Insights on Tope Omikunle: The CTO-Led Strategy Driving LogiPro’s Tech-Enabled Growth

In a country where logistics is both an economic backbone and a governance challenge, Logipro is quietly redefining what tech enabled mobility looks like in Nigeria. Serving over 2.3 million unique users annually, the company operates at the intersection of digital infrastructure, sustainability, and public sector collaboration.

In an interview session, we sat down with Tope Omikunle, CTO and chief growth officer at LogiPro Nigeria, to discuss strategy and how technology can formalize Nigeria’s informal logistics economy.

Q1: LogiPro was recently recognized as “Most Promising Logistics Technology Company of the Year” at the recently held NITA Awards. What does this award mean to you from a CTO’s perspective?

Tope Omikunle:
As someone responsible for drafting the growth pattern at LogiPro, Winning Most Promising Logistics Technology Company of the Year award validated our early business decisions, from scaling our infrastructure to taking the strategic decision to diversify into Agro-logistics and introduce a subscription-based service for farmers and aggregators, it confirmed that those decisions were the right ones. For me, the recognition affirmed that LogiPro was being built not just for short-term growth, but as a scalable Agro-logiTech company capable of supporting multiple sectors and making long term national impact. This is just the beginning; we are on course to enabling 25 million Africans to create wealth by 2035.

Q2: LogiPro operates in a tough macroeconomic environment. From your perspective as CTO, how did the realities of Nigeria shape your technology strategy?

Tope Omikunle:
I would like to start with my mantra: Identify the problem, create the solution, that is my North Star and a guiding principle I imbibe in all of my teams. To take you back a bit, the global events of 2019 (talking about Covid-19) taught me a great lesson, innovate or die. As you may already know, we operate in a country where politics and policies are not entirely separated. We operate within an economy characterized by double-digit inflation, persistent FX scarcity, and rising energy and fuel costs. As CTO and Chief growth officer it was a defining moment for me, I translated these issues to business decisions prioritizing building resilience through software. I prioritized automation and observability. Using real-time data pipelines, we gained visibility into fleet performance, delivery latency, fuel consumption, and customer demand patterns. That visibility allowed us to make fast, evidence-based decisions. It was also in this year that in response to anticipated removal of fuel subsidy, I birthed the idea of LevyPal as a solution to the disruptive nature of levy payments. In summary, technology became our hedge against macroeconomic volatility.

Q3: LogiPro now serves over 2.3 million users on a yearly basis. How did you scale responsibly without becoming operationally bloated?

Tope Omikunle:

Attaining our numbers was a function of years of building trust and ensuring customer satisfaction. There was always that desire to scale but I was committed to keeping it under control and this translated to taking key timed and organization specific decisions. One of the things I did was to ensure that we designed our core platform using a modular microservices architecture, this meant that irrespective of connectivity issues or infrastructure and market volatility, we could scale independently and remain resilient onboarding new users, cities, and partners without system-wide failures.

A key part of this growth came from diversification, launching our digital Agro-logistics marketplace that incorporated farmers, aggregators, and buyers into a subscription-based platform. This came with its own challenges, taking advantage of current infrastructure, meant we were able to launch into new markets, increase platform utilization, and support agricultural producers with reliable access to logistics and buyers.

As against throwing money at the problem or expanding our fleet blindly, I also took the business decision to use predictive analytics, using AI to understand the demand patterns especially among SMEs and informal traders. This ensured we scaled by maintaining the required equilibrium in supply and real demand.

Q4: You have notable partnerships with three state governments at the moment, what inspired this drive into the public sector?

Tope Omikunle:

I would say experience. I have experienced firsthand the failings of the public sector, from lack of accountability to non or under remittance of collections, thuggery, racketeering and incompetence, this experience coupled with the negative impact this was having on our deliverables was the drive. I took motivation from our internal success of managing workforce productivity particularly with our virtual teams I knew we could replicate this in this pain area. I was weary of appearing to “disrupt” the government, so I approached this with a focus on designing digital infrastructure that would improve transparency, accountability, and operational speed. That was the unique selling point. Today governments are feeling the impact of LevyPal with a minimum guarantee of a 15% increase in collections after commission. Success in one led to two more states coming on board and counting.

Q5: I note how enthusiastic you are about your collection platform. Tell us about LevyPal. Why is this important to you ?

Tope Omikunle:

LevyPal is a digital levy payment and compliance platform. I led the platform-wide design, development, and deployment. With LevyPal drivers are able to pay levies in addition they can save for future projects. I am particularly happy with its adoption at the government level. Nigeria’s logistics and mobility sector is largely informal, and many drivers struggle with multifaceted levies, which are mostly paid in cash, with little transparency or accountability. This creates friction, inefficiency, and sometimes conflict. I am happy at the traction it is making; the adoption ratio has been impressive, grossing 320k users in the first 6 months.

Starting out in Oyo state at the end of our three-month pilot phase we were able to achieve a monthly average of NGN27,000,000 after deduction of commission, this was a 12% increment in overall collection from the previous period, a sum of money that could pay 818 staff on minimum wage.Our success in Oyo state translated to partnerships with Ogun and Osun state government. The prospects are there and just to mention that we are not operational in all local government areas due to connectivity issues, so the opportunity to achieve more still exists..
Looking at this from a governance perspective levyPal redefines traceability, auditability, and data integrity. When payments are logged, digital receipts are produced, and both drivers and government agents can now rely on a platform as the single source of truth. For our customers (the drivers), it amplifies the ease of doing business as it reduces harassment and uncertainty. For the government, it improves revenue assurance and oversight. It is a win-win for all stakeholders.

Q6: How were you able to build buy-in and maintain trust with both drivers and regulators?

Tope Omikunle:

Trust was non-negotiable. Like I mentioned earlier we did not set out to disrupt but ab initio the focus was on pointing out how our product would improve transparency, accountability, and operational speed. It was first about collaboration and proper change management. Manhours went into driver education considering literacy levels of drivers. We engaged early with state and local transport authorities, ensuring the platform reflected existing regulatory frameworks rather than trying to replace them. That alignment was critical at getting the required level of buying…

Q7: Sustainability is becoming unavoidable in logistics. Why did LogiPro commit to EV adoption, especially in Nigeria?

Tope Omikunle:

For us, EV adoption wasn’t a branding stunt, it was an economic and strategic decision.

Unstable fuel prices and uncertainty around subsidies created cost unpredictability. EVs gave us stability in terms of cost. Though upfront investment was higher, total cost of ownership is significantly lower due to reduced energy and maintenance costs. Combined with the fact that.we can monitor overall vehicle performance in real time.

The reality of energy challenges have been an issue but we have complemented this with solar-assisted charging hubs, which has greatly reduced dependence on diesel generators and unstable grid power. This is particularly advantageous for rural farmers and greatly reducing farm to market timing.

Q8: What partnerships are you exploring to deepen your impact across logistics, sustainability, and governance?

Tope Omikunle:

Our partnerships are quite intentional and strategic..

For logistics in terms of easy access to vehicles particularly two wheelers and three wheelers we partner with Max.ng. On the energy front we partnered with Lumous to provide renewable energy to our customers on personal terms. On the fintech front we partner with Woven finance. The key here is that we are making strategic alliances with partners who can help us navigate both the financial and logistical challenges that come with scaling in Nigeria’s unique environment. Each partnership is evaluated through one lens:how will it strengthen the ecosystem and not just LogiPro?

Q9: Looking forward, what does success look like for you personally as CTO?

Tope Omikunle:

Success, for me, is building systems that outlast economic cycles. If LogiPro can continue to scale responsibly, reduce environmental impact, formalise informal work, and support better governance through technology, then we’ve done something meaningful.

In a country like Nigeria, technology leadership isn’t just about innovation it is about impact irrespective of the issues. That’s the challenge I wake up excited to solve every day.

Closing Note
LogiPro Logistics may not be Nigeria’s largest logistics company, but under Tope Omikunle’s technical leadership, it is proving that thoughtful digital infrastructure, sustainability, and governance alignment can create outsized impact both commercially and societally.