Bosun Tijani co-founded Co-Creation Hub in 2011 when Nigerian tech entrepreneurship was a handful of companies and a shared aspiration rather than a sector with metrics. He built CcHUB into the most substantive innovation hub in Nigeria, not just a co-working space but a genuine ecosystem institution with programming, investment activity, and community management that produced a disproportionate share of the founders and companies that later defined Nigerian tech. In 2023, President Tinubu appointed him Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, asking him to do at national scale what he had done at ecosystem scale.
He built Co-Creation Hub into the most substantive innovation institution in Nigeria, producing a disproportionate share of the founders who later defined the sector. Under his leadership it expanded across Africa, including the acquisition of Kenya’s iHub. In 2023 he was appointed Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
Initiatives like the 3MTT skills programme aim to build technical talent at national scale. He remains a key figure in shaping Nigeria’s digital future.
In brief
Full name
Bosun Tijani
Born
1977, Nigeria
Profession
Tech entrepreneur, government minister
Net worth (est.)
$5 million to $15 million
Company
Co-Creation Hub (CcHub)
Current role
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
Background and education
Bosun Tijani was born in Nigeria and pursued his education in science and technology. He studied at various institutions and worked in technology roles before his entrepreneurial career took root. His early career exposed him to the gap between the potential of Nigerian technology talent and the infrastructure available to support it, a gap that CcHub was designed to close.
He co-founded Co-Creation Hub in 2011 in Yaba, Lagos, a neighbourhood that has since become known as Nigeria’s Silicon Valley. The decision to locate in Yaba rather than Victoria Island, where most of Lagos’s business and finance activity was concentrated, reflected a deliberate strategy to build an inclusive ecosystem accessible to young Nigerians from all economic backgrounds.
Co-Creation Hub and ecosystem building
CcHub provided coworking space, mentorship, seed funding, and an accelerator programme to Nigerian startups at a time when the infrastructure for early-stage tech entrepreneurship in Nigeria was almost non-existent. The hub incubated or supported companies that went on to become prominent Nigerian tech businesses, making it one of the most consequential institutions in the history of Nigerian technology entrepreneurship.
Tijani expanded CcHub’s geographic footprint across Africa, opening offices and programmes in Rwanda and Namibia. The expansion reflected an ambition to build pan-African innovation infrastructure rather than a Lagos-only operation. CcHub’s African expansion positioned it alongside other continental innovation hubs in Nairobi, Cape Town, and Accra as a serious player in the African startup support landscape.
Government appointment
In 2023, President Bola Tinubu appointed Bosun Tijani as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, reflecting the Tinubu administration’s stated commitment to driving economic growth through technology. Tijani’s appointment was broadly welcomed by the Nigerian tech community as the elevation of someone with genuine operational expertise in the sector rather than a political appointee with no technology background.
Net worth and legacy
Bosun Tijani’s net worth is estimated at between $5 million and $15 million. His wealth reflects his equity in CcHub and its portfolio companies, investment activities, and the premium placed on his consultancy and advisory expertise. His legacy, however, is measured less in personal wealth than in the hundreds of startups CcHub has supported and the generation of Nigerian tech entrepreneurs who cite the hub as foundational to their careers.
Off the clock
Bosun Tijani is relatively private about his personal life. He is known within the Lagos tech community for his calm, measured leadership style and his long-term thinking about ecosystem development. His transition from entrepreneur to government minister has been watched closely by the Nigerian tech community as a test of whether sector-specific expertise can produce better technology policy outcomes than traditional ministerial appointments.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
Bosun Tijani’s appointment as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy in 2023 was received positively by the Nigerian tech community largely because of the depth of his credibility in the sector. Unlike ministerial appointments in technical portfolios that sometimes go to politicians who lack direct knowledge of the industries they oversee, Tijani arrived with more than a decade of direct experience building and supporting technology companies. His understanding of the regulatory, infrastructure, and human capital challenges facing Nigerian tech is based on personal operational experience rather than briefing documents.
The policy priorities he has articulated in the role, accelerating broadband infrastructure deployment, developing a regulatory environment more conducive to startup formation, and building the digital skills pipeline needed to staff a growing tech sector, reflect the same concerns that occupied him as an ecosystem builder at CcHUB. The transition from ecosystem builder to government minister represents an attempt to address those concerns at a different scale and with different tools: regulatory power, public budgets, and diplomatic relationships rather than private investment and community programming. Whether the government context will prove as amenable to the execution speed and flexibility that private sector innovation requires remains one of the most watched questions in Nigerian tech policy.
Key initiatives
Co-founded Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in 2011, a leading Nigerian innovation hub
Oversaw CcHub’s acquisition of Kenya’s iHub, creating a pan-African network
Appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy in 2023
Launched the 3MTT (Three Million Technical Talent) skills programme
Frequently asked questions
What is Co-Creation Hub?
Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) is a Nigerian tech startup accelerator and innovation centre co-founded by Bosun Tijani in 2011 in Yaba, Lagos. It provides coworking space, mentorship, seed funding, and accelerator programmes to early-stage Nigerian and African startups, and is widely regarded as the most influential institution in the history of Nigerian tech entrepreneurship.
Is Bosun Tijani a government minister?
Yes. Bosun Tijani was appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. His appointment was welcomed by the Nigerian tech community as the elevation of a person with genuine sector expertise to a role that shapes technology policy in Africa’s largest economy.
Where is CcHub located?
CcHub’s main campus is in Yaba, Lagos, a neighbourhood that has become known as Nigeria’s tech hub or “Silicon Yaba.” The hub has expanded to include offices in Rwanda and Namibia, building a pan-African innovation infrastructure that extends well beyond its Lagos origins.
What startups did CcHub produce?
CcHub has incubated or supported hundreds of Nigerian and African startups since its founding in 2011. Notable companies that passed through its programmes or received its support include businesses in health technology, agriculture technology, education technology, and financial services. The precise list of alumni companies is extensive and includes several that have raised significant venture capital funding.
Why was Bosun Tijani’s ministerial appointment significant?
Bosun Tijani’s appointment as Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy was significant because he is a practitioner with over a decade of hands-on experience building technology ecosystems in Nigeria and Africa. Unlike many ministerial appointments in African governments, his appointment reflected an attempt to put genuine sector expertise in charge of technology policy rather than rewarding political loyalty.
Conclusion
Bosun Tijani is a central figure in Nigeria’s technology ecosystem. He co-founded Co-Creation Hub, one of the country’s leading innovation hubs. That institution helped nurture a generation of startups.
Under his leadership the hub expanded across Africa, including the acquisition of Kenya’s iHub. That growth created a pan-African innovation network. It reflected his ambition for the continent’s tech sector.
His appointment as a government minister placed him at the centre of national digital policy. Initiatives like the 3MTT skills programme aim to build technical talent at scale. He remains a key figure in shaping Nigeria’s digital future.
Further reading
Information draws on profiles and reports published by TechCabal, Techpoint Africa, The Punch, and Guardian Nigeria, alongside CcHub company communications and Nigerian Federal Government announcements of ministerial appointments.
Max Adeyemi is a Lagos-based writer covering Nigerian and African entertainment, sport, business, and culture. He has spent over a decade tracking the careers, controversies, and quiet achievements of the people who move the culture. He writes all profiles on Nolly.
