Onyeka Akumah (born 21 October 1984) is a Nigerian technology entrepreneur with a focus on transportation, agriculture, real estate, and media sectors. He is popularly known as the founder of Treepz Inc. Prior to founding his company in 2019, Onyeka Akumah was the CEO of Farmcrowdy. He is credited with having been involved in the success of various tech and e-commerce companies in Africa where he held positions and contributed to their growth.
Early life and education
Onyeka was born in Lagos State, and just before he was 2 years old, his parents relocated to Sokoto State, North-west Nigeria where he did his Primary and Secondary School education. Onyeka earned his Bachelor's degree at the Sikkim Manipal University India where he graduated with a Grade A or First Class Honours in Applied Information Technology.
Career
Onyeka ventured into entrepreneurship at a very young age, building startups even while he was still in the university recording successes and failures as he grew. After obtaining his first degree, Onyeka started his work experience with British Council as a Webmaster before going on to join Deloitte as the E-Marketing Coordinator for East, West and Central Africa. In 2010, he was the Online Marketing manager for Wakanow, then later had a stint with GTB to launch the SME Market Hub.
Onyeka is an e-commerce expert whose experience spans top e-commerce companies such as Rocket Internet owned Jumia, Konga and Travelbeta leading their marketing and commercial activities. He is the co-founder of Farmcrowdy, Plentywaka, Crowdyvest and RentSmallSmall. He resigned as CEO of Farmcrowdy in 2021 and is currently the CEO of Treepz (formerly Plantywaka). He was ranked among the top 10 Nigeria entrepreneurs by Vanguard alongside Uche Pedro, Seun Osewa, Anthony Ejefoh, Linda Ikeji and Temie Giwa-Tubosun. In October 2021, he was interviewed by Peace Hyde for his Forbes Africa Feature, where he spoke about his entrepreneurial journey. He was also featured on Techcrunch where he spoke about African Start-Ups and Global Expansion.
On 2 March 2021, Onyeka resigned as CEO of Crowdyvest following a 100% sale of the business and Tope Omotolani was then appointed as CEO after she led a total acquisition of the company.
Treepz
In September 2019, after an unfriendly bus transportation experience, Onyeka along with his co-founders Johnny Enagwolor, Oluseyi Afolabi and John Shaibu founded Treepz. During its rebranding process in September 2021, the company needed a more globally acceptable name, hence the change from Plentywaka to Treepz Inc. Treepz Inc is building Africa's shared mobility platform offering commuters convenience, safety, and comfort on their daily commute. With operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, Treepz has moved over 800,000 riders. Treepz Inc is set to disrupt the transportation sector with services such as shared daily rides. Travel rides and now ticketing solutions. In December 2021, Treepz partnered with 53-year-old licensed shuttle bus company, CMS Taxi and Motor Nigeria Limited (CMS T&M), to digitise transportation for 1.6 million customers annually. They operate in the Central Business District of Lagos including Marina, Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki areas of Lagos State, with buses and minivans.
Farmcrowdy
In November 2016, Onyeka, together with his co-founders Ifeanyi Anazodo, Akindele Philips, Christopher Abiodun, and Temitope Omotolani founded Farmcrowdy Limited, an agricultural digital platform connecting small scale farmers to investors with the goal of boosting the food production in Nigeria. Farmcrowdy, took off very fast, receiving its first angel investment of $60,000 a month after launch and in 2017, got a $1 million seed investment at the Techstars Atlanta Accelerators Programme. Today, the company has grown to a team of 55 individuals who have worked with over 25,000 rural farmers across 16 states in Nigeria including Kano, Niger, Nasarrawa, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Edo, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Niger, Kwara, Abuja, Sokoto, and Benue. Farmcrowdy is described by the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the company creating the new wealth in Agriculture and was later honoured with the National Productivity Order of Merit by President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
In August 2019, Oyo State announced a partnership with Farmcrowdy to onboard 50,000 rural farmers in Oyo State. He noted the aim of FarmCrowdy at a briefing held at the main office in Lekki, Lagos in 2019. He said "We are establishing this new aggregate outfit as a subsidiary of Farmcrowdy to drive the growth of agriculture not just in Nigeria but on the continent. We have also managed to use the resources we were able to gather from both investors and supporters to put together in the business, to drive food production on the continent. Our aim for doing this is to do all the things that will make a farmers life better in the country. However, this does not in any way affect Farmcrowdy's operations rather; it will make it better and boost the agric value chain of the country."
Personal life
Onyeka lives in Lagos, Nigeria. When he is not doing business or investing in startups, he enjoys speaking and teaching at various events and workshops.
Publications
Onyeka Akumah published his Autobiography on the 22nd of December 2024. Titled Zero To Forty: Don't Stop, Keep Building, the book describes Onyeka's journey from Jumia to Konga and Farmcrowdy to Treepz, it's the story of an entrepreneur who is building for 1.5 billion people This book is an autobiography of Onyeka Akumah who embodies the spirit of African entrepreneurship with resilience in the face of challenging and sacrificial moments to keep building category-leading businesses on the continent. His unwavering dedication to innovation, combined with his passion for empowering others, positions him as a key figure shaping the digital landscape of Africa
As he continues to break new ground and inspire others, his story shared in this book will serve as a testament to the potential and limitless possibilities that lie ahead of every individual who dares to dream, build and create impact on the continent of Africa, then expand globally. Onyeka was born in Lagos State, and just before he was 2 years old, his parents relocated to Sokoto State, North-west Nigeria where he did his Primary and Secondary School education.
Awards and recognition
(2002) Delta State Scholarship for Academic Excellence
(2009) Brown Heart Charity Award for Young Role Models under 30
(2010) 3rd Best Website Designer for 2009 in the National Web Design Competition organized by the Federal Ministry of Youth Development in Nigeria
(2013) 1st runner up – National Youth Merit Award in Innovation
(2015) Nigeria Technology Awards – Digital Marketing Personality of the Year 2015
(2017) Impact Award 2017 in Agriculture
(2017) Nigerian Technology Awards – Start-up CEO of the Year 2017
(2017) Top 20 Young Entrepreneurs to Watch in Africa by the African Youth Forum in Egypt
(2018) Nigeria Technology Awards – Tech Entrepreneur of the Year
(2018) Upgrade Africa Award of Excellence 2018
(2018) Imperial Integrated Project- Award of Honor 2018
(2018) 100 Most Influential Young Persons in West African Under 40 for 2018.
(2018) Quartz List of Africa's 30 Innovators in 2018
(2018) Top 5 Outstanding Entrepreneurs in Nigeria
(2019) JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons Of Nigeria
(2019) 26th Most Influential Young Person in Nigeria
(2019) 100 Most Influential Africans of 2019 – New African
(2019) The 100 Most Outstanding Individuals in Africa – The Africa Report
(2020) Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 at the GAGE Awards
(2020) Top 10 Nigerian CEOs Under 40 Years
(2020) 50 African Innovators to Watch by Global Shakers
(2020) Ranked 24th in The Top 50 African Disruptors – The Africa Report
(2021) African Leadership Persons of the Year - African Agricultural Champion of the Year 2020
(2022) Internet Entrepreneur of the Year Award - Business Insider Africa Awards.
(2024) Medal in Africa's 40 Under 40 CEO's Awards (Uganda).
Onyeka is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur who has demonstrated his commitment to using technology to solve some of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges.
As the founder of Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform, Farmcrowdy, Onyeka helped to connect small-scale farmers with individuals who want to invest in agriculture.
Today, Onyeka is the CEO of Treepz, a Mobility-as-a-Service platform that provides transportation services to users in Africa. Through Treepz, Onyeka is helping to address transportation challenges in Nigeria’s growing urban centers, by providing efficient, affordable, and reliable transportation options.
His dedication to innovation and entrepreneurship has earned him several awards and recognition, including the 2022 Internet Entrepreneur of the Year Award – Business Insider Africa Awards.
Onyeka Akumah is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy, Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform with a network of over 420,000 farmers in January 2021 connecting them with finance, market access, and technical expertise across all states in Nigeria.
Onyeka was recently named one of Africa’s Person of the year winning the Agricultural Champion of the Year 2020 across the continent for the work and impact Farmcrowdy has had on hundreds of thousands of farmers.
Onyeka was appointed to the E-Agric Stakeholders Forum by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Nigeria, and was also made one of the youngest members of the Honorary Council of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He has been featured as one of the top 50 Disruptors of 2020 by The Africa Report and listed as one of the 2020 top 50 Innovators to watch across the globe by the Globe Shakers.
A software engineer turned digital agriculture entrepreneur, Onyeka continues to lead a new generation of millennials excited about the potential of Agriculture, its romance with Technology, and the benefits for the continent of Africa.
Onyeka is the Founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy.
Farmcrowdy is Nigeria's first digital platform that empowers rural farmers by providing them with improved seeds, farm inputs, training on modern farming techniques and provides a market for the sale of their produce.
The company was established in November 2016 and has empowered over 25,000 small scale farmers across 14 states in Nigeria to cultivate 16,000+ acres of farmland, processing 2.5 million chickens and 40 fit-to-slaughter cows daily.
Prior to Farmcrowdy, Onyeka was Chief Commercial Officer at Travelbeta - one of Nigeria's leading online travel agencies. He also worked with Konga as Vice President of Marketing, Jumia as Director of Marketing & Partnerships, Wakanow as Online Marketing Manager, Deloitte as E-Marketing Coordinator for West, East and Central Africa, and Webmaster for British Council in Nigeria.
Onyeka was named one of Quartz Africa's 30 Innovators of 2018 and as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2019 by The Africa Report. Onyeka has also won the Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award twice in 2017 and 2018 at the Nigeria Technology Awards.
In 2017, he was appointed to the E-Agric Stakeholders Forum by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Nigeria and was recently made one of the youngest members of the Honorary Council of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce & Industry in recognition of his innovative way of fusing technology with agriculture while empowering thousands of farmers.
Onyeka graduated from the Sikkim Manipal University, India, where he earned a distinction in his first degree in Applied Information Technology.
