By Kolawole Ojebisi
In what appears to be a breath of fresh air on the foreign front which has been recently dominated by depressing reports about Nigerians, a United States-based magazine, Forbes, has included three Nigerians on the list of the most powerful, impactful, and wealthiest Black Americans in 2024.
These three Nigerians are residing in the United States.
According to Forbes, the three Nigerians who made the list for the 50 wealthiest persons recently published were Adebayo Ogunlesi, Tope Awotona, and Wemimo Abbey.
Bayo Ogunlesi
Ogunlesi is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm. He attended King’s College Lagos, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School.
The 71-year-old investor spent 23 years in investment banking at Credit Suisse, and was an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Known as Africa’s King of Wall Street, Ogunlesi, who is also the chairman of Africa Finance Corporation, has served on the board of Goldman Sachs. His net worth is put at $1.7bn.
Tope Awotona
Awotona, the founder and Chief Executive Officer, Calendly, invested his life savings of $200,000 into his scheduling software company in 2013 after quitting his job.
The company, with its over 20 million users and 100,000 organisations, is currently valued at $3bn, making Awotona a billionaire.
Wemimo Abbey
Abbey is a co-founder of Esusu, a fintech platform aiding immigrant communities in saving, managing cash flow, and building credit.
