Awotona, Tope

1981- · Contribution: 2013

Founded Calendly, a widely used scheduling software platform

Business & Misc. — collage image
Business & Misc.

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.

Impact on the world

Built Calendly into a company valued at $3 billion by 2021, one of a small number of Black-founded U.S. tech companies to reach unicorn status without external executive leadership replacing the founder.

Life & background

A Nigerian-American entrepreneur, Awotona founded Calendly in 2013 after struggling with the inefficiency of scheduling meetings in his sales career. The scheduling software platform grew to a $3 billion valuation by 2021, becoming one of the rare Black-founded unicorn companies in U.S. tech.

Sources

  1. Billionaires.Africa; Forbes