Nigerians who moved abroad years ago are leading global industries, reshaping perceptions and showcasing the nation’s talent on the world stage.

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Long before the current wave of Nigerian professionals fleeing the country – popularly known as japa, the Yoruba word for ‘escape’ – a generation of young citizens from the populous West African nation had already planted roots abroad.

Having left as teenagers, many of them have risen to prominence in finance, business and technology across the United States, the United Kingdom and beyond. These individuals have not only excelled in their fields but have also served as Nigeria’s ambassadors of talent and resilience on the global stage.

Some have risen to prominent positions in investment banking and asset management, helping bring more investment into Africa and showcasing the potential of the continent to global investors. A number of those who are entrepreneurs are reshaping industries with unique offerings that reflect their heritage and insights into both local and international markets.

Through their contributions in their adopted countries, they have reshaped perceptions about Nigeria as a nation rich in talent and promise. As they continue to break barriers and redefine industries globally, their stories reflect a rich narrative of excellence, resilience and the boundless possibilities that arise when talent meets opportunity.

Tope Awotona – founder and CEO of Calendly

Tope Awotona, who is based in Atlanta, Georgia in the US, was born in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos 43 years ago. His family immigrated to the US in 1996 and he went on to study at the University of Georgia, earning a degree in management information systems in 2002.

His company Calendly, a scheduling and appointment platform that enables individuals, teams and organisations to automate meetings, has proven hugely successful with over 20 million users in 230 countries, according to its website.

Frustrated with the back-and-forth emails required to schedule meetings, he founded the company in 2013 after working as an enterprise software salesperson for various companies including IBM, Perceptive Software and EMC (now part of Dell).

Awotona, who had launched several startups that flopped, self-financed Calendly for eight years before taking on a $350m investment in 2021 that valued the firm at $3bn.

Today, Awotona is worth $1.4bn and Awotona is ranked the 2,324th-wealthiest man in the world, according to Forbes. He is the richest Nigerian immigrant and one of only two Black tech billionaires in the US.

Inspired by his parents, he supports aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly in Nigeria, and is passionate about diversity and inclusion in tech. He’s contributed to organisations like Black Girls Code and My Brother’s Keeper, aiming to nurture the next generation of innovators.

Tope Lawani – co-founder and managing partner at Helios Investment

Lawani, who grew up in Ibadan in the south-west of Nigeria, moved to the United States in the 1980s for his tertiary education. He started out at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and earned a chemical engineering degree in 1991, followed by a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University in 1996.

He began his career as a mergers and acquisitions and corporate development analyst at the Walt Disney Company and later joined American private equity firm TPG Capital, where he had a lead role in the execution of several significant leveraged buyout and venture capital investments, including the acquisitions of Burger King Corp., Debenhams plc., J. Crew Group and Scottish & Newcastle Retail.

He founded Helios Investment Partners in 2004 with a fellow Nigerian, Babatunde Soyoye, to focus exclusively on private investment in Africa. The company, which prides itself as the largest Africa-focused private investment firm, has invested over $3bn in African businesses, with offices in London, Paris, Lagos and Nairobi, according to its website.

Helios has raised three private equity funds since its inception: $305m in 2006, $908m in 2010 and $1.1bn in 2014. In 2020, a transaction between Helios Holdings Limited and Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation created the premier pan-Africa-focused alternative investment manager, Helios Fairfax Partners.

In 2024, the company was recognised for the fifth consecutive year as Africa firm of the year by Private Equity International. Lawani currently lives in the United Kingdom.

Chinedu Echeruo – founder of Beloved Ecosystem

US-based serial entrepreneur Echeruo, who grew up in the eastern part of Nigeria, grabbed the headlines in 2013 when Apple, the world’s biggest company, acquired his company HopStop.com for $1bn. The app, which he co-founded in 2005, helped millions of users navigate public transportation in many cities across the world.

He was 16 when his parents moved from Nigeria to New York City. He obtained a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He started his career at JP Morgan Chase, where he was involved in various mergers and acquisitions, financing and private equity transactions. He later worked at hedge fund AM Investment Partners as an analyst.

Since he embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, Echeruo has established several companies, including Tripology.com, a lead-generation service for the travel industry which was acquired by Rand McNally in 2010, and Gigameet, a social networking platform focused on charity and entrepreneurship.

He is currently leading Beloved Ecosystem, founded in 2022, to build an ecosystem of startups worth $25bn in 10 years, starting with 10 AI-powered startups in Newark, New Jersey, and expanding to 50 startups across major Northeast cities and then nationwide.

The startup builder is described as a new approach to redesign economic opportunity in distressed HUBZones (Historically Underutilised Business Zones).

He is also the founder of Talented Youth Academy, an AI-powered apprenticeship platform for 16- to 24-year-olds in distressed HUBZone communities.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – director-general of WTO

Okonjo-Iweala made history in 2021 when she emerged as the first woman and the first African to serve as director-general of the World Trade Organisation. The global finance expert and economist was appointed for a second four-year term last November, set to begin on 1 September 2025.

Born in Delta State, Nigeria, she travelled to the US in 1973 as a teenager to study economics at Harvard University and later went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development.

She spent 25 years at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to managing director of operations. As managing director, she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81bn operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, and spearheaded several initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crisis and later during the financial crisis, according to her biography.

She twice served as Nigeria’s finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as foreign minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She steered her country through various reforms ranging from macroeconomic to trade, financial and real sector issues; she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors that led to the wiping out of $30bn of Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of $18bn.

Adebayo Ogunlesi – founding partner, chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners

Ogunlesi, a US-based billionaire investor who hails from Ogun State, Nigeria, was in the news earlier this month when he joined the board of OpenAI, the ChatGPT developer and one of the world’s leading AI research labs.

In 1979, he left Nigeria for the United Kingdom to study at Oxford University, after which he went to the US to attend Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

Last year, he sold his New York-based private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which he founded in 2006, to BlackRock for $12.5bn. Prior to the deal, GIP had more than $100bn in assets under management with interests in the energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and water and waste management sectors.

GIP recently led a consortium to acquire major port operations at both ends of the Panama Canal. The $23bn deal saw GIP and its partners secure a 90% stake in Panama Ports Company from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, giving them control of the Balboa and Cristóbal ports at the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic entrances.

Ogunlesi, who has been chairman and managing partner of GIP since its inception, was appointed last year as a senior managing director of BlackRock and a member of the firm’s global executive committee and its board of directors.

He is known as one of Wall Street’s most powerful dealmakers who has advised some of the world’s most influential companies including Goldman Sachs, where he previously acted as lead director. In March, he was appointed as lead independent director at Kosmos Energy Holdings.