A few weeks ago, Forbes released its inaugural ForbesBLK50 list, showcasing the 50 wealthiest Black Americans in 2024, with three Nigerians making the list. The list includes three Nigerians – Wemimo Abbey, Tope Awotona, and Adebayo Ogunlesi – who are recognized for their impressive achievements and influence in their industries.
The ForbesBLK50 list looks beyond wealth, highlighting the impact individuals have in business, activism, and innovation. The list was created to address the lack of representation in Forbes’ 2009 ranking of influential Black Americans.
Adebayo Ogunlesi
Adebayo “Bayo” O. Ogunlesi (born December 20, 1953) is a Nigerian lawyer and investment banker. He is known for his leadership in global finance. Ogunlesi is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity firm he founded in 2006.
Before founding GIP, Ogunlesi was the global head of investment banking and executive vice chairman at Credit Suisse First Boston. Born in Makun, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria, his father, Theophilus O. Ogunlesi, was Nigeria’s first professor of medicine.
Ogunlesi attended King’s College, Lagos, for his secondary education. He earned a first-class degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University and later obtained a JD-MBA from Harvard, where he served on the Harvard Law Review.
Ogunlesi began his career as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He then worked at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and later joined First Boston, advising on global finance projects.
In 2002, he became the head of Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking Division. At GIP, Ogunlesi led major acquisitions, including London City Airport in 2006, London Gatwick Airport in 2009, and Edinburgh Airport in 2012.
He earned the nickname “The Man Who Bought Gatwick Airport.” In 2024, BlackRock announced it would acquire GIP for $12.5 billion. Ogunlesi and his team will join BlackRock as part of the deal.
Ogunlesi is a board member at Goldman Sachs and was part of Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. He has taught at Harvard and Yale, focusing on investments in emerging markets.
Ogunlesi has been married to Dr. Amelia Quist-Ogunlesi since 1985, and they have two children. Nigerian artist Burna Boy honored Ogunlesi in his song “Wonderful.”
Tope Awotona
Tope Awotona is a Nigerian-born tech entrepreneur and the founder of Calendly, a software company worth $3 billion as of 2024. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.4 billion, making him one of the richest Black billionaires.
Awotona was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and is of Yoruba descent. His father, a microbiologist and entrepreneur, was killed in a carjacking when Awotona was 12 years old.
After this tragedy, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Inspired by his father’s entrepreneurial legacy, Awotona studied business at the University of Georgia and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration.
After graduating, he worked at companies like IBM and Perceptive Software, where he learned about the software industry.
Frustrated with scheduling challenges as a salesman, Awotona decided to solve the problem. He used his life savings to create Calendly, which launched in 2013 from Atlanta Tech Village.
Wemimo Abbey
Wemimo Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria, where his family faced serious financial struggles. His mother once borrowed money from a predatory lender at a 400% interest rate because they had no credit score.
This experience motivated Abbey and his co-founder, Samir, to create Esusu. Esusu helps renters build credit with rent payments, provides property management insights, and offers rental assistance to improve financial stability.
In 2024, Esusu was valued at $1 billion after raising $130 million in a Series B funding round. Abbey serves on key boards and committees, such as the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee and the Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council.
He is also a Commissioner and Executive Member of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Board and Co-Chair of the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) Director Circle.
Before Esusu, Abbey founded Clean Water for Everyone, which brought clean water to over 250,000 people in six countries. He also started a data analytics company that was sold in 2014.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC on deals worth over $50 billion and gained experience at Accenture and Goldman Sachs.
Abbey has received several awards. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2020 and the TIME100 NEXT list in 2023. He also won EY Entrepreneur of the Year nationally. Goldman Sachs listed him among the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” in 2021 abs and 2022. Abbey graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Business management and earned an MPA from NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
As we celebrate these trailblazers, we’re reminded that success is not solely by wealth. It’s about the impact we make, the lives we touch, and the legacies we leave behind. Who will be the next Nigerian billionaire to make the Forbes BLK50 list?
