Tope Awotona
Tope Awotona is a tech entrepreneur known for founding the software company, Calendly.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Tope Awotona born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father was a microbiologist and entrepreneur; his mother worked at the local bank.[1] At the age of 12 years old, Awotona's father was tragically killed in a carjacking, thus propelling him and his family which included his mother and three brothers to leave Lagos and migrate to the US residing in Atlanta, GA.[1] It was then that Awotona used his pain to continue his father's legacy of entrepreneurship.[2] He majored in computer science at the University of Georgia where he later changed his concentration to business and management and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.[3]
Career[edit]
Following graduation from college, Awotona worked for different corporate jobs including IBM before joining a startup company in Kansas City, Perceptive Software as an accountant executive.[4] It was there while working for the company that he was exposed to various kinds of functions of the software business.[5] While trying to schedule a meeting as a salesman, Awotona become frustrated, and poured his life savings into creating Calendly.[3][4] Launched from Atlanta Tech Village, Calendly made its debut in 2013.[1] Since 2013, Calendly is now a $3 billion software firm that continues to provide simple solutions for business communications, team scheduling, and preparation follow-ups.[3] As of 2024, Calendly app has 10 million users, according to Forbes making Awotona one of the wealthiest immigrants in America.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Feldman, Amy. "Nigeria-Born Tope Awotona Poured His Life Savings Into Calendly. Now He's One Of America's Wealthiest Immigrants". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ Ngozi, Nwanji (October 12, 1023). "How Tope Awotona Catapulted Calendly To A Billion-Dollar Company After Making It His Mission To Complete His Late Father's Work". MSN.
- ^ a b c d "Tope Awotona, 42-year-old richest US-based Nigerian who owns $3bn tech company". Vanguard. 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ a b Shen, Lucinda (2020-11-20). "Meet the unicorn founder that braved war zones and missed meetings to make his mark on the startup world". Fortune.
- ^ Houghton, Karen (April 26, 2018). "Tope Awontona- A founder Story".