Nwobodo calls for greater attention to tech activity in Northern Nigeria

Johnpaul Nwobodo has said more attention is needed on what founders are building in Northern Nigeria, noting that activity in the region is often missed. “There is a lot happening here that people don’t see,” he said. “If you are not intentional about looking, you will assume nothing is going on.”

Nwobodo, who has worked across venture capital and startup operations, said his work has focused on what he described as gaps in access within the ecosystem. “It all comes down to access,” he said. “Access to visibility, access to payments, and access to tools.”

Through Cresthub, a media platform he founded, Nwobodo has been documenting founders and startups across Northern Nigeria. He said the platform was created to address a lack of visibility for builders in the region.“Cresthub was founded with the sole mission of educating, promoting and raising global entrepreneurs,” he said. “We are doing that one step at a time.”

He said the idea began while he was studying medical physiology at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. At the time, he and his team started by sharing stories within their immediate environment. “We started small, just telling stories around us,” he said. “But over time, we realised that many founders, especially in Northern Nigeria, were building without visibility.”

According to him, this gap shaped the platform’s direction. “Our aim has always been to cover underserved and hidden entrepreneurs,” he said. “That is where we felt we were needed the most.”

Beyond media, Nwobodo is also working in financial technology through Recon, a contactless payment platform. He said the idea was developed during a period of cash shortages, when many people struggled to access cash.

“We started Recon during cash scarcity,” he said. “At the time, people needed a more reliable way to send and receive money.”

He explained that the platform allows merchants to receive payments directly through their phones, removing the need for a point-of-sale device. “This removes the need to buy a POS device,” he said. “For many small merchants, that cost can be a barrier.”

According to him, Recon has processed over N1 billion in transactions while still in beta, with operations focused in Jos. “When you see that level of adoption in one city, it makes you think differently,” he said. “Maybe the issue is not that people are unbanked.”

He added, “It may just be that existing systems have not adapted to how people want to transact.”

Nwobodo also pointed to a partnership with The TASCK during a music event in Jos, where the platform was used by vendors. “At that event, vendors were able to receive payments without disruption,” he said. “It showed us what is possible in real environments.”

In addition to his work in payments, he is preparing to launch Rooli AI, a social media management platform. He said the product is being built to address the cost of global tools for users in Africa. “For a continent of 1.5 billion people, we are being priced out of global tools,” he said.

He explained that many existing platforms are priced for markets outside Africa, which limits access for users on the continent. “That creates a gap,” he said. “A lot of creators and teams here cannot afford those tools.”

According to him, the idea for Rooli AI came from a need within his own work. “We needed a way to manage content without giving full account access,” he said. “But the options we saw were too expensive.”

He said the platform will provide similar functions while allowing users to pay in local currency. “The goal is to make these tools available in local currency while maintaining quality,” he said.

Nwobodo said the narrative around Northern Nigeria needs to change, adding that the issue is not a lack of activity. “This is not a case of people not building,” he said. “It is a case of people not paying attention.”