Abiola Olaniran, a leading voice in Africa’s mobile gaming revolution and an early backer of the continent’s digital media startups, died on Wednesday, July 16.
He was 36.
Although details on the cause of death are unclear, he was buried the same day in a private ceremony, according to circulating reports.
A graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University and an experienced Unity3D developer, Olaniran gained early recognition after winning the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Poland in 2010, representing Nigeria in a global technology contest that spotlighted emerging talent.
He soon parlayed that momentum into founding Gamsole, a Lagos-based game development company, in 2012.
Gamsole would go on to become one of the most successful African mobile gaming startups of its time, racking up more than 10 million downloads by 2015. In partnership with MTN, it launched Gidi Run in 2016, a mobile game that redefined monetization and localization strategies for African audiences.
Olaniran’s influence extended beyond game development. He was named to Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 list in 2015 and was recognized as one of the 30 Most Promising Young African Entrepreneurs the following year.
In 2015, he provided early funding to Techpoint Africa, now one of the continent’s leading technology publications. He also served as Chief Technology Officer at the Kenyan ed-tech firm eLimu, where he led a full-scale rebuild of its mobile learning platforms from 2020 to 2022.
Known for his humility and soft-spoken nature, Olaniran quietly mentored numerous startup founders and game developers across Africa in recent years. His LinkedIn profile described him simply as an “experienced Unity3D developer with a track record of creating and publishing games across platforms.”
He had more than 500 professional connections and over 5,000 followers on LinkedIn. His last known public comments celebrated peers in the African tech community.
He is survived by his family, friends, and a generation of developers who saw him as proof that global-scale innovation could begin in Africa.
What a loss for the country, sadly, he died in the prime of life
This was a sad news