KHALIL HALILU: TECHPRENEUR, INDUSTRIALIST & INNOVATION CHAMPION

Khalil Halilu is a visionary African leader shaping the continent’s technological and industrial future through innovation, entrepreneurship, and purposeful governance. As the Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Nigeria’s National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), he stands at the center of national efforts to strengthen science, engineering, and industrial development as foundations for sustainable economic growth.

A highly driven techpreneur and industrialist, Khalil represents a new generation of African leadership, one that blends digital transformation with large-scale infrastructure ambition. Through his work at NASENI, he is helping position technology not only as a tool for modernization, but as a catalyst for national competitiveness and continental progress.

Beyond his public-sector role, Khalil has founded multiple solution-driven ventures, including OyaOya Strategic Services and ShapShap Logistics Ltd, contributing to Africa’s expanding innovation and business ecosystem. His entrepreneurial mindset is rooted in practical impact: building platforms that solve real challenges while opening new opportunities for growth.

Khalil’s influence also extends into social development and community advancement. As Chairman of the Centre for Citizens Welfare and Community Development (CWCD), he has championed peace, inclusion, and citizen empowerment through technology-enabled initiatives such as the Zabe Election Monitoring App and the UnSub Gender-Based Violence Reporting App, proving that innovation can strengthen both governance and human dignity.

Committed to sustainable progress, he is also the Founder and Chairman of the CANs, West Africa’s first eco-friendly technological hub, designed to support responsible innovation infrastructure for the region. With expertise spanning blockchain, big data, ICT architecture, mobile solutions, and digital commerce, Khalil brings deep technical insight to the industrial challenges of the future.

Guided by curiosity, collaboration, and purpose, Khalil Halilu lives by a belief that captures his mission clearly: “To prosper, Africa needs information technology as much as it needs agriculture.”

Khalil Halilu is more than a leader, he is a builder of Africa’s innovation-driven future, working to ensure that technology and industry become engines of lasting prosperity across the continent.