Growing up between Port Harcourt and Abuja, Olayinka Omoniyi, known across the Nigerian tech ecosystem as Onionsman, was the curious kid who spent his teenage years sneaking into cybercafes under the guise of “doing assignments”.
In truth, he was teaching himself the language of the future: the internet. That curiosity soon turned into an obsession with technology, digital finance, and building things that outlast him.
“I just like to live a simple life and do impactful things,” he told me calmly, a stark contrast to the fiery innovation he’s known for.
Today, he’s a serial founder, blockchain advocate, Sales and Marketing Lead at Convexity and one of the most vocal believers in Bitcoin’s revolutionary potential. But the journey to becoming one of Nigeria’s most recognisable Web3 builders started long before blockchain became a buzzword.
Olayinka didn’t begin his story in glossy coworking spaces or venture-funded startups. His earliest ventures involved repairing phones and laptops, long before “techpreneur” became a trend.
“After secondary school, I was more interested in making money and understanding computers,” he recalls. “I was introduced to what the internet could offer, and that changed everything.”
It wasn’t just about money for him; it was about meaning. When his further maths teacher introduced him to “Pen‑pal” exchanges that connected students across borders, it opened his eyes to the boundless possibilities of a connected world. By the time most of his peers were worrying about university admission, he was spending hours online, exploring ideas that would shape his future.
Despite eventually earning a degree in computer science from the National Open University of Nigeria, the Ondo‑born techie insists the traditional education system didn’t define him.
“I learnt more online than in school. Our school system rewards memorisation, not knowledge,” he says. “I already lived what they were teaching.”
Olayinka’s first layers: gaming, grit, and guts
His first serious foray into entrepreneurship came through Allianz Gaming, one of Nigeria’s early eSports startups. He, alongside his friends, Miracle and David, built a competitive gaming platform when few investors believed gaming could be profitable in Africa.
“We wanted gamers to earn from what they love,” he explains. The startup became instrumental in discovering Faruk, now one of Nigeria’s top eSports players.
But success was far from easy. Lack of funding, limited infrastructure, and an unsympathetic ecosystem forced them to pause operations.
“Investors weren’t interested in ‘boring businesses’ like ours,” he says. Still, the experience taught him how to build from scarcity, a lesson that would serve him well in Web3.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Olayinka took a step back. “COVID made me pause and refocus,” he recalls. That pause birthed conviction. He immersed himself in the Bitcoin whitepaper, understanding why decentralised money mattered, especially for Africans constantly battling inflation and poor governance.
“Bitcoin made sense,” he says. “I saw what my father went through as a pensioner. The system was broken.”
The pivot to Web3: Trustless by design
From that moment, Olayinka’s life revolved around blockchain. He joined Convexity, a blockchain solutions company, where he worked on Chat.cash, a humanitarian platform that uses blockchain to bring transparency to donations and aid distribution.
“It’s a truth machine,” he says of blockchain. “You don’t need to trust; it’s verifiable by design.”
His conviction in permissionless systems became a guiding philosophy.
“I don’t believe I need government permission to innovate. It’s my life. The individual forms the collective,” he says, echoing the libertarian ideals behind Bitcoin.
That philosophy birthed a new generation of projects, each solving real African problems through decentralised technology.
There’s Flint API, a wallet infrastructure for fintechs and banks to integrate stablecoins; Monierate, a platform offering live exchange‑rate data across currencies, platforms and digital assets; and BitPension, a Bitcoin‑based pension product inspired by his father’s painful retirement experience.
“BitPension was born from frustration,” he explains. “I was tired of seeing pensions lose value. With Bitcoin, your savings are preserved in a deflationary asset, not inflated away.”
A serial founder’s philosophy
Olayinka calls himself a “producer”, not a consumer. “There are two kinds of people, the producers and the consumers,” he says. “Consumers can only earn so much. Producers build wealth through creation.”
That mindset made him a serial founder, moving across logistics, gaming, blockchain, and fintech with one common thread: impact.
“When you’re building from a place of purpose, you’re not really working,” he says. “You’re solving what you understand deeply.”
But the journey hasn’t been without bruises. “I’ve lost all my money multiple times,” he admits.
“Allianz Gaming drained me. The Flint API almost broke me. But every loss taught me resilience. Failure was my real funding.”
The humility from those losses fuels his pragmatism today. “In the early days, we couldn’t even get someone at a Lagos innovation hub to listen to us after travelling from Abuja to Lagos on a bus with his fellow teenage co‑founder,” he recalls. “Now, there are communities like Founders Friday that support young innovators. We’ve come a long way.”
When asked how he navigates Nigeria’s unpredictable economy, Olayinka laughs. “Volatility isn’t the leverage, Chaos is the real opportunity,” he says. “Where there’s chaos, there’s room to create structure and make money. That’s the real launchpad.”
It’s this perspective that defines his mission: to turn Africa’s instability into innovation. He envisions a continent not just as a testing ground but as a source of sustainable, globally relevant Web3 products.
“I want to see more boring but sustainable businesses,” he explains. “The ones that generate real revenue, not just hype.”
To him, Africa’s future lies in producing, not consuming. “We must build solutions that don’t just serve Africa but scale beyond it,” he insists. His own ventures, like Monierate, which now records over 200,000 monthly visitors, are proof of what’s possible when vision meets execution.
As he looks toward the future, Olayinka is focused on building more valuable products while engaging meaningfully with regulation.
“I’m getting more interested in how regulations are shaped,” he says. “A single bad law can destroy years of innovation. We need people who understand technology influencing those decisions.”
Still, he hasn’t lost his rebellious edge. “If you want to be an innovator in Nigeria, or Africa, don’t wait for permission,” he says. “Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Build first.”
And as for his final advice? He smiles. “When all is said and done, stand tall, buy Bitcoin, and do good stuff.”