Ezra Olubi was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and studied Computer Science at Babcock University, graduating in 2006, where he became coursemates and close collaborators with future business partner Shola Akinlade. After university, he began a career in software development, working at Softcom Imagio Limited as Head of Product Development, where he contributed to building Eyowo, an early unified payment system, before serving as Chief Technology Officer at recruitment platform Jobberman.
In 2015, Olubi co-founded Paystack alongside Akinlade, taking on the role of Chief Technology Officer and leading the platform's technical architecture. Paystack simplified the process of integrating online payment gateways for businesses across Africa, and became one of the first Nigerian startups accepted into Y Combinator's accelerator programme in 2016.
Paystack's rapid growth culminated in its acquisition by American fintech company Stripe for $200 million in 2020, a deal that marked one of the most significant startup exits in Nigerian history. Olubi's technical leadership was central to building the infrastructure that made Paystack reliable enough to earn that level of acquirer confidence.
- Co-founded and served as CTO of Paystack, acquired by Stripe for $200 million
- Built Paystack's core technical infrastructure and payment architecture
- Prior experience building Eyowo, an early Nigerian unified payment system
- Served as Chief Technology Officer at recruitment platform Jobberman
- Technical depth is as valuable as the original idea.. Olubi's engineering leadership was essential to making Paystack's payment infrastructure reliable at scale.
- Prior roles can be direct preparation for a bigger build.. His earlier work on Eyowo's unified payment system gave him direct experience relevant to Paystack's core challenge.
- Long-standing partnerships can outlast any single venture.. His university friendship with Akinlade, formed years before Paystack existed, became the foundation of the company.