Name	Razaq Ahmed
Known for	Co-founder and CEO of CowryWise
Alma mater	Obafemi Awolowo University
Ethnicity	Yoruba
Occupation	Economist, Financial Analyst, and Entrepreneur

Who is Razaq Ahmed?

Razaq Ahmed is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Cowrywise. CowryWise is a platform that helps users save and invest money easily.

CowryWise was co-founded by Razaq Ahmed and Edward Popoola in July 2017.

You Might Be Interested In – How to save or invest money with CowryWise

Early life and education

Growing up in Kano Town

Razaq Ahmed’s early life is a very interesting one. He was born and grew up in Kano State. Razaq and his family are of Yoruba ethnicity, but they were residents in a northern state. His parents had their marriage in Kano town and decided to have all their children there.

Most people in his town attended primary education and then enrolled in secondary school. However, about 90 percent of the students combined schooling with some form of manual labour or learning a craft.

Razaq was an apprentice at a generator repair shop. Imagine the brilliant economist of today, who graduated with a first-class degree from OAU, repairing generators. He was attending an Army secondary school then and would visit the repair shop every afternoon.

He planned to become a generator repairer after leaving secondary school, but as fate would have it, a war broke out!

The supernatural turnaround

When he was 14 years old, a Hausa-Yoruba crisis happened, and it shook the whole country. That was back in 1999.

Since Razaq and his family were Yoruba indigenes in a Hausa town, they were among the most vulnerable. An angry mob started killing the Yoruba people in the town. Razaq’s family were saved by the Nigerian Army after barely escaping death.

They resided at an IDP camp before finally relocating to their hometown in Ogbomoso to start a new life. At Ogbomoso, the family lived close to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH. Razaq was also introduced to a distant relative, who happens to be a Lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU.

Fast forward to 2003, Razaq Ahmed secured admission to the Obafemi Awolowo University. He studied Economics and graduated in 2007 with a first-class degree.

Career and employment history

Meristem Nigeria

Between March 2008 to July 2010, Razaq Ahmed was an Investment Analyst at Meristem Nigeria. He did an active coverage of the Nigerian equity market. That included the banking, cement, and FMCGs sectors.

He also offered financial advice for individual and institutional clients on portfolio optimisation.

The employment offer to work at Meristem came during Razaq’s National Youth Service year. Razaq took advantage of this Job opportunity and served out the year at Meristem. And it was a very good decision.

Vetiva Capital Management Limited

From August 2010 to November 2010, Razaq worked as a Research Analyst at Vetiva Capital Management. He covered the Brewery and Conglomerates sectors.

Shell Petroleum Development Company

From December 2010 to January 2012, Razaq Ahmed was Business Economist at Shell Petroleum. In January 2012, he was promoted to the post of Gas Commercial.

Sart Partners

In 2012, Razaq Ahmed founded Sart Partners, shortly after completing his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program. From January 2013 to June 2017, he worked as the Executive Director.

Sart Partners is an investment management and financial advisory firm that offers strategic, financial and industry expertise to companies.

CowryWise

In July 2017, Razaq Ahmed founded CowryWise alongside Edward Popoola.

CowryWise is a financial technology company digitizing the investment management industry in Africa. It provides access to savings and investment products for the growing population of the African middle class.

CowryWise Financial Technology Limited is a duly registered company with CAC with RC Number: 1419869. Their financial operation is provided under a Cooperative License with registration number 15845.

CowryWise uses a PCI-DSS-compliant payment processor to handle all customers’ card details. The PCI-DSS is a standard guide that all reputable payment processors must adhere to. That way, your important data is encrypted and securely stored.

CowryWise is also supported by some venture capital firms. Some of the companies that have invested in CowryWise include Quona Capital, Y Combinator, Venture Souq, SHL Capital and Kairos 50 Ventures.

Also, CowryWise is the first company to be accepted into the Catalyst Fund program in Nigeria. The Catalyst Funding is also supported by JP Morgan and UK Aid.