy.
Kehinde Olateru
Kehinde Olateru is the CEO and Founder of Zero Complex AI, a startup that specialises in helping businesses integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their existing workflows.
With Zero Complex AI, Olateru hopes to make AI accessible to companies of all sizes, enabling them to automate operations, enhance decision-making, and improve overall efficiency through tailored AI solutions.
The company has already been backed by top venture capital firms, including Kaleo Ventures, Voltron Capital, Alpha Gaps, and Velocity Digital. Before founding Zero Complex AI, Olateru was the Head of Flutterwave Labs.
Shile Owoka
Shile Owoka joined Flutterwave’s business development team in 2016 and spent two years helping scale the startup’s early operations. He later became Nigeria Country Manager at identity verification company Smile ID. Since early 2025, Owoka has been building Bloomie AI, an edtech platform delivering AI-generated interactive learning content for children and educators.
Wale Ayantoye
Wale Ayantoye is the CEO of GiriToday, a marketplace that connects African artisans directly with international buyers. By acting as a middleman, GiriToday helps these artisans earn better and makes African goods more accessible. Ayantoye previously spent time at Flutterwave between November 2023 and January 2025, where he was VP of risk management and internal audit.
Precious Adeyemi
The global skincare industry is forecast to approach $200 billion in revenue by 2025, yet personalised product matching remains a challenge for consumers.
Precious Adeyemi, former product manager at Flutterwave, is addressing this with Beeva AI, a computer vision-powered platform that scans users’ faces to recommend skincare products tailored to their unique skin profile, bridging the gap between user needs and product efficacy.
