Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of Moniepoint, has sparked debate across Nigeria’s tech ecosystem after saying the country does not yet have enough world-class technical talent to build globally competitive companies.
Speaking at The Platform 2026 on May 1, Eniolorunda delivered one of his most candid assessments yet of Nigeria’s talent gap.
“I used to feel like intelligence is equally distributed around the world,” he said. “But I am realizing now that environment shapes a lot of things.”
His comments come at a time when Nigeria’s tech industry is expanding rapidly, even as companies struggle with hiring, retention, and scaling.
Eniolorunda pointed to the continued migration of skilled professionals—commonly referred to as “Japa”—as a key challenge. The issue, he suggested, is not just that Nigeria is producing limited globally competitive talent, but that much of what it does produce is leaving. The result is a double strain: a weak pipeline and a persistent brain drain.
Beyond migration, he raised concerns about cultural and environmental factors shaping how young Nigerians learn and work. “The level that people are reasoning in this country is not as high as it used to be,” he said. “And this is coming from me, a diehard Nigerian who wants Nigerians to grow.”
He also pointed to the role of distraction and shifting values, suggesting that social media and the appeal of quick success are competing with the kind of deep, focused thinking required to build complex systems.
For Eniolorunda, aspiration is part of the problem. “The person they see around them is that local boy that has collected thirty thousand dollars—and they want to be like him,” he said.
In his view, visible success stories are shaping what younger Nigerians consider achievable, often tilting ambition toward short-term wins instead of long-term value creation.
Despite the criticism, Eniolorunda framed his remarks as a call to action. “All we just need to do is develop our human capital, change this mentality within our current youth, and restore faith in what is actually possible,” he said.
He also emphasized that building globally competitive companies requires more than technical ability. Teams, he noted, need a combination of traits including customer obsession, technical excellence, ownership, urgency, and merit-based decision-making.
“Nigerians are like the Americans of Africa,” he added, pointing to what he sees as a strong underlying drive. “But that alone is not enough—we need the right culture.”
His remarks are likely to divide opinion. Nigeria has produced engineers and founders working at global companies, raising questions about whether the challenge is talent quality or local systems that struggle to support and retain it.
Others argue that Nigerian talent is already globally competitive, but constrained by infrastructure, funding, and policy.
Tosin Eniolorunda
