Behind the Founders and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of fintechs are the Chief Operating Officers (COOs), who drive day-to-day operations.

African fintechs have raised over $1 billion in funding through the first eight months of 2025, according to the Africa Investment Report from Briter Bridges. And most of the time, the success of Fintechs is attributed primarily to the founders and the CEO, with little mention of the COO.

A COO, often recognised as second in command, typically oversees the daily administrative and operational functions of a company and reports directly to the CEO. 

This article looks to credit the COOs of the top five Nigerian fintech platforms. Startups were selected based on their impact, reach, and recognition across social media mentions in 2025, while data for the COOs was gathered from their social media profiles.

In no particular order, meet the COOs

1. Pawel Swiatek – Moniepoint 

Joined: 2023
Became COO: March 2023

Pawel Swiatek joined Moniepoint in March 2023 from Capital One, where he served as the Managing Vice President.

Aside from his time at Capital One, Pawel holds experience in two companies. The Pole spent a decade in Bridgewater’s management team, the world’s largest hedge fund, where he drove growth from 150 employees to more than 2,000. 

Alongside his current role, he serves as Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners and a Board Advisor at Pedago. Pawel holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Since joining Moniepoint, Pawel has used his experience to help the company continue its financial inclusion mission. 

Part of his achievement is helping Moniepoint achieve a unicorn status in October 2024 when it raised a $110 million Series C round. Since he joined, Moniepoint has raised $200 million.

Also Read: The real price of free transfers: Who actually pays for Nigeria’s fintech convenience?

2. Dotun Daniel Adekunle – OPay

Joined: 2018
Became COO: July 2024

Dotun Adekunle doubles as both OPay’s COO and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in a company he joined as its Engineering Manager in 2018. In his dual role, Dotun is in charge of OPay’s product innovation and technology strategy, driving the company’s daily operations.

Dotun has about two decades of experience that cut across business and technology in payments. He served as OPay’s Director of Payment Integration, VP and CTO between 2019 and 2002. This is before his role as Senior VP at Flutterwave between 2022 and 2024. 

After that spell, Dotun returned to OPay as its COO/CTO. He has remained pivotal to OPay’s story as a leading fintech in Africa, coupled with achieving a unicorn status in 2021. 

Along his journey, he founded CMYK Studios in 2016 and has served as its Chairman to date. 

Dotun is a graduate of Yaba College of Technology and holds an MBA from the University of Roehampton. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in AI and machine learning from the Texas McCombs School of Business.

3. Odunayo Eweniyi – Piggyvest 

Joined: 2016 (Co-founder)
Became COO: 2016

Odunayo Eweniyi, a leading female Nigerian entrepreneur, is the Co-founder and COO of PiggyVest. Eweniyi started out to launch Push CV with Somto Ifezue and Joshua Chibueze after her graduation in 2013. Two years later, the trio went on to start PiggyVest in 2016.

Piggyvest is recognised as one of Nigeria’s largest saving platforms and made CNBC’s top 250 Fintechs in the world in 2024 and 2025. As of mid-2025, PiggyVest has nearly 7 million users and has processed a cumulative total of over N2.8 trillion in payouts to users.

Eweniyi has won several awards and recognitions, including the Future Awards Africa Prize in Technology in 2018, Forbes Africa 30 under 30 Technology list in 2019, and was on Forbes Africa’s list of 20 New Wealth Creators in Africa 20. In March 2022, she won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award.

Eweniyi graduated from Covenant University in 2013 with a first-class degree in Computer Engineering. 

Together with Eloho Oname, Eweniyi launched FirstCheck Africa in 2021, a platform focused on supporting women-focused startups in Africa. 

4. Seun Lawal – Kuda (Nigeria)

Joined: 2020
Became COO: August 2020

According to his LinkedIn profile, Seun Lawal joined Kuda’s Nigerian arm as its COO in August 2020. Before joining Kuda, Seun, between 2019 to mid 2020, served as the Head of Operations in Carbon, a fintech company that operates in Nigeria and is based in the UK.

Since his time at Kuda, the company has achieved significant milestones in Nigeria, including rapid customer base expansion and successful funding rounds. As of mid-2024, Kuda Nigeria reported 7.5 million users.

In the first quarter of 2025, the platform processed over 300 million transactions worth N14.3 trillion.

Seun has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Harvard University.

5. Babafemi Ogungbamila – Interswitch 

Joined: 2003
Became COO: 2023

Appointed to the role of EVP Operations and Technology in October 2023, Babafemi Ogungbamila drives the company’s mission to build a seamless and scalable payments infrastructure across Africa.

Ogungbamila has held a number of key roles in Interswitch, including Chief Information Officer (2013–2019). He has also witnessed several transformations in the company. 

Interswitch, a pioneer of payment infrastructure in Nigeria, became a unicorn in 2019 after raising $200 million in a funding round led by Visa. 

He’s a computer engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University with executive training from Lagos Business School. 

Also Read: Meet the CEOs of top 10 African fintech companies by funding

Notably, some leading fintechs, such as Flutterwave and Andela, failed to feature on the list due to the vacant status of their COO position.