Oluseun Onigbinde (born 18 September 1985) is a Nigerian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

open data Open data are data that are openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shareable by anyone for any purpose. Open data are generally licensed under an open license. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-so ...

analyst, known as the

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any oth ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of budgIT, a Nigerian civic startup. Oluseun Onigbinde is an advocate for fiscal transparency and open data. In 2012, he was awarded the Future Awards Prize for Science and Tech Innovation. Oluseun on 13 September 2019, was appointed as Technical Adviser in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. His appointment was controversial among government critics. On Monday, 16 September 2019, Oluseun resigned as Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning.

Early life

Oluseun is a native of Masifa, Ogbomoso,

Oyo State Oyo is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo ...

. He was born in

Osogbo Osogbo (also known as ''Oṣogbo'', and seldomly as ''Oshogbo'') is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area (situated at Oke-Baale Area of th ...

, presently

Osun State Osun (; ), is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the wes ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Educational background

Oluseun had his primary and secondary school education at Loyola College,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

. He scored nine distinctions in his West African Examinations Council's exam, earning the best result of the school's 2001 set. Oluseun attended the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta where he obtained a

bachelor of engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

(B.Eng.) in Electrical/Electronics Engineering and the Stanford university graduate school of business where he completed the executive program in

social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

Career

During his NYSC, he was posted to

Benin City Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...

where worked at Access bank. He later joined First Bank for a period of three and half years. It was while he was working at First Bank that he got the idea for BudgIT. According to him, his interest in banking was from the strategy angle, a space where he could contribute his ideas. Oluseun Onigbinde is a recipient of several awards and he is currently an

Obama Foundation The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president) ...

Scholar at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He is a board member of the ONE Africa Policy Advisory Board. He was appointed as Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Budget and National Planning but resigned few days later.

BudgIT

In 2011, Oluseun Onigbinde and Joseph Agunbiade formed a team during a hackathon held at the Co-Creation Hub. It was here that he came up with the idea for a need to publicize government spending to the general public, leading to the startup BudgIT. In 2014, the

Omidyar Network Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5billion to no ...

invested $400,000 in BudgIT; this has always been listed on their website. In June 2015, the Kaduna State government under the administration of Mallam El-Rufai, signed BudgIT to build Open Budget mobile portal similar to the Buharimeter; a platform which was built by BudgIT for Center for Democracy and Development to hold President Buhari accountable for his campaign promises. In January 2017, BudgIT raised an additional $3 million grant from

and

Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

. In February 2016, Oluseun Onigbinde was honoured to make a presentation at the

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

under the African Project on issue of accountability and governance.

Civic Technology

Onigbinde is an advocate for data-driven journalism. He participated in a health journalism project as part of the Knight Innovation Fellowship of the International Center for Journalists. In 2014, BudgIT launche
Tracka
which monitors public projects in over 600 communities in Nigeria. His organization also founded Civic Hive, Nigeria's civic innovation hub, that incubates civic tech start-ups.

Personal life

Seun resides in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

with his wife, Oluwaseun, and daughters Wuraola and Ireoluwa

Awards and recognitions

* Ashoka Fellowship for Global Entrepreneurs. * The Future Awards, 2012. * World Summit Youth Award * Knight International Journalism Fellow/ International Center for Journalists * Harambe Fellowship (Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance) * 2016 Aspen New Voices Fellowship * 2016 Draper Hills Summer Fellowship, Stanford University (Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of the Law). * Obama Foundation Scholar (2018 - 2019) * Quartz Africa Innovators Award * 2018 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow

References

External links

*
Oluseun Onigbinde on CCHub's ventures page.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onigbinde, Oluseun 1985 births Living people Web developers Loyola College, Ibadan alumni Nigerian technology businesspeople Yoruba businesspeople 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople People from Osogbo Nigerian company founders Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni