Olumide Soyombo, the co-founder of Bluechip Technologies and founder of Voltron Capital, is releasing his business memoir, “Vantage,” this week. It follows his evolution from teenage tech exploration to entrepreneurship and investing.
In February 2021, the tech publication BenDada.com published an exclusive interview with Olumide Soyombo, co-founder of Bluechip Technologies and one of Nigeria’s most prolific investors. While Soyombo is well-known in Nigeria’s tech circles, he may be unknown to the average Nigerian.
Rarely in the press, his interview with Benjamin Dada was the first time he publicly spoke about the scale of his investments. With 26 startups in his portfolio, Soyombo invested early in some of Nigeria’s notable businesses, including Paystack and PiggyVest. His experience and success mean that he gets a lot of questions about his life, investment thinking, and pioneering role in the Nigerian tech scene.
To those who have always had questions, Olumide Soyombo has answers. Earlier today, he confirmed the imminent release of his business memoir, “Vantage.” The new book is a firsthand account of his experiences, from his early fascination with personal computers to his present-day role as an entrepreneur and investor. “Vantage” will provide a window into the challenges, triumphs, and lessons that have shaped his journey and Africa’s tech ecosystem.
Soyombo says in the introduction, “Africa is now the land of unicorns, but before unicorns, there were numerous stories that captured the power and pioneering spirit of the continent’s techpreneurs.”
Read also: Olumide Soyombo: The Journey from startup founder to investment mogul
Much-needed knowledge sharing in an otherwise secretive ecosystem
While Nigeria is one of the most prominent tech ecosystems on the continent, there’s a sense that its leaders guard the stories of the industry closely. In fairness, a seeming unwillingness to share origin stories is a charge often leveled against Nigeria’s business leaders.
Lately, a few business leaders have tried to beat those charges. “Leaving the Tarmac: buying a Bank in Africa,” a 2020 book by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, a veteran banker and former CEO of Access Bank, shared in part how Aig-Imoukhuede and Herbert Wigwe bought Access Bank in 2002. Austin Avuru’s “A Safe Pair of Hands,” published in 2023, tells the story of the Seplat co-founder’s journey from Delta state to the pinnacle of corporate Nigeria.
Soyombo’s “Vantage” will be a welcome addition to the broader literature from corporate Nigeria. According to Maya Horgan Famodu, Founder of Ingressive Capital, Vantage is a “practical, no-nonsense guidance and humble chronology of adventure after adventure will make you laugh, reflect, and inevitably learn.”
