The technology infrastructure powering millions of financial transactions in Nigeria has received international attention after Felix Ike, co founder and Chief Technology Officer of Moniepoint, was named the only African executive on TIME magazine’s inaugural Executives of the Year: Tech and Data list. Ike was included among 50 technology and data leaders from companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Netflix, Shopify, Reddit and CrowdStrike.
TIME said the list recognises senior technology and data executives whose decisions are influencing how major organisations deploy technology, secure systems and use data. Ike, a first class Computer Science graduate of the University of Lagos, co founded Moniepoint with Tosin Eniolorunda in 2015 and has led the engineering and technology infrastructure behind the fintech company’s financial services platform.
The recognition brings attention to the engineering layer behind Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem. Reports on the recognition indicate that Ike’s work has helped build infrastructure supporting millions of businesses and individuals, while Moniepoint has grown into one of Africa’s prominent financial technology platforms. The company was also included in TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies in 2025.
Ike said the recognition was significant beyond his personal achievement, describing it as evidence that Nigerian engineering built for Nigeria and Africa can gain recognition on the global technology stage. For Nigeria’s technology ecosystem, the development highlights the increasing visibility of locally developed engineering expertise and the infrastructure being built to support digital finance, businesses and wider economic activity across Africa.