Elijah Shokenu is a venture builder and startup support professional driving innovation at the intersection of entrepreneurship and development. He developed the customer-before-business framework that emphasizes building startups around paying customers from the outset. This approach has rapidly transformed dozens of ideas into post-revenue startups under his mentorship.

At the Nigerian University of Technology and Management, Elijah incubated 30+ ventures that have cumulatively created about 600 jobs and raised over $2M in funding within 3 years. Currently, as Lead Venture Builder at Fast Forward Venture Studio, he leads projects that balance building and funding high-growth startups, working with some of the brightest founders in and outside Africa.