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Leadership

Ben Onuoha, MBA

Founder of BCO Foundation. Co-founder of Africa Blockchain Alliance. Former ConsenSys Community Lead for Africa and Algorand Foundation Country Head for Nigeria.

Profile

Ben Onuoha has spent more than a decade building technology communities across Africa — starting from the position that the continent should be building the systems it depends on, not only consuming them.

In 2017 he founded and led ConsenSys' community programme for Africa, convening the first Ethereum meetups on the continent: Johannesburg in December 2017, then Nigeria's first official Ethereum meetup at CcHub in Lagos, followed by Cape Town, Nairobi and Abuja on the 2018 ConsenSys Africa Tour. In the same period he co-founded Africa Blockchain Alliance, which has since trained and convened thousands of developers.

As Country Head for Nigeria at the Algorand Foundation he led developer growth, university programmes and government engagement, including state-level partnerships with the Plateau and Taraba State governments. He has advised Paxful on financial access across African markets and leads BlockAfric Global Services Ltd.

BCO Foundation is the personal continuation of that work: training and opportunity paired with direct humanitarian support, in the communities he comes from. It launched from a birthday outreach on 2 September 2026.

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Ben Onuoha, founder of BCO Foundation, at the first community outreach

Roles and institutions

2026 — present

Founder — BCO Foundation

The Benjamin Chukwuka Onuoha Foundation: humanitarian aid and wellbeing, education and training, work and opportunities, and community engagement across Nigeria.

2017 — present

Co-founder — Africa Blockchain Alliance

A pan-African developer and education network that has trained and convened thousands of builders, in partnership with ConsenSys Academy and other ecosystem institutions.

2017 — 2018

Community Lead for Africa — ConsenSys

Founded and led Ethereum community programmes across the continent, convening the first ConsenSys meetups in Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town, Nairobi and Abuja.

2021 — 2023

Country Head, Nigeria — Algorand Foundation

Led developer growth, university programmes and government engagement in Nigeria, including state-level partnerships on blockchain skills and adoption.

Advisory

Africa Advisor — Paxful

Advised on peer-to-peer financial access and community growth across African markets.

Present

Managing Director — BlockAfric Global Services Ltd

Technology delivery and advisory practice building products, platforms and developer capacity for African organisations.

State government partnerships

Agreements signed while leading the Algorand Foundation's work in Nigeria, taking blockchain skills and adoption into state institutions.

Plateau State Government

Partnership with the Algorand Foundation on blockchain education, developer training and public-sector adoption, positioning Jos as a skills hub for emerging technology.

Taraba State Government

Memorandum of understanding with the Algorand Foundation covering youth digital skills, blockchain literacy for public servants and pilot adoption projects in the state.

Pioneer record

The ConsenSys Africa Tour

Six stops, five cities, 49 photographs from the archive — including the first ConsenSys Ethereum meetup held anywhere in Africa and the first official Ethereum meetup in Nigeria.

  1. Thursday, 7 December 2017

    Ethereum Meetup Johannesburg — ConsenSys

    Standard Bank Incubator, Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa

  2. Thursday, 14 December 2017

    Ethereum Meetup Lagos — ConsenSys

    CcHub, 6th Floor, 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria

  3. Wednesday, 7 March 2018

    ConsenSys Africa Tour — Johannesburg

    Impact Hub Johannesburg, South Africa

  4. Saturday, 10 March 2018

    ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Cape Town

    Workshop17, The Watershed, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

  5. Thursday, 22 March 2018

    ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Nairobi — The Art of the Possible

    Mēttā Nairobi, Belgravia Building, 14 Riverside Drive, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

  6. Saturday, 24 March 2018

    ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Abuja

    Civic Innovation Lab, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria

Archive gallery

Thursday, 7 December 2017 · 5:00pm – 8:00pm SAST

Ethereum Meetup Johannesburg — ConsenSys

Standard Bank Incubator, Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa

The first ConsenSys Ethereum gathering on the African continent, hosted inside one of Africa's largest banking groups.

  • Ben Onuoha convened and led the session as ConsenSys Community Lead for Africa.
  • The room combined enterprise banking teams, independent developers, fintech founders and university researchers.
  • Topics covered what Ethereum is, why public blockchains matter for African settlement and identity, and how local developers could start building.
  • It set the template for every stop that followed: a technical primer, a live walkthrough, then open questions from the floor.
ConsenSysStandard Bank Incubator
Accreditation and welcome at the Standard Bank Incubator.
Early arrivals networking before the session opens.
Developers and bankers in conversation in the courtyard.
The room filling ahead of the opening presentation.
Ben Onuoha opens the first ConsenSys meetup in Africa.
Explaining the Ethereum stack to a mixed technical audience.
A full house at the Standard Bank Incubator, Rosebank.
Live walkthrough of Ethereum tooling and wallets.
Questions from banking, fintech and research attendees.
Post-event networking as Johannesburg's Ethereum community forms.

Thursday, 14 December 2017 · 5:00pm WAT

Ethereum Meetup Lagos — ConsenSys

CcHub, 6th Floor, 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria

The first official Ethereum meetup in Nigeria — a standing-room-only night at CcHub in Yaba.

  • Ben Onuoha led the meetup as ConsenSys Community Lead for Africa and co-founder of Africa Blockchain Alliance.
  • Supported by CcHub, Microsoft and the Cyber Security and Digital Innovation network (CDIN), with Adeolu Fadele among the conveners.
  • Eseoghene Mentie presented uPort, ConsenSys' decentralised identity project, straight from the Ethereal Summit in San Francisco.
  • The hall overflowed: Lagos developers, founders and students stood along the walls for the full session.
ConsenSysCcHubMicrosoftCDIN
TechCabal Radar listing
Accreditation and badges at the CcHub entrance.
Lagos developers and founders arriving with laptops open.
Ben Onuoha opens Nigeria's first official Ethereum meetup.
Presenting the Ethereum roadmap to the Lagos community.
Eseoghene Mentie presents uPort — identity on Ethereum.
"Proof of Ethereal" — a verifiable credential worn as a shirt.
Fielding use-case questions from the hall.
Standing room only in the CcHub auditorium.
Rooftop networking: harness the power of Ethereum.
The closing panel and Q&A against the ConsenSys backdrop.

Wednesday, 7 March 2018 · From 5:40pm SAST

ConsenSys Africa Tour — Johannesburg

Impact Hub Johannesburg, South Africa

The opening stop of the 2018 ConsenSys Africa Tour, returning to Johannesburg with a far larger crowd.

  • Photo metadata places the session between 5:43pm and 8:30pm on 7 March 2018.
  • Ben Onuoha hosted and presented the ConsenSys overview and the state of Ethereum.
  • The tour continued from here to Cape Town, Nairobi, Abuja and Lagos.
  • Attendance outgrew the 2017 session, filling Impact Hub's tiered hall with developers, investors and enterprise teams.
ConsenSysImpact Hub JohannesburguPort
Impact Hub Johannesburg set up ahead of the session.
The ConsenSys team on the registration desk.
Ben Onuoha preparing before going on.
Final checks beside the ConsenSys banner.
Opening the 2018 ConsenSys Africa Tour.
A packed hall for the Johannesburg session.
Attendees recording the technical walkthrough.
Discussion between developers and enterprise teams.
Close attention through the Ethereum deep dive.
Networking after the session closes.

Saturday, 10 March 2018

ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Cape Town

Workshop17, The Watershed, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

The Cape Town stop of the ConsenSys Africa Tour, on the V&A Waterfront three days after Johannesburg.

  • Camera metadata from the day confirms the date: 10 March 2018 at Workshop17, V&A Waterfront.
  • Ben Onuoha hosted as ConsenSys Community Lead for Africa.
  • Sessions covered Ethereum architecture, the ConsenSys Academy developer pathway, and self-sovereign identity.
  • Eseoghene Mentie ran an interactive uPort identity demonstration with the audience.
ConsenSysWorkshop17uPort
Workshop17 at The Watershed fills for the Cape Town meetup.
Ben Onuoha opens the Cape Town session.
Ethereum architecture, explained for builders.
Developers, fintech teams and students in the room.
The ConsenSys Academy developer pathway.
Interactive uPort self-sovereign identity demonstration.
Questions from the Cape Town technology community.
Networking on the V&A Waterfront after the session.

Thursday, 22 March 2018 · 5:30pm – 8:30pm EAT

ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Nairobi — The Art of the Possible

Mēttā Nairobi, Belgravia Building, 14 Riverside Drive, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

East Africa's stop on the tour, themed around what is already possible with Ethereum today.

  • Ben Onuoha led the session and presented the ConsenSys overview.
  • Focus areas: decentralised identity, financial inclusion, supply chain traceability and smart contracts in banking.
  • A panel brought together Kenyan founders, developers and financial services participants.
  • uPort was demonstrated live, including QR-code based identity claims.
ConsenSysMēttā NairobiuPort
Ben Onuoha presents the ConsenSys overview at Mēttā Nairobi.
The full panel beneath the Mēttā Nairobi logo.
Live uPort demonstration using QR-code identity claims.
Eseoghene Mentie and Ben Onuoha on decentralised identity.
Panel discussion on blockchain for financial inclusion.
Panellists take questions on cross-border innovation.

Saturday, 24 March 2018 · 2:00pm – 5:00pm WAT

ConsenSys Ethereum Meetup Abuja

Civic Innovation Lab, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria

The tour reaches Nigeria's capital, with a civic-technology audience and a focus on public accountability.

  • Hosted at Civic Innovation Lab, Abuja's hub for governance and civic technology.
  • Ben Onuoha delivered the keynote and the Ethereum technical overview.
  • Eseoghene Mentie presented uPort — identity built on Ethereum.
  • Discussion centred on smart contracts for public records, transparency and accountable civic infrastructure — themes the Foundation carries into its community engagement work today.
ConsenSysCivic Innovation LabuPort
Ben Onuoha opens the Abuja meetup.
Presenting to the Abuja civic technology audience.
uPort — identity built on Ethereum, presented at Civic Innovation Lab.
Panel with ConsenSys and civic innovation participants.
Networking with Abuja technologists and entrepreneurs.

Publications and press

Some entries link to the publisher's blog index rather than the article, pending exact archive URLs. Send the direct links and we will point them straight at the pieces.