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President Bola Tinubu has replaced Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Dr Bashir Gwandu with 32-year-old Khalil Suleiman Halilu, founder of ShapShap, winner of the Mobility & Smart Cities Innovator category at the GITEX GLOBAL 2022 North Star Supernova Challenge, in Dubai UAE.
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Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said the new CEO will serve for an initial term of five years in accordance with the relevant sections of the NASENI Act, 2014.
“From selling ice blocks to neighbours to founding West Africa’s First Eco-friendly Technology hub, Khalil Suleiman Halilu is a living testament that anything can be achieved if you give your mind to it,” KSH, his sobriquet, sums up his own life.
Winning it for country and firm at GITEX GLOBAL 2022
“His appointment affirms the president commitment to drive his Renewed Hope agenda with young people at the helms of affairs,” an insider tells IT Edge News.Africa Friday in Abuja.
Entrepreneur and innovator, Halilu has Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in International Business. He has risen from the bottom of the corporate ladder to manage enterprises and then went ahead to found businesses including tech enterprises, garnering global recognition.
L-R: Halilu Mohammed Ibrahim Jega, Co-founder at Domineum, and Bashir Abubakar, Founder & CEO, FLOEWS at GITEX GLOBAL 2022
Halilu worked as an admin clerk at Archimode & Associates; then joined the family business to work as a Marketing Manager at Gongoni Company Limited, a vertically integrated aerosol manufacturing company which is part of the sister company, Scirrocco International Limited that specializes in the manufacturing of tea and cold beverages. He would also serve as the Chief Operating Officer at Scirrocco for about three years.
In the last decade, Halilu 23 has successfully managed several portfolios of enterprises including Khash Strategic Services Ltd; KSH Construction & Design Ltd; Africa Infotech Consulting; ZCET Global Meter Services Ltd; OyaOya Strategic Services Ltd and ShapShap Logistics Ltd.
Both OyaOya, a tech app connecting commodity traders with enhanced speed and efficiency; and ShapShap, an on-demand platform that addresses personal and business logistics have helped to strengthen the value propositions of logistics business in Africa leveraging emerging technologies in a way that has helped to grow SMEs on the continent.
Other tech solutions include Zabe, an election monitoring application he launched in 2018 and in 2019, Halilu founded The CANs, touted as the first-ever eco-friendly technological hub in West Africa. The CANS operates as a community and a tech platform allowing shared ideas and fostering the growth startups, innovators.
