While many Nigerians are making incredible waves in the tech world, only a small percentage actually rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of the tech world where it originated from, the United States of America. One of such people is Tope Awotona, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of a modern scheduling software app for high performance teams and individuals called Calendly. Awotona is the first Nigerian American tech billionaire and the second black tech billionaire in the United States of America (USA) after David Steward. Awotona became a billionaire by simply scheduling meetings for people. The 41-year-old made the Forbes billionaire list for 2022, nabbing the 2076 spot. Like many businessmen, the road to success was not smooth at the beginning for Awotona. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona’s life was defined by tragedy. He immigrated to the United States as a teenager after watching his dad get shot and killed by a criminal who stole their car. His mom wanted a better life for him and his siblings and so moved the family there. He fell into deep depression and could not eat or sleep for several months as a result of the horror of seeing his father murdered. While it was a hard transition for him, he was driven to become successful for his dad.
Before founding Calendly, Awotona had started a few other businesses, including one that sold projectors and another that sold garden tools, that flopped. Calendly was founded on the backbone of his frustration. After graduating from college and working for many years in tech sales with companies such as Del EMC, he soon realized how much time he was wasting just scheduling sales meetings. He decided to create a tool that will help him schedule appointments without sending emails back and forth. He put all his savings into it, quit his job and started Calendly.
He built its first product by hiring a Ukrainian firm for programming help. He moved to Kyiv during anti-government protests eight years ago for a while to ensure his dream saw the light of day. He bootstrapped Calendly for years before taking on a $350 million investment in 2021 that eventually valued the firm at $3 billion.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
