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Bosun Tijani Comes To The Ministry With Very Rich Technology Background
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday named 46-year-old Bosun Tijani as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
Tijani’s appointment followed his nomination and successful screening and confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
Born July 20, 1977, in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria, Bosun Tijani is a Nigerian-British entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), a leading Pan-African innovation and technology centre.
Widely acknowledged as a pioneer and industry leader in the African technology ecosystem, Tijani was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People on the continent by New Africa Magazine.
He was said to have initiated the first visit of Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria in August 2016 as part of efforts to place Africa on the global technology map.
He has also hosted other global technology leaders in Nigeria, including former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey in 2019, and most recently in June 2023, hosted a fireside chat with Microsoft founder and co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
In 2019, under his leadership, CcHUB acquired Kenya’s iHub and launched the CcHUB Design Lab in Kigali, Rwanda in the same year.
He has also expanded CcHUB’s Pan-African footprint into Southern Africa by opening CcHUB Namibia, the main tech hub in Windhoek, Namibia in 2023.
Tijani is also currently an associate researcher at the Wits School of Governance, with research interests in collaborative projects that inform practice through support to policymakers, inventors and entrepreneurs while advancing theories in innovation systems and governance.
An Alumnus of the University of Jos, Plateau State, Tijani in 1996, went to Jos, Nigeria to study at the University of Jos where he first started off studying for a diploma in Computer Science before going on to study Economics, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in 2002.
He later obtained an MSc in Information Systems and Management from the Warwick Business School, United Kingdom in 2007.
In 2023, Tijani earned a PhD in innovation and economic development from the School of Business, University of Leicester.
Tijani has also been part of the Innovation for Economic Development executive programme at Harvard Kennedy School in 2013 as well as being a 2014 Draper Hills Fellow of the Centre for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University.
Tijani had earlier worked with the International Trade Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, Hewlett Packard (HP), and Pera Innovation Network.
He is also actively involved in a number of initiatives within and outside the tech ecosystem including launching Truppr, a social platform that allows fitness enthusiasts organise events, or join in on, amateur sporting events within their locality.
In 2019, he founded STEM Café, a maker lab for kids and young adults aged 5-18 with operations in Lagos, Kigali and Nairobi.
Tijani sits on the boards of several companies including Taeillo, an African e-commerce furniture and lifestyle brand and LifeBank, a healthcare platform dedicated to delivering critical medical supplies to hospitals, where he served as Board Chair.
In 2021, Tijani was engaged as a member of a high-level expert advisory group focused on advising the European Commission on how to mainstream research and innovation through Africa-Europe Cooperation.
He was selected in 2017 by the African Leadership Institute to be a part of the prestigious Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship which recognises exceptional emerging African leaders for their contribution to development on the continent.
Tijani resides in Lagos, Nigeria and Leicester, United Kingdom with his wife, Moji Tijani and three children.
He is an avid fitness enthusiast and football lover.