By Omolabake Fatayo
Toronto-based Nigerian AI security engineer Bolaji Agunbiade has secured a patent for PlateHack (formerly LazyFit), an AI-powered nutrition platform that brings enterprise-level security architecture to personalised healthcare. The patent positions Bolaji among a small group of Nigerian inventors with intellectual property protection for health technology innovation.
Bolaji, who currently serves as Senior Security Engineer at Cohere, overseeing multi-cloud security across more than 100 accounts, built PlateHack by applying security principles from his work protecting critical AI infrastructure at major technology companies. His background includes nearly a decade of securing enterprise AI systems at Amazon Web Services, where he worked on flagship products including Bedrock AI.
“I observed that many professionals struggle with maintaining healthy eating habits due to time constraints and the complexity of managing dietary restrictions,” Bolaji said. “I realised the same AI technologies I use to secure critical infrastructure could be applied to solve a problem that affects billions of people globally, including millions across Nigeria and Africa.”
PlateHack’s patented AI engine processes natural language requests to generate customised meal recommendations. Users can make requests like “recommend anti-inflammatory, dairy-free meals to ease joint pain,” and the system responds with meal options tailored to specific health needs. The platform tracks daily caloric intake, provides nutritional breakdowns, and aligns recommendations with medical guidelines that have undergone review by licensed physicians and nutritionists.
The platform enters a competitive market dominated by established players like MyFitnessPal, Noom, and newer entrants like Lifesum. These apps collectively serve hundreds of millions of users and have significantly larger marketing budgets. Bolaji bets that PlateHack’s focus on medical appropriateness and natural language interaction can carve out a niche among users managing chronic conditions or specific dietary needs.
The technical architecture relies on serverless infrastructure with Firebase integration and natural language processing capabilities. According to Bolaji, the platform is designed to handle significant user growth while maintaining security standards critical for health information. His experience at Cohere involves protecting AI systems from vulnerabilities unique to large language models, expertise he says ensures PlateHack’s AI engine cannot be manipulated to provide inappropriate dietary advice.
“Security isn’t an afterthought when you’re building health technology,” Bolaji explained. “When you’re responsible for protecting someone’s health data in an AI system you’ve built, you understand viscerally why every architectural decision matters.”
PlateHack launched its public beta in September 2024, initially attracting users across North America. Bolaji’s vision extends to Nigeria and broader African markets, where rising rates of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension are increasingly affecting urban populations.
“The need is actually more acute in African markets,” Bolaji said. “In Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, busy professionals face the same time constraints as their counterparts in Toronto or New York, but with even less access to convenient, nutritionally appropriate food options.”
Expanding to African markets presents both opportunities and challenges. While the ratio of nutritionists to population is significantly lower than in developed markets, creating potential demand for AI-driven solutions, the platform would need to establish partnerships with local food providers, adapt to regional dietary preferences, and navigate varying regulatory frameworks. Infrastructure development takes time and capital resources that early-stage startups often lack.
Bolaji’s path reflects the increasingly global nature of Nigerian technical talent. After studying Computer Science at Federal University of Abeokuta and Computer Systems Technology at Niagara College, he built a career spanning network administration, cloud infrastructure, and application security at leading technology companies. His credentials include over 15 professional certifications, including GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester, Certified Cloud Security Professional, Certified Kubernetes Administrator, and multiple AWS certifications.
At AWS, where he served as Tech Lead for security reviews, his portfolio included assessments for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract valued at over $9 billion, and security architecture for flagship products serving millions of users. He authored over 100 Baseline Security Controls that shaped assessments for hundreds of vendors.
Beyond building PlateHack, Bolaji contributes to broader industry efforts to secure AI systems through involvement with the Coalition for Secure AI and OWASP’s Top 10 for Large Language Models project. “Having Africans at the table when these standards are being written is crucial,” Bolaji said. “We bring different perspectives on threat modelling, security trade-offs, and what it means to build technology that serves everyone.”
Early user feedback suggests PlateHack’s natural language interface is more intuitive than form-based competitors, though the platform is still building its user base. The challenge for any new entrant in the crowded health tech space is moving from early adopters to mainstream users, particularly when competing against apps with extensive marketing resources and established user habits.
Looking ahead, Bolaji envisions expanding PlateHack into corporate wellness programs and healthcare provider networks. “Imagine a doctor diagnosing someone with hypertension and being able to immediately connect them with a service that delivers appropriate meals,” he explained. He’s also exploring partnerships with health insurers who increasingly recognize that preventive nutrition can be more cost-effective than treating chronic diseases.
Whether these partnerships materialise and whether PlateHack can gain traction against better-funded competitors remains to be seen. For now, Bolaji’s patent and technical credentials provide a foundation, but the path from innovative technology to market success in health tech is notoriously difficult.
For Nigerian innovators, Bolaji’s journey demonstrates how deep technical expertise in one domain can create opportunities in another. He didn’t abandon security engineering to become a health tech entrepreneur; he applied those principles to a new challenge, a pattern increasingly common among African technologists building for global markets.
“The AI revolution needs diverse voices,” Agunbiade said. “We’re not just building technology, we’re building technology that serves real people with real health challenges.”
As more Nigerian entrepreneurs build technology for global markets, stories like Agunbiade’s highlight both the potential of African technical talent and the practical challenges of competing in established sectors dominated by well-resourced companies.
