Ayodeji Adewunmi is a Nigerian entrepreneur and investor best known as co-founder of Jobberman.com, the largest employment website in Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a degree in medicine and surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University and has built a career spanning recruitment technology, venture capital, and ride-hailing. Ayodeji Adewunmi is currently Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Dot, a fintech company under Emprego Holdings.
Who Is Ayodeji Adewunmi?
Ayodeji Adewunmi is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor, and technology executive recognised as one of the early pioneers of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. He co-founded Jobberman in 2009 while still in university and has since built a career spanning recruitment technology, venture investing, and mobility startups.
What Is Ayodeji Adewunmi’s Educational Background?
Ayodeji Adewunmi holds a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He later attended Harvard Business School in 2015, adding executive business training to his medical education.
His academic background in medicine, followed by a career built entirely in technology and business, marks an unusual path compared to many of his peers in the Nigerian startup ecosystem.
How Did Ayodeji Adewunmi Found Jobberman?
Ayodeji Adewunmi co-founded Jobberman in August 2009 alongside Olalekan Olude and Opeyemi Awoyemi, while all 3 were students at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. The founders initially ran the platform from their student dormitory before relocating operations to Lagos to be closer to businesses and major employers.
Jobberman grew into an online job marketplace providing recruitment, talent advisory, and training services, connecting job seekers with employers primarily in Nigeria. The platform became the biggest job site in Sub-Saharan Africa, forming strategic partnerships with key media companies along the way.
What Was Ayodeji Adewunmi’s Role at Jobberman?
Ayodeji Adewunmi served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Jobberman for nearly 10 years, from its founding in 2009 until his resignation in April 2019. During his tenure, Jobberman survived the decline and withdrawal of competing platforms such as Careers24, cementing its position as Nigeria’s leading recruitment website.
According to Ayodeji, 6 out of his 10 years at Jobberman were spent investing professionally on the company’s behalf, alongside his operational leadership role.
Why Did Ayodeji Adewunmi Leave Jobberman?
Ayodeji Adewunmi resigned from Jobberman in April 2019 to pursue a new career in venture investing. In an official statement, he said it was “great timing to say goodbye and explore what is next,” adding that he had the comfort of leaving Jobberman in better hands than his own.
He remained close to the company following his departure, expressing full faith in the incoming team and new management to continue serving Nigeria’s recruitment needs.
What Did Ayodeji Adewunmi Do After Leaving Jobberman?
Ayodeji Adewunmi joined Rise Capital as Managing Director for Africa immediately after leaving Jobberman. Rise Capital is a venture capital firm, and Nazar Yasin, its founder, had been one of Jobberman’s early investors, giving Ayodeji a longstanding relationship with the fund before he formally joined.
How Did Ayodeji Adewunmi Become Co-CEO of Gokada?
Ayodeji Adewunmi joined Gokada as Co-CEO in May 2019, barely 2 months after resigning from Jobberman. The move coincided with a $5.3 million Series A investment round in Gokada, led by Rise Capital under his direction as Managing Director.
The Series A round made Gokada only the third African startup that Rise Capital had invested in, following iROKOtv and PrepClass. As President and Co-CEO alongside Gokada’s founder, Fahim Saleh, Ayodeji was responsible for finance, operations, people, and regulatory affairs.
Gokada, a motorcycle ride-hailing company founded in 2018, had more than 1,000 motorcycles and drivers on its platform at the time of the investment and had completed nearly 1 million rides.
What Is Ayodeji Adewunmi’s Current Role?
Ayodeji Adewunmi is currently Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Dot, a company operating under Emprego Holdings B.V. He brings experience from his previous roles at Jobberman, Rise Capital, and Gokada into this current venture.
Beyond his role at Dot, Ayodeji has made 2 personal investments as an angel investor, including in ChopUP, reflecting his continued involvement in Nigeria’s broader startup ecosystem beyond his own operating companies.
What Recognition Has Ayodeji Adewunmi Received?
Ayodeji Adewunmi received the Inaugural Malaria Award in 2006 in the University Student of the Year category, recognising his pioneering work on malaria within the Federation of Medical Students worldwide during his time studying medicine.
He has also held several advisory and speaking positions of note. In December 2012, he participated in the Presidential Policy Dialogue at the 18th Nigerian Economic Summit. He was a speaker at The Economist Conference Nigeria Summit in 2013, and he is a member of the Governance Consultative Group of the World Bank in Nigeria.
What Is Ayodeji Adewunmi’s Legacy in Nigerian Tech?
Ayodeji Adewunmi is widely regarded as one of the early pioneers of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. Jobberman, the company he co-founded as a university student, continued to grow long after his departure, later receiving recognition from the National Youth Service Corps in 2024 as the best collaborative partner, and the Best Recruitment and Talent Firm award at the GRC and FinCrime Prevention Awards the following year.
His career path, from co-founding Nigeria’s largest recruitment platform, to venture investing, to operational leadership at a mobility startup, and now to fintech through Dot, reflects a pattern of continuous reinvention that has shaped his standing as one of the more versatile figures in West Africa’s technology sector.