Born on 20th July, 1977, Bosun Tijani is a Nigerian-British entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), the leading Pan-African innovation and technology centre. Co-Creation Hub works at the forefront of accelerating the application of innovation and social capital for a better society. He is one of the most influential figures in African tech.
He worked as a Business Development Manager at DeliveryKing and also worked as Deployment Lead Africa with Hewlett Packard Global Micro-enterprises Acceleration Programme (GMEAP).
Bosun Tijani is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and industry leader in the African technology ecosystem and was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People on the continent by New Africa Magazine.
He initiated the first visit of Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria in August 2016 as part of efforts to place Africa on the global technology map. He has also hosted other global technology leaders in Nigeria, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019 and most recently in June, 2023, hosted a fireside chat with Microsoft founder and co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
In 2019, under his leadership, CcHUB acquired Kenya's iHub and launched the CcHUB Design Lab in Kigali, Rwanda in the same year. He has also expanded CcHUB's Pan-African footprint into Southern Africa by opening CcHUB Namibia, the main tech hub in Windhoek, Namibia in 2023.
Tijani is also currently an associate researcher at the Wits School of Governance, with research interests in collaborative projects that inform practice through support to policymakers, inventors and entrepreneurs while advancing theories in innovation systems and governance.
In 2010, he decided to pursue a path towards becoming an entrepreneur . He co-founded Co-creation HUB (CcHUB) with Femi Longe, which became Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional and multi purpose space where work to catalyze creative social tech ventures take place.
Co-creation HUB is essentially a place for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria.
“We wanted a platform to support ordinary young Nigerians with ideas who believe that they can create a solution to a problem,” Tijani said.
In 2019, Tijani started running the largest tech network in Africa following CcHUB’s acquisition of iHub. This made him the CEO of both organizations, including their startup incubation programs and VC activities from Nigeria to Kenya.
“The CcHub/iHub will also use its size to leverage more partnerships. Tijani and the team are already gaining collaborations with big African and global tech names, such as MainOne and Facebook”.
Bosun Tijani resides in Lagos, Nigeria and Leicester,United Kingdom with his wife, Moji Tijani and three children. He is an avid fitness enthusiast and football lover.
Early life and education
Bosun Tijani was born in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria and spent his formative years there before moving to Abeokuta, Nigeria for his secondary education. In 1996, he then went on to Jos, Nigeria to study at the University of Jos where he first started off studying for a diploma in Computer Science before going on to study Economics, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in 2002. He later obtained an MSc in Information Systems and Management from the Warwick Business School, United Kingdom in 2007.
In 2023, Bosun Tijani earned a PhD in innovation and economic development from the School of Business, University of Leicester. His doctoral research focussed on contributing to a better understanding of how the network perspective to innovation capacity could provide a contextually relevant framework for explaining the adoption and adaptation of innovation in developing countries and specifically offer an alternative path to how African countries could effectively organize their innovation ecosystems.
Tijani has also been part of the Innovation for Economic Development executive programme at Harvard Kennedy School in 2013 as well as being a 2014 Draper Hills Fellow of the Centre for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University.
In addition to his ongoing work with CcHUB, Tijani is also actively involved in a number of initiatives within and outside the tech ecosystem
Truppr
He launched Truppr, a social platform that allows fitness enthusiasts organise events, or join in on, amateur sporting events within their locality
StemCafe
In 2019, he founded STEM Cafe, a maker lab for kids and young adults aged 5-18 with operations in Lagos, Kigali and Nairobi.
Board Memberships
Bosun Tijani sits on the boards of several companies including Taeillo, an African e-commerce furniture and lifestyle brand and LifeBank, a healthcare platform dedicated to delivering critical medical supplies to hospitals, where he serves as Board Chair
EU Advisory Group on Research and Innovation
In 2021, Tijani was engaged as a member of a high level expert advisory group focused on advising the European Commission on how to mainstream research and innovation through Africa-Europe Cooperation.
Desmond Tutu Fellowship
He was selected in 2017 by the African Leadership Institute to be a part of the prestigious Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship. The fellowship recognises exceptional emerging African leaders for their contribution to development on the continent
Bosun Tijani gets ministerial nomination for President Tinubu's cabinet.
President Bola Tinubu included Bosun Tijani, the co-founder and CEO of Nigeria's biggest tech hub, Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), in the second batch of his ministerial list. This nomination marks a significant departure from a list laden with career politicians, past governors, and senators.
Olatunbosun Tijani's nomination suggests that he is being considered for the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy role. This move aligns with President Tinubu's focus on Nigeria's tech ecosystem during his campaign.
