Akin Sawyerr is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, investor, fintech strategist, and technology leader whose career has focused on financial innovation, payments, remittances, blockchain, and expanding financial access in underserved markets. He has built a reputation for connecting technology and investment with practical solutions to financial challenges across Africa and the African diaspora.
Sawyerr grew up in Nigeria before moving to the United States for university. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Political Science from Union College and later obtained an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
He began his professional career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he worked in economic research and data analysis supporting country strategies across Africa, Asia, and Europe. He subsequently spent about 15 years working in management consulting and corporate America, including roles with Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae.
His transition into African fintech began through his involvement with Splash Mobile Money, a mobile payments company in Sierra Leone. As a director, Sawyerr provided strategic guidance while developing a deeper understanding of the opportunities presented by mobile money and digital financial services in Africa.
Sawyerr later founded Feleman, an investment and advisory firm focused on fintech, payments systems, remittances, and emerging financial technologies. Through Feleman, he has invested in and advised early-stage companies working to improve access to financial services across emerging markets.
He also founded Market Atlas, a platform focused on market and investment research and risk-management solutions for underserved and frontier markets. The venture reflected his broader interest in using data and technology to help investors and businesses better understand emerging economic.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency subsequently became another important area of Sawyerr’s work. He has explored blockchain as a potential tool for reducing the cost and complexity of remittances into Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly because cross-border money transfers can be expensive and fragmented. His work has included roles in decentralized finance, blockchain governance, and crypto-asset investment.
Sawyerr has served in several leadership and advisory positions within the evolving digital-asset ecosystem, including Chief Innovation Officer at Onramp and strategic roles with BarnBridge and Decred. He has also been described as a co-founder of Turnqey, a crypto-asset data company.
His expertise extends beyond entrepreneurship and investment. Sawyerr has participated in discussions about financial inclusion, innovation in underserved communities, blockchain, African entrepreneurship, and the future of digital finance. He currently serves as an advisory board member at EMTECH, focusing on strategy, blockchain, and Africa.
Sawyerr’s career demonstrates how technology, investment, and financial innovation can be combined to address structural challenges in emerging markets. Through his work in payments, remittances, fintech investing, and blockchain, he continues to contribute to the development of Africa’s rapidly evolving digital financial ecosystem.