Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of fintech firm Moniepoint, has come under scrutiny after stating his company struggled to fill over 500 job roles due to a lack of qualified Nigerian talent. Segun Olugbile, CEO of Data Analytics Privacy Technology Ltd (DAPT), challenged this view, arguing that the talent gap is not due to unqualified youths but rather a failure by companies to build structured training systems. Olugbile pointed to Eniolorunda's own career as evidence, noting he began as a Mechanical Engineer before Interswitch invested in his development, transforming him into a fintech leader. According to Olugbile, this shows companies can create skilled professionals if they are willing to invest in training rather than wait for fully formed talent. He cited DAPT's approach after Nigeria's 2019 data protection regulations, when few local experts existed. The company began recruiting graduates and training them through internships and in-house programmes, contributing to a growing pool of data privacy specialists in the country. Olugbile emphasized that young people respond to opportunity, and when entry-level jobs demand prior experience, many are left without pathways into the workforce. He warned that over-reliance on expatriate workers drains capital through remittances and weakens local capacity building. While acknowledging shortcomings in Nigeria's university system, Olugbile stressed that in fast-evolving tech fields, private sector investment in training is essential. He urged companies to establish paid academies, apprenticeships, and structured onboarding systems to develop talent from the ground up. Those that do, he said, will not only solve internal hiring challenges but also strengthen the national digital economy.
Eniolorunda's claim of a talent gap ignores how his own expertise was built through employer investment, not academic readiness. If Moniepoint, a major fintech player, is struggling to fill 500 roles, its failure may lie in not replicating the kind of training pipeline that launched its CEO's career. Nigerian firms that keep waiting for fully skilled hires while avoiding training responsibilities are slowing their own growth. The real shortage is not in talent, but in corporate willingness to develop it.
Editorial note: AI-assisted opinion, not established fact. Full disclaimer →
