Lagos & Abeokuta, Nigeria
PAUL
AKOLADE
Founder and startup ecosystem builder - Vant, Ogun Startups, Eaglion, ECOM FEST, and Founders Friday Abeokuta, currently leading growth and community for the AfriLabs Connect Deal Room.
Building the systems entrepreneurs need, and the resilience to use them.
Paul Akolade is a Lagos and Abeokuta-based founder and ecosystem operator with eight years across startup support, digital transformation and venture-backed product. He founded Vant, a SaaS fintech platform for MSMEs selected into the AWS Build Accelerator from over 2,000 global applicants, supported by Microsoft for Startups, and listed on MIT Solve.
He also founded Ogun Startups, a directory mapping 150+ startups and support organisations across all 20 LGAs and 13 sectors of Ogun State, and founded Eaglion, spanning product, ICT training and early-stage impact investing. He currently leads growth and community for the AfriLabs Connect Deal Room, the deal platform inside Africa's largest innovation hub network.
Paul has trained over 1,000 entrepreneurs and mentored 50+ startups through GIZ, SMEDAN, British Council, NITDA and NerdzFactory, and convenes Founders Friday Abeokuta - a recurring founder gathering now part of a network active across roughly ten Nigerian cities. He's City Patron with The Enablers Network for his sustained contribution to ecosystem building.
What Paul is building.
Resilience isn't something founders are born with - it's built the same way a company is built: deliberately, imperfectly, one hard day at a time.
It's the thread running through everything Paul builds - from Vant's tools to the founders he mentors.
How Paul works with founders.
Growth & Community Lead, AfriLabs Connect Deal Room
Owns startup and investor pipeline for the deal infrastructure platform of Africa's largest innovation hub network - intake, qualification, matching and follow-through.
Convener, Founders Friday Abeokuta
Founded and runs a monthly founder gathering connecting founders, investors and ecosystem stakeholders - part of a network now active across roughly ten Nigerian cities.
City Patron, The Enablers Network
Appointed City Patron for sustained contributions to building and nurturing startup ecosystems in and around Abeokuta.
Certified Digitalisation Consultant
Advises on the digital transformation of MSMEs across Nigeria under the GIZ-backed Digital Transformation Centre programme with ECO Consult GmbH & Co. KG.
Youth & Startup Mentor
Trained 1,000+ entrepreneurs and mentored 50+ startups on business modelling, funding strategy and go-to-market through GIZ, SMEDAN, British Council, NITDA, BridgeforBillion, and NerdzFactory.