ABUJA — Between 2016 and 2022, Paul Showemimo’s company Eklipse Technology delivered over 200 technology projects across six of Nigeria’s most demanding industries. Each project required different technical expertise, different stakeholder management approaches, and different definitions of success. Yet the company maintained consistent delivery while generating substantial revenue with just 13 team members.
How does an entrepreneur manage that volume and complexity without the operation collapsing under its own weight? Showemimo, now based in Washington DC where he runs AI company Ignite Solutions while pursuing his doctorate, shared insights from nearly a decade of building and scaling technology ventures.
“People think scaling means adding headcount,” Showemimo said. “That is the lazy approach. Real scaling means building systems that work regardless of who is executing them. We managed 200 projects not because we had 200 people, but because we had frameworks that made each project predictable.
“Eklipse Technology served clients across Aviation, Oil and Gas, Construction, Logistics, Real Estate and Fintech. The diversity was intentional. Showemimo learned early that relying on a single industry exposes a company to sector specific downturns.
“When oil prices crashed, our Oil and Gas projects slowed,” he explained. “But Real Estate and Fintech were booming. When Construction faced regulatory delays, Aviation was moving fast. Diversification was not just strategy, it was survival.
“The key to managing such diversity was hiring domain experts rather than generalists. For aviation projects, the team included someone who understood flight scheduling regulations. For Oil and Gas, they brought in engineers who had worked in field operations. For Real Estate, they hired someone familiar with Nigerian property markets.
“I was not the expert in any of those industries,” Showemimo admitted. “My job was not to know everything. It was to hire people who knew their sectors deeply, give them clear frameworks for delivery, and get out of their way.
“That philosophy extended to his other ventures. When he founded Haba Insurtech, an AI powered insurance platform, Showemimo conceptualized the vision but brought in insurance industry veterans to execute. The company raised $75,000 in its first pre-seed round, then another $125,000 in a second round before spinning off as an independent company.
“Haba succeeded because I knew what I did not know,” he said. “I understood technology and I understood user experience. I did not understand insurance underwriting or claims processing at the level needed to run that business long term. So I structured it to break out independently with leadership better suited to scale it.
“Earlier, between 2017 and 2019, his company Eklipse Consults developed S5, which stood for Smart Safety School Software. The platform served 350 schools across six African countries including Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Cameroon, reaching 85,000 students.
S5 became the first mobile app-centered school management system in West Africa to use free in app notifications instead of expensive SMS alerts, saving schools hundreds of thousands of naira annually. The company built a distribution network of over 3,000 marketers across Africa and promoted the platform through media appearances including interviews on Odenigbo 99.1 FM in Anambra State.
In 2019, Showemimo organized the region’s largest education technology exposition at Sharon Hall in Onitsha, attracting 627 school owners and representatives. The platform was acquired by a government-affiliated company later that year.
“S5 taught me about building for constrained environments,” Showemimo reflected. “Schools in rural Uganda do not have reliable internet or constant power. We designed S5 to work offline and sync when connectivity returned. That constraint forced us to build a more robust product than if we had designed for ideal conditions.
“Those lessons now inform his work at Ignite Solutions, where he develops AI powered tools for American small businesses. The company has deployed systems including voice AI and process automation for about 20 clients across insurance, healthcare, construction and religious sectors.
“Small businesses in America face different constraints than schools in Uganda, but the principle is the same,” he noted. “They need enterprise grade technology but cannot afford enterprise budgets or dedicated IT teams. So we build AI systems that work without requiring technical expertise to operate.
“Showemimo is also developing a conversational website platform addressing what he calls the digital mannequin problem. Companies invest heavily in websites and advertising but lose visitors who cannot quickly find information. His platform transforms static sites into interactive experiences that guide visitors, answer questions and capture leads.
Simultaneously, he is pursuing his Doctor of Business Administration at University of Potomac, researching academic integrity in the age of artificial intelligence. In 2023, he piloted an innovative assessment approach called Edureel at Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he earned his MBA. The pilot used video based verification rather than AI detection software, earning endorsement from Hult’s Dean.
His academic credentials include IEEE Senior Member status and service as a peer reviewer for top ranked academic journals in artificial intelligence and education.
“The doctorate is not separate from the business work,” Showemimo explained. “My research on how to verify learning in AI saturated environments directly informs how we think about AI implementation at Ignite. Theory without practice is useless. Practice without theory is blind. I am doing both simultaneously because they make each other better.
“Looking ahead, Showemimo sees opportunities at the intersection of AI, small business needs and practical implementation. “Most AI companies are building for Fortune 500 clients or trying to create the next ChatGPT,” he said. “There is enormous white space serving the millions of small businesses that need AI but have been ignored by the industry. That is where we are building.
“His approach remains consistent across ventures: identify underserved markets, understand real constraints, build practical solutions, price for accessibility, and execute with small, expert teams rather than large generalist organizations.
“Scaling is not about getting bigger,” Showemimo concluded. “It is about getting better at solving problems that matter for people willing to pay for solutions. Do that consistently, and growth follows naturally.”
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