Tolu Adetuyi
Innovator & Venture Architect
Forbes Tech Council'24
Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer at Prembly(YC W22)
I build the infrastructure people and businesses need to create and exchange value, so they can earn, grow, and participate productively in the global economy.
Over the past decade, I have built across identity, compliance, financial infrastructure, and capital formation in Africa. At Prembly, I am building the trust infrastructure that enables businesses to verify, transact, and grow with confidence. We work from Nigeria, Kenya, and the United States, and more than a thousand local and global businesses use it against fraud.
Before Prembly, I led growth at Moniepoint, helping build the distribution network that moves billions of dollars in transactions and now serves millions of businesses across the continent.
I hold a first-class degree in Computer Science and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Morgan State University, where I graduated as a GSBM Scholar and was inducted as a lifetime member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honour society for business. I am also a fellow of On Deck (ODF), a global community of technology founders and ambitious people.
Current Work
I curate Chronicles of Innovation to show how the world was built, and ZeroToAct's weekly Signals to show what is changing now, so people can learn from the past and act in the present.
In View
Focus
Writing
All 45 essays →Essays and frameworks on trust, capital, infrastructure, leadership, and how emerging markets work.
My Thesis
Infrastructure for economic participation
My work is guided by a simple conviction. Economic participation expands when people and businesses can prove who they are, move money, reach markets, learn what works, access capital and productive assets, and rely on dependable infrastructure.
Most of my work has been an expression of that thesis, from trust infrastructure to distribution to capital. The newest is BuildX Capital Fund 1, being formed to finance distributed energy assets around productive demand and test how reliable power can strengthen earnings, operating capacity, and economic inclusion.
Read my thesis →Featured
Lagos Tech Fest 2023: Identity verification, compliance, and reducing fraud for African startups.