Moniepoint Founder, Eniolorunda, to Chair Pan-African AI Programme

Tosin Eniolorunda, the founder and CEO of Moniepoint, has been appointed as the honorary chair of the inaugural cohort of the Askya AI Growth Platform. The platform, launched by Askya Investment Partners, aims to invest up to $2 million across 10 African Artificial Intelligence startups. Each selected startup will receive up to $200,000 in funding, without any dilution of equity for the founders.

Beyond the financial support, the platform will assist the startups in achieving product-market fit, strengthening their businesses, and gaining access to customers and markets to scale across Africa. This initiative comes as the African continent's artificial intelligence ecosystem gains increasing attention for its potential to drive economic growth and create new technology businesses.

The African Development Bank estimates that inclusive deployment of AI could add up to $1 trillion to Africa's gross domestic product by 2035. Therefore, the Askya AI Growth Platform is focusing on channeling this opportunity towards African founders who are building AI-native solutions, with the primary aim of increasing the number of technology companies developing on the continent instead of simply consuming products developed elsewhere.

Eniolorunda, who turned Moniepoint into one of Nigeria's leading business technology platforms, sees this role as an opportunity to support early-stage founders and help them overcome challenges in scaling technology businesses. She expressed her excitement about guiding the first cohort, emphasizing the importance of execution support and access to real customers for African tech builders.

As the founder and managing partner of Askya Investment Partners, Babacar Seck acknowledged Eniolorunda's experience in building a technology company tailored to African market needs, highlighting his suitability to guide the selected founders.