Tope Awotona has been named by Forbes as the richest immigrant and Nigerian American residing in the United States.
BUSINESS DAY
Tope Awotona has been named by Forbes as the richest immigrant and Nigerian American residing in the United States.
The 42-year-old, born in Lagos, Nigeria, and relocated to the US during his teenage years, holds a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Awotona is the founder and CEO of Calendly, a scheduling software company.
Forbes notes that he initiated Calendly in response to his own frustration with the time-consuming back-and-forth emails needed for meeting scheduling, having previously worked as a salesman for tech firms like EMC (now Dell EMC).
Having self-funded Calendly for an extended period, Tope Awotona secured a substantial $350 million investment in 2021, propelling the company’s valuation to $3 billion.
Prior to establishing Calendly, Awotona ventured into other businesses, such as a projector-selling venture and a garden tools enterprise, both of which did not succeed. The majority of his wealth, however, comes from the software he created.
A graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia, Awotona resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his family.
