By Chisom Nwatu
ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, a Lagos-based programme established through partnership between ARM Labs and Techstars, has appointed Oyin Solebo as the new managing director.
Oyin Solebo is a co-founder and former chief operating officer (COO) of Movemeback, a Google-funded elite talent startup connecting professionals globally to African opportunities.
Having started her investment career at Goldman Sach, she comes with over 15 years of experience in strategic leadership, investment, and human capital development. After leaving Goldman Sachs to follow her passion, she began working as a strategy consultant for global management consultancy firm Roland Berger in sub-Saharan Africa.
Her position at Roland Berger also gave her a better connection to Africa, and in 2010 she had the opportunity to live and work in Nigeria for the first time. “I was part of a team dedicated to financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa. That was my first foray into fintech in Africa, and understanding the ways technology can increase financial inclusion,” Solebo said.
A few years later, Solebo noticed a shift in the African tech ecosystem with Africans in the diaspora returning. She co-founded Movemeback in 2014 and worked there for eight years before joining the team at Techstars.
“It was just a question of what I wanted to do next,” she says. “I didn’t have anything specific in mind. I just knew I wanted to marry three key things: my passion and desire to work in Africa, my belief that startups make the world a better place, and my experience with capital—I mean both financial and human capital. So when someone put this role in front of me, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.”
Expressing her excitement about the prospect of upscaling the Techstars accelerator programme in Nigeria and across Africa, she said; “One thing I’m very passionate about is job creation, that’s what has driven my career choices in the last decade. I think startups are such a powerful tool for job creation, so I want to see these startups go from employing two or three people to employing hundreds, if not thousands.”
Speaking of her new role, the new managing director describes the values that took precedence in her home.
“My values have carried me to where I am now. My parents ground me in education, ambition, and the belief that your role in life is to make the world a better place. My mum is an entrepreneur and businesswoman, and she built in me the idea of problem-solving and creating solutions,” she said.
