Who calls the shots at women-focused startup Herconomy?

Since its founding in 2021, Herconomy claims to have amassed over 10,000 active users. The startup is not just a female-led fintech but also a community initiative. Ife Durosinmi-Etti, an author and a 2016 recipient of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneur Award leads as the founder and CEO.

In 2010, a report by the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) revealed that out of 39.2 million financially excluded individuals in Nigeria, 54.4% were women. This alarming statistic prompted the rise of fintechs aiming to bridge this gap, among which Herconomy emerged as a “female-focused” fintech startup.

Herconomy’s roots trace back to the “AGS Tribe”, a community launched following the acceptance of Accessing Grants for Startups, a book authored by Ife. The book contained information on how to access grants, fellowships and scholarships. According to Ife, more people asked about new opportunities which led to the need to form a community for easier means of communication and sharing opportunities.

The community’s growth led to the development of an app for hosting savings challenges, marking the company’s pivot to financial services when integrating a savings API proved challenging. “I am a solo founder but I’ll say our community started Herconomy,” Ife said.

With an overall size of 23 staff members, the company operates a hierarchical structure, with Genevive Obi as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Dolapo Sanusi Ola as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Both report directly to Ife Durosinmi-Etti, founder and CEO. Genevive, who has experience in marketing communications and relationship management, shapes the company’s strategy. She manages performance and oversees annual operations planning. Dolapo, also a co-founder of Nest Agribusiness and Technologies, oversees Herconomy’s financial operations.

The structure includes middle management, with Gbemisola Araba serving as the People Operations Manager. Gbemisola served as a Human Resources officer at Herconomy between 2020 and 2021. Anu Oyeleye, who has previous experience as a product management consultant at Begine Fusion and as a product marketing analyst at Access Bank, is the Product Manager at Herconomy. Both report to Genevive(COO) and Dolapo (CFO).

“We also have supervisors reporting to their managers, and at the operational level, staff who report directly to the supervisors,” Ife explained.

Driven by the belief that the community’s input is instrumental in shaping its path, Herconomy lives by the mantra “the community calls the shots,” as affirmed by Ife.

This TechCabal org chart details the leadership structure of Herconomy.

If you would like to showcase the leadership structure of your startup in this way, contact the author of this article: towobola@bigcabal.com.