Nigeria has established itself as a hub for successful technology companies, with six of Africa's ten unicorns, including Interswitch, Flutterwave, OPay, Andela, Moniepoint, and Moove, calling the country home. As of August 2026, these businesses have demonstrated Nigeria's capacity to produce companies of billion-dollar value. The country's ability to build successful technology businesses is not in doubt, but the question remains as to why the corporate architecture behind these businesses often sits outside Africa.
OPay, a digital financial services company, has grown significantly in Nigeria, with 50.1 million monthly active users and a proposed listing on the New York Stock Exchange that could value it at up to $4.42 billion. However, despite earning almost 90% of its revenue in Nigeria, OPay Limited is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Singapore. This is not an isolated case, as Paystack, founded by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, was incorporated in the United States and acquired by Stripe in 2020 for a reported $200 million.
The trend of Nigerian tech companies incorporating outside the country is attributed to the need for capital from investors operating across borders. These investors often prefer familiar legal systems, established shareholder protections, and predictable dispute resolution, which countries like the Cayman Islands and Delaware in the United States offer. Founders may choose these structures to make their companies investable to global capital, rather than rejecting Nigeria.
However, the problem arises when Nigeria becomes good at producing successful companies but less competitive at retaining ownership structures through which their long-term value can be distributed. If the technology sector is to have a deeper, lasting impact, Nigeria must look beyond valuations to ask who owns these businesses and who has the opportunity to participate in their growth. The value sits with the shares, and as a business grows in value, so does the potential worth of the shares held by its investors.
In 2021, OPay was valued at $2 billion, and its proposed New York listing could value the company at $4.42 billion, more than double its earlier valuation. At the top of the proposed price range, SoftBank's 6.6% stake would be worth approximately $292 million. This highlights the power of equity and the benefits of ownership, which Nigeria's technology ambitions must confront. While Nigeria benefits from OPay's business through jobs, wages, taxes, and economic activity, these benefits are not the same as ownership.
To give more Nigerians a meaningful opportunity to participate in the success of its technology businesses, three questions deserve attention. First, can a company be built in Lagos and attract investors in New York without its founders feeling compelled to place the holding company elsewhere? Nigeria's digital economic zone is an attempt to make the country a more attractive base for internationally investable businesses. Second, can Nigerian savings reach Nigerian technology businesses, and can the country create more credible channels for domestic capital to invest in growth businesses?
The NGX Growth Board was created to give high-growth businesses a route to public markets, but no technology startup has listed on it yet. OPay has obtained board and shareholder approval to pursue a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange following its proposed New York listing. However, the company has not announced a timeline, and the proposed listing remains subject to market conditions and regulatory requirements. The ambition must extend beyond a single company, and Nigeria should not only be where the next generation of technology giants is built but also where more people have the opportunity to own a part of them.
Key points
- Nigeria's tech industry is booming, but the ownership structures of these billion-dollar businesses often lie outside the country.
- The country's ability to build successful technology businesses is not in doubt, but it must now focus on building the financial and institutional structures that allow more Nigerians to own a share of their success.
- To achieve this, Nigeria must address questions around corporate structure, domestic capital, and listing on public markets.
