Tope Awotona has been named by Forbes as the richest immigrant and Nigerian American residing in the United States.
The 42-year-old, born in Lagos, Nigeria, and relocated to the US during his teenage years, holds a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Awotona is the founder and CEO of Calendly, a scheduling software company.
Forbes notes that he initiated Calendly in response to his own frustration with the time-consuming back-and-forth emails needed for meeting scheduling, having previously worked as a salesman for tech firms like EMC (now Dell EMC).
Having self-funded Calendly for an extended period, Tope Awotona secured a substantial $350 million investment in 2021, propelling the company’s valuation to $3 billion.
Prior to establishing Calendly, Awotona ventured into other businesses, such as a projector-selling venture and a garden tools enterprise, both of which did not succeed. The majority of his wealth, however, comes from the software he created.
A graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia, Awotona resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his family.
Calendly, the software company he founded, specializes in a business communication platform designed for teams to efficiently schedule, prepare, and follow up on external meetings.