Iyin Aboyejithe co-founder of flutter wave, has been named among 62 founders in the world who have founded 2 unicorns.
He was inducted along with Elon Musk and other notable entrepreneurs by the Stanford Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative.
Initiative Founder and Director Ilya Strebulaev revealed that while there are a total of 3025 unicorn founders in the world, only one person, Richard Klausner, has founded 4 unicorns. According to him, 3 people have founded 3 unicorns, while 62 have founded 2 unicorns each, making a total of 66 people who have founded more than one company valued at $1 trillion or more.
Aboyeji’s reaction: Reacting to the list, Aboyeji, 31, attributed his successes to divine guidance and the opportunities his country, Nigeria, offered him. He said:
- “At 31, by the grace of God, I am one of 62 people in the entire world and most likely the only African to have co-founded two unicorns: Andela and Flutterwave.
- “I am grateful to my country, Nigeria. I have repeatedly said that in no other country on earth would my story have been possible. I am not a Caucasian male. I’m barely 30 years old. I was not born with old money. My parents are humble clergymen: the son of a butcher and the daughter of a clergyman who made his way. It is only through prayers, hard work, and God’s favor that we have made it this far. Can anything good come out of Nigeria? Well, yes, this is our testimony. We produce unicorns.”
Aboyeji said he also thanked the founding teams and co-workers he had worked with over the past 10 years.
- They believed when no sane person would. They worked and sacrificed everything to build the future of the continent and I am very happy how God has blessed the work of his hands in return ”. he said.
