Episode 44, Using tech to hold government accountable. Seun Onigbinde, co-founder at BudgIT

Building The Future Podcast

Seun Onigbinde is the co-founder of BudgIT, a non-governmental organization that helps citizens access and understand public budgets. BudgIT breaks down the national budget in simplistic charts, and track contracts and projects the government are working on. This is a classic case of doing good with tech. In 2012, he was awarded the Future Awards prize for Science and Tech Innovation. In 2014, the Omidyar Network invested $400,000 in BudgIT, In January 2017, BudgIT raised an additional $3 million grant from Omidyar Network and Gates Foundation. Seun is an ex-banker whose goal was to become the CEO. Along the line his goals changed after coming second in a hackathon organised by CCHUB. In this episode, you’ll learn: How Seun got the idea for BudgIT while working for Firstbank Seun’s initial dream was to become the CEO of a bank. Why did that dream change? What is the spirit of timing? Seun referred to it as a crucial factor in the success of Budgit How do you determine the right time to launch your product/startup? After the hackathon where BudgIT was born, Seun forgot about the idea. Why did he go back to it? Seun was reluctant to leave his paid employment to run BudgIT full time. But he eventually did? What was the deciding factor? What can you learn from this challenge he had? Why every Nigerian should be involved in governance? The importance of believing in Nigerian youths Seun said technology gave BudgIT a big jump. What did he mean by this? Seun’s first startup failed. Why did it fail? The importance of hackathons and how you can take advantage of them That Seun is interested in politics and looks to going in at some point And more Selected links from this episode Selected book from this episode