Partner & Chief Operating Officer / Delivery, Operations & Technology
Femi
Akinwande
“Femi is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Crimson Oak, leading delivery, operations, and the Technology practice that turns early traction into institutional grade businesses.”
Femi is an operator with more than 15 years across product, operations, marketing, and business development inside some of Africa's most demanding technology environments. He is the behind the scenes partner founders lean on when a company has product market fit but has not yet built the engine to compound it.
His track record spans agency banking and financial inclusion, education technology at continental scale, brand and product studios, and the media and events infrastructure that shaped how African technology tells its own story. Across those seats he has built go to market motions, launched and grown marketplaces, run country and multi market operations, stood up communications and partnership functions from zero, and produced one of the largest technology gatherings on the continent.
At Crimson Oak he owns delivery across the firm, sets the operating cadence for every engagement, and leads the Technology practice. His work with founders spans product strategy, go to market design, commercial architecture, and the analytics and operating systems that convert customer behaviour into decisions institutional buyers and investors will back.
Notable Engagements
- 01
Led country and multi market operations for a continental education technology platform, scaling delivery, curriculum operations, and student experience across cohorts and geographies.
- 02
Built and managed a marketplace product inside a Y Combinator backed agency banking network extending financial services to underbanked traders and small businesses.
- 03
Designed and ran the events and business development function behind one of the largest technology gatherings on the continent, growing it into a flagship attended by thousands of founders, operators, and investors.
- 04
Stood up the first communications and brand function at a Lagos product studio working with African startups and category defining consumer brands.
- 05
Writes and advises on African fintech, operating models, and market structure, drawing on more than a decade inside the businesses he covers.
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