Interview By Simeon Onoja
Onyeka Akumah: The Journey of a Serial Disruptor
I didn’t cut out to say ‘hey I want to be a serial entrepreneur’. For me, I wanted to create an impact in three sectors - agriculture, real estate and transportation. I kept on looking for how to use technology in those three sectors. My efforts turned out to become successful businesses, employing a lot of people and I’m happy about that. For me, It was more important to impact people’s lives.
At only 37, Onyeka Akumah has been able to build a number of thriving businesses. The serial entrepreneur set out on his entrepreneurial journey with a keen interest in agriculture, real estate and transportation sectors.
L
ooking back, it’s easy to see the impact he has made in these sectors with his leading brands such as Farmcrowdy - an agritech company, Rent Small Small - a real estate firm, Plentywaka - a transportation startup and Crowdyvest - a fintech platform.
attention on building Nigeria’s foremost shared mobility platform Plentywaka as CEO whilst providing guidance to his other businesses.
Onyeka has received several awards African Leadership Persons of the Year 2020, The Top 50 African Disruptors 2020 by The Africa Report, 50 African Over the years, Onyeka has mastered Innovators to Watch by Global Shakers, the art of doing business in this part Vanguard’s Top 10 Nigerian CEOs of the world, working for notable Under 40 Years 2020, and a lot more. companies like GTBank, Deloitte, Jumia and Konga. Through his expertise in Business Elites Africa caught up with technology and marketing, Onyeka is Onyeka on his journey so far in the one of those entrepreneurs bringing transportation ecosystem in Africa, Africa into the international business among other issues. discourse through his endeavours. What’s it like being a serial He currently focuses the bulk of entrepreneur?
24 | Business Elites Africa / ISSUE 116
Farmcrowdy was the first. It wasn’t my first startup but in focusing on the three sectors I was excited about, it was. We made a tremendous impact with the platform. We have close to half a million farmers on our network today that we are providing different kinds of value to, helping them boost their work as well as help us facilitate the production of food in the country.
Then there was Crowdyvest, which was almost like an accidental startup. I wasn’t focused on building a fintech startup, but we found that we could crowdfund beyond agriculture so we created a new business for crowdfunding and that was Crowdyvest. We’ve successfully exited Crowdyvest, it’s self-sustaining and turning into a digital bank. We’re excited about what the new owners are doing with that business. What I did with Rent Small Small is identify another opportunity in getting people to pay rent on a monthly basis. I co-founded that startup with Tunde Balogun who is doing an excellent job there. I pretty much just function at the board level and help with some strategic decisions, Tunde runs the company which he’s taking to another level. Over 500 people have used Rent Small Small to pay rent on a monthly basis across Lagos and other states in Nigeria.
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