Obi Ozor, the CEO of Kobo360, a logistics startup, has been appointed as commissioner of transport in Enugu, Nigeria. This comes a week after Bosun Tijani’s ministerial confirmation, signifying new heights for the country’s startup ecosystem.
On Thursday, Peter Mba, the governor of Enugu, appointed 20 commissioners who will support the implementation of his policies in the eastern Nigerian state. The newly sworn-in commissioners include Obi Ozor, the CEO of Kobo360, a Nigerian logistics startup. Ozor will serve as the commissioner of transportation in Mba’s cabinet.
In his speech, Mba said that the commissioners were appointed based on their experience and track record. “It’s our hope that you are going to bring those experiences to bear and to work for the people of Enugu State,” he added. Mba also spoke of his ambition for Enugu and charged the commissioners to help achieve it. “We want to attract investments to Enugu and it will require you, deploying not only your skills, but also making sure that you acquire those new skills that we need to fix the challenges of breaking new grounds of economic development and growth.”
Trained in a seminary for 5 years, Ozor has been CEO of Kobo360 for 5 years. Before that, he worked at JP Morgan and Uber Nigeria as its Director of Operations. Kobo360 was launched in 2017 in Nigeria by Obi Ozor and Ife Oyedele, who exited the startup last year. Through its digital logistics platform, cargo owners can request freight trucks using either their phones or the web and have their goods picked up and delivered to the required location.
[ad]
This appointment comes a week after President Tinubu appointed Bosun Tijani as a minister. Although it’s not the first time that startup founders are appointed to serve in a government capacity in Nigeria (Oswald Guobadia, a two-time founder’s role in Buhari’s administration, comes to mind), Ozor and Tijani’s appointments create a new level of validation for Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. No longer faced with barriers at the government level, the next steps for Nigeria’s tech ecosystem’s growth are already underway.
