Tope Awotona is the founder and CEO of scheduling software company Calendly.
Awotona, a former salesman for tech firms including EMC (now Dell EMC), founded Calendly out of his own frustration with the back-and-forth emails required to schedule meetings.
He bootstrapped Calendly for years before taking on a $350 million investment in 2021 that valued the firm at $3 billion.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona immigrated to the United States as a teenager.
Before founding Calendly, he had started a few other businesses, including one that sold projectors and another that sold garden tools, that flopped.
Meet Tope Awotona, richest Nigerian and immigrant in the US
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).
