Tosin Eniolorunda, the founder of Moniepoint, is a wealthy young man.
He will be 40 this year and should be unarguably one of the richest, brightest young minds of my generation.
According to unofficial estimates, his stake at Moniepoint is worth over $100 million.
But he was not always this wealthy; running and founding Monie Point changed his life.
Prior to 2017, before Moniepoint was founded, Tosin was just a tech entrepreneur who ran a software consulting company, and he was living at 1004 Estate in Lagos at that time.
What Tosin’s consulting company does is simple: provide a software solution that Nigerian banks use for their day-to-day operations.
But they were doing more than that.
They also build bank apps.
Sterling Bank and Unity Bank apps were built by Tosin and his team at Team Apt, the name of the software company.
Until one day, Tosin got an email from Sterling Bank that the bank is pulling out and does no longer require the services of Team Apt.
Tosin’s mind went blank; he was driving on Ikoyi Road when the message came in.
Sterling Bank was an important, valuable customer, and losing them was a fatal blow for his business cash flow and a monumental setback for his young, budding tech business.
How he was able to get to his destination after digesting that mail was a miracle.
From that setback, his team went back to the trenches to strategize and plan on how to stay afloat.
From that setback, that was how the Dream Monie point was born.
For Monie Point to become a reality and not suffer a stillbirth, one man so much believed in Tosin and in his dream to revolutionize the fintech industry, one customer at a time.
His name is Olu Oyinsa, and he runs Oui Capital, an early-stage African venture capital firm that invests in fintechs and early-stage tech companies.
He met Tosin and was like, Yo! This guy is different, and because of that conviction, he invested $150,000 in Moniepoint for a 1.2% stake in Moniepoint, and his investment was done in 2019.
His understanding of the banking technology stack and payment infrastructure was impressive. I knew he was up to something exciting,” Oyinsan recalled.
Without that conviction and strong belief in Tosin and Moniepoint by Olu Oyinsan, Moniepoint could have died.
Fast forward to 5 years later, after the $150,000 investment into Monie Point was made.
Monie Point has grown, has scaled, and is now a unicorn (a company worth $1 billion and above).
That $150,000 invested into Moniepont in 2019 is now worth more than $10 millon.
Last month, Olu and his team partially took out $8 million from their investment in 2019.
A very successful exit success story and rare in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem
My brother Ozii Baba Anieto wrote a brilliant article today as he queried the reason why our Igbo Odogwus don’t support and back creatives and tech entrepreneurs of Igbo extraction, and my mind went back to Tosin and his incredible Monie point story.
Tosin would not have come this far with his monie point dream if he were to be an Igbo boy born and living in Onitsha.
Where would he have seen the odogwu with the patient capital in Onitsha to invest $150,000 on his dream since 2019?
- My Odogwu’s from the east prefer to invest in frivolities and vanity.
Zenco’s friends raised over 1 billion for him during his mother’s burial.
And I’m also guilty of this.
A friend of mine is about to wed; his committee of friends, which they added me to, has raised over 200 million for him.
I sent 500k this morning, and before I sent the money, I asked myself, would this committee of friends have funded Tosin’s dream to build Moniepoint, assuming we have a Tosin here in this group who wants to build the next Moniepoint?
The answer is no because we prefer funding frivolities instead of substance.
No wonder the southeast is decaying and stagnated.
And suffering from brain drain syndrome too.
Our young, talented minds are fleeing in droves to Lagos because there is no opportunity for them in the east to thrive and flourish.
The next Tosin living in the southeast who stayed back and who wants to build the next monie point is doubting himself, whether he made the right decision by staying back.
He is frustrated because the odogwu’s in the southeast don’t understand what he is talking about, what he is building, as they will prefer to invest their money in a lavish burial for a dead relative rather than backing our young minds, the next Tosin, who is building and creating the future.
As Igbos, we have a lot of introspection to do.
We are distracted by vanity and so are not paying attention.
Our land is poorer today because of this indiscretion
