Dr. Akintoye Akindele

Dr. Akintoye Akindele is Lecturer, Nurturer and Builder of future minds at leading schools in Africa and globally. He is also an investor, entrepreneur, lecturer and philanthropist. Dr. Akindele is Founder & Chairman of Platform Capital; Chairman of Unicorn Group; CEO & Chairman of Duport Midstream; Founder; CEO & Chairman of Atlantic International Refineries & Petrochemicals Limited; Advisory Board member of Leo Flight Inc; CEO & Chairman of Diatom Impact; a Future Africa Awards Honoree; and a Business Accessibility & Inclusion Champion by the African Women’s Development and Communications Network. He is also the Founder of Synergy Capital Managers and Advisers and was Managing Partner of Synergy Capital Managers up until November 30th 2019. Dr. Akindele’s family office, Platform Capital, is a growth markets focused, sector agnostic, principal investment firm with a portfolio value in excess of US$1.3bn. Platform has presence in 8 countries across 5 continents, and over 161 investments in 9 sectors. Platform deploys patient, value accretive capital alongside international and local value investors to create champion businesses with the ability for regional scale. He sits on boards of international companies such as Koniku, Koko Networks, Strap, Saferoom and Ada Animation. Through Unicorn Group, pan-African, investment company targeting innovative ideas, start-ups and early-stage companies in the technology and technology-enabled sectors across Africa; that have the potential to emerge as unicorns, Dr. Akindele has impacted over 10,000 youth entrepreneurs in Africa and internationally. Dr. Akindele is also a faculty member at the University of Lagos Business School, lecturing on finance and entrepreneurship. Dr. Akindele completed his tertiary education in Nigeria, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering with honours from the Obafemi Awolowo University. He received a doctorate degree in Business Administration (Finance) from the International School of Management – Paris, France. Dr. Akindele is a CFA charter holder and a trustee of the CFA society of Nigeria and a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administrators in Nigeria. He is also an alumnus of the London and Said Business Schools, having attended various senior executive programmes in Management and Strategy, Advanced Corporate Finance and Private Equity amongst others. Dr. Akindele is passionate about the development and growth of entrepreneurs in Africa. He is a frequent speaker at leading business schools, conferences and seminars on investing in Africa, private investment in Africa and the role of entrepreneurship in Africa’s evolution. He supports and donates to various institutions that provide grants to entrepreneurs.