Top ten Nigerians making waves in United States

By Augustine Alozie

Nigerians are like rivers, they flow everywhere and spread scatteredly in every part of the world. They do not just appear everywhere, they as well always leave positive trademarks and imprints anywhere they find themselves in the corners of every nation.

In the late and recent past, they have been trailblazers and have also emboldened their names in gold with several feats they have achieved in different fields in the diaspora.

Consequently, in this article, we would be making a top 10 list of Nigerians that have been making waves in the United States in various fields and departments in recent years:

1. James Joseph Nantomah

James Joseph Nantomah, a real estate investor and entrepreneur is like every other common Nigerian, who came from zero to hero, from nothing to something. He is from the bubbling city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Joseph has always been known to break bounds and attain the pinnacle of success in the entrepreneurship world, despite his shortcomings.

Growing up was never an easy-peasy journey for Joseph as he did not have the opportunity to further his secondary education to a higher level due to financial crises. Although finances served as a deterrent, yet the Nantomahs were still there to support him emotionally and morally.

Having to deal with this reality that came before him, he came across books from Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins, which greatly influenced his life and reshaped who he was, as is known that betwixt the leaves of a book lies a greater secret to life and success; and therefore in Joseph’s case, he found the keys to these secrets and unapologetically unraveled them. And since he took this heroic and smart move, he has become a trailblazer in every path he took to achieving success.

Thereafter his great encounter with his models in the pages of books, Joseph became a project management professional with a record of him training over 5,000 professionals in the different fields of life, including banks, in 2008. Having achieved this feat, Joseph did not let his background to be a barrier in what he could achieve, and then he took upon the tasking responsibility of flying over to the United States in 2016.

On getting there, instead of him to opt for a 9-to-5 job in the city of New York or Indiana, just like every other immigrant who has come to find greener pastures abroad, he began to navigate through how he could start up his own business, which he successfully did by venturing into real-estate management and many other businesses later through his keen interest for books that expose one to the financial world. And since he has unlocked this potential embedded in him, his impacts have opened doors for him in the United States, having received several recognitions from iconic men in the States.

In addition to his feats, Joseph is known to be a serial entrepreneur, who has primarily invested in multiple companies as mentioned in the foregoing, including Mentor America, Wealth Flow LLC and Capital LLC, cementing his position as a respected investor and executive in and to so many businesses. Beyond the entrepreneurial space, Joseph could as well be referred to as a philanthropist who has given back immensely to the people and the society at large. At the break of Russian-Ukraine war, he bankrolled the flight tickets of stranded Nigerian students in these countries; also in 2021, he supported ‘The Pitch’ business contest, empowering up-and-coming entrepreneurs financially and with equipment to actualize their dreams, among others. However, one could come to conclude that J. J. Nantomah is the J. J. Okocha of Nigeria in the entrepreneurship space in the diaspora.

2. Tope Awotona

Tope Awotona is the founder and CEO of Calendly, a popular scheduling tool that simplifies the process of organizing meetings, appointments, and events. Valued at over $3 billion, Calendly has revolutionized how people manage their schedules. Awotona, who grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, relocated to the U.S. and graduated from the University of Georgia. He started his career as a sales representative at IBM and later worked at Perceptive Software, Vertafore, and Dell EMC. Despite initial setbacks with three startups—a dating website called “Single to Taken,” “ProjectorStop,” which sold projectors, and “YardSteals,” a platform for home and yard equipment—he found success with Calendly, founded in 2010.

3. Abbey Wemimo

Abbey Wemimo, who was also raised in Lagos, Nigeria, moved to Minneapolis in 2009 and earned degrees in business management and public administration. He founded Esusu Financial Inc in 2017, a fintech platform designed to help individuals save money and build credit, particularly for low-to-middle-income consumers. In response to the pandemic, Esusu provided $250,000 in interest-free loans to New Yorkers struggling with rent. The company raised $10 million in Series A funding in July, led by Motley Fool Ventures with investment from Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures.

4. Chinedu Echeruo

Chinedu Echeruo is a renowned serial entrepreneur, best known for creating HopStop, a travel app that helped millions navigate public transportation in major cities worldwide. Apple Inc. acquired HopStop in 2013 for $1 billion. Echeruo’s latest venture, MindMeet, is a platform that allows users to share knowledge and raise money for charity.

5. Kelechi Anyadiegwu

Kelechi Anyadiegwu is the founder of Zuvaa, an African-inspired clothing marketplace based in New York. With a master’s degree in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon, she was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. Frustrated by the lack of fashionable African-inspired clothing and accessories, she created Zuvaa to connect merchants from across the diaspora with customers. By 2016, Zuvaa had generated $2 million in sales.

6. Stephen Ozoigbo

Stephen Ozoigbo is the CEO of the Silicon Valley-based African Technology Foundation (ATF), which provides mentorship and resources to African entrepreneurs and runs a venture fund. ATF’s VenturePATH program connects African companies and founders with Silicon Valley investors.

7. Anie Akpe

Anie Akpe, born in Calabar, Nigeria, moved to the U.S. at age 10 and later became a prominent New York banker. She founded African Women in Technology (AWIT), a startup that offers seminars and mentorship programs to help African women become leaders in the tech industry. AWIT combines hands-on tech workshops with discussions about education and careers in technology.

8. Makinde Adeagbo

Makinde Adeagbo is the founder of /dev/color, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the careers of Black software engineers. As the founder and CEO, he also works as a senior engineer at Pinterest and has held positions at Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Dropbox.

9. Kunbi Tinuoye

Kunbi Tinuoye is the founder and CEO of UrbanGeekz, a digital news platform focused on technology, science, business, and entrepreneurship. Based in Atlanta Tech Village, Tinuoye previously worked as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the U.S. A Cambridge graduate, she has worked at the BBC, NBC, and has published articles in The Daily Mail and Evening Standard in the UK.

10. Toyin Kolawole

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Toyin Kolawole was recently featured in Forbes The Next 100 2021. Her startup, Iya Foods, introduces West African flavors to American palates through everyday staples. By incorporating Nigerian Hibiscus into products like Starbucks’ Passion Tea and spicing up traditional American dishes with West African ingredients, Kolawole is bringing a taste of her heritage to the U.S.