Funke Opeke: Woman at the Top

An eagle will always ride within and above the clouds; it’s birds of lesser nobility that fly beneath. This is how it is for Funke Opeke, the brain behind MainOne, a leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa. The world continues to celebrate the woman who almost single-handedly changed the West African landscape in all things internet and connectivity.

To many people, Opeke first emerged as one of the noblest characters of Nigerian origin in 2018 when Forbes named her one of the World’s Top 50 Women in Tech. That was when some people realised that there has always been an Empress of IT in the male-dominated space who is still leading, still winning, with nothing less than a primogeniture status.

As the founder of Main Street Technologies and CEO of MainOne Cable Company, Opeke is qualified to be a role model to many. The account of her foray into tech space to contribute her quota to the development of Nigeria is an inspiring one.

According to what is fast becoming a legend, Opeke landed back in Nigeria after so many years of schooling and working abroad. She was immediately signed on to MTN as its Chief Technical Officer, Transcorp as an advisor, and NITEL as a Chief Operating Officer. However, Opeke found that the internet data around here did not befit Nigeria’s status as Africa’s big brother. So she started running around and managed to raise $3.2 million from friends and relatives. And that’s how West Africa’s first privately owned undersea high-capacity cable came into being.

Opeke has been a celebrity ever since and has taken the principal seat to steer the Nigerian IT sector many times. An engineer by training but a superwoman by trait, Opeke continues to keep the fort in the African tech industry with no fewer merits than her male counterparts in the other continents.