From setback to success: Tosin Eniolorunda’s journey from losing a major client to founding Moniepoint,a fintech unicorn,showcases the power of resilience,vision,and belief in local talent.

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.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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 customer, and losing them was a fatal blow 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 stillborn, 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 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.

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 million today.

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

Eniolorunda’s story highlights the importance of local understanding in entrepreneurship. Unlike many successful African startups led by foreign-trained founders, he has demonstrated that deep knowledge of local markets can lead to substantial success. His vision is to create financial solutions that empower small businesses and enhance financial inclusion across Nigeria and beyond.