Meet Our Raenest Exchange 2025 Speakers

The greatest value of any gathering is not found in money alone, but in the perspectives that come alive when people meet. At Raenest Exchange 2025, we are creating a space for those moments that spark new companies, open fresh opportunities, and reshape how we think about work, money, and technology across Africa.

We envisioned a place where Africa’s builders, thinkers, and earners could exchange not just ideas, but ambition, energy, and opportunity. A conference that feels global in standard yet rooted in the African spirit. A stage where conversations about business, money, and technology do not just happen, but set the pace for the future.

To bring this vision alive, we have invited a lineup of speakers who embody what it means to create, to challenge, and to inspire. They are founders and investors, operators and storytellers, product leaders and creatives. Each of them carries a piece of the future we are building together, and they will be sharing it in the room with you.

Meet the Voices of Raenest Exchange 2025

Seeing that it is the first edition of Raenest Exchange, it feels right to hear from the people behind it. Victor Alade, Co-founder and CEO of Raenest, has spent years pushing the boundaries of how freelancers and businesses move money across borders. 

Alongside him is Richard Oyome, Raenest’s Co-founder and COO, who began his career in marketing and now helps steer one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech companies with a rare blend of creativity and operational rigour. Together, they embody the entrepreneurial spirit that inspired Raenest Exchange in the first place.

But a company is more than its founders. Tobi Otokiti, VP of Product at Raenest, will also take the stage. Known widely as one of Africa’s top product leaders, Tobi has mentored hundreds of aspiring product managers through her platform, ProductDive. She represents the new face of product leadership: ambitious, community-minded, and deeply invested in building pathways for others.

If founders and operators give us the “how,” investors give us the “what’s possible.” Kola Aina, founding partner at Ventures Platform, has backed some of the continent’s most celebrated startups, from Paystack to PiggyVest. His presence at Raenest Exchange speaks to the kind of vision required to support founders long before their ideas hit the mainstream. 

Beside him is Gbenga Ajayi, partner at QED Investors, whose career has stretched from Wise and Revolut to Google and Kanza Ventures. Few understand the mechanics of African fintech at a global level as he does. 

And bridging global capital with African innovation is Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22, who has championed scaling African companies to new heights.

While investors fuel innovation, storytellers make sure the world pays attention. Tage Kene-Okafor of TechCrunch has become a key voice in documenting Africa’s technology journey for global readers, while Benjamin Dada, founder of Condia, has built platforms that highlight the pulse of fintech and startups across the continent.

Then there are the pioneers who embody the new world of work. Kelly Monahan, Founder and Managing Director of Upwork’s Research Institute, is reimagining what it means to build inclusive and effective workplaces in a remote-first age. 

Beside her stands Courtney Allen, one of Upwork’s top-earning freelancers, whose journey as a creative professional has inspired millions to see freelancing as not just viable, but liberating. 

Of course, Raenest Exchange would not be complete without the bold voices shaping culture and opportunity in new ways. Daud Sulaimon Abiola (OmoAlhaja), founder of Skill Afrika, is empowering young Africans with employability and leadership skills across borders. 

Alma Asinobi, travel creator and founder of Kaijego, is opening the world to African travellers while leading the fight for passport equity. Their stories are proof that innovation is not only about apps and products, it is also about shifting mindsets and widening possibilities.

And this is just a glimpse. More names. More voices. More visionaries are joining us for Raenest Exchange 2025. So I ask you, have you RSVPed? And if not, you should do so now, as seats are limited.