Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, has backed the global rise of Tosin Eniolorunda, co-founder and group chief executive officer of Moniepoint Inc, after the Nigerian fintech executive was named to the 2026 TIME100 Next.
Eniolorunda is among 100 emerging leaders selected by TIME for its annual list of influential rising stars shaping the next generation of leadership across business, technology, politics, science, sport and culture.
The recognition places Eniolorunda among a global group of young leaders identified by TIME for their influence and potential to shape the future. TIME said the 2026 class reflects people shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership.
Eniolorunda is the only African among the business, technology and artificial intelligence leaders on this year’s list, according to Moniepoint.
His inclusion also highlights the growing global profile of Nigerian-founded technology companies, particularly Moniepoint, which has expanded from a payments infrastructure provider into a broader financial platform serving businesses and individuals.
Founded in 2015 by Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, Moniepoint says it now serves more than 20 million businesses and individuals through payments, banking, credit, cross-border and business management services. The company describes itself as Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, processing more than $250 billion in digital payment transaction value annually.
Moniepoint’s infrastructure has also become deeply embedded in Nigeria’s informal and small-business economy. Its 2025 impact report said its POS terminals operated across all 774 local government areas and enabled payments for 100 million people during the year.
Elumelu, a 2020 TIME100 honouree, wrote Eniolorunda’s citation for the TIME100 Next recognition, describing the Moniepoint founder as a young Nigerian who, like himself, ‘grew up without a silver spoon but still had the audacity to dream.’
He said Eniolorunda’s success could demonstrate to other young Africans that they can also build globally significant businesses.
The recognition comes as Moniepoint continues to broaden its role in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem. In 2025, its microfinance banking business disbursed more than N1 trillion in credit to businesses, while the company reported processing N412 trillion in transaction value across more than 14 billion transactions.
Eniolorunda has previously argued that the next stage of Nigeria’s payments ecosystem will involve building additional financial services on top of existing payment infrastructure, particularly credit products that use transaction data to improve access to financing for underserved businesses.
Reacting to the TIME recognition, Eniolorunda said the honour belonged first to the Moniepoint team and the millions of businesses and individuals using its services.
‘I am grateful to TIME for this recognition, which belongs first to the Moniepoint team, whose discipline and sacrifice built this company, and to the millions of businesses and individuals across the continent who trust us with their livelihoods every day. Our mission has always been to deliver financial happiness, and this honour renews our commitment to building with even greater rigour and care for the people we serve,’ he said.
Eniolorunda also thanked Elumelu for the tribute, saying both shared a belief that Africa’s future would be shaped by Africans themselves when given access to the right tools and opportunities.
The TIME100 Next recognition extends a run of international recognition for Moniepoint. The company was named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies in 2025, while its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Felix Ike, was named to TIME’s inaugural Executives of the Year list for Tech and Data in September 2026.
For Eniolorunda, the latest recognition marks a shift from being known primarily as a Nigerian fintech founder to gaining recognition within a global leadership platform. It also comes as African technology companies increasingly seek to build financial infrastructure around the continent’s large informal economy and underserved small businesses.
TIME will celebrate the 2026 TIME100 Next honourees at its sixth annual TIME100 Next event in New York on October 29.