Emma Obanye
Emma Joy Obanye is a British entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and tech geek from Hackney, London. She has spent the last 18 years building products and leading teams in tech for both corporates and startups.[1]
Early life
Emma Obanye was born in Leeds, England in 1982 and moved to London at the age of 3. She grew up on a council estate in Hackney, North East London, where she was raised by a single mother.[2]
Career
In 2010, Obanye, together with her co-founder, started the Tech Startup Buddybounce, a digital loyalty and influencer platform that connected musicians, fans, and brands.[3]
In 2012, Buddybounce won the Shortlist, Wayra competition and £40k investment and became one of 3 new programmes accepted onto the very first Wayra London accelerator programme.[4][5]
In 2014, Obanye and Buddybounce went on to join BBC's worldwide labs accelerator programme.[6] Buddybounce went on to raise more money from Wayra and a seed round led by Angel Acadame.[7]
In March 2016, Buddybounce sold to Crowdmix (Dredge).[8]
Obanye is a regular speaker on the unspoken elements of being a founder, the high, lows and the mental health issues faced. She also speaks extensively on panels and keynotes about building tech startups and raising money as well as DE&I in tech.
In 2016 Obanye left to live in Thailand and then went on to Barcelona where she lives today with her partner and two kids.[9]
On a mission to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within the UK tech startup ecosystem, Obanye joined and co-led Capital Enterprise's OneTech initiative in 2018.[10] OneTech has since spun out from Capital Enterprise as a completely autonomous entity and Obanye leads it as CEO.[11]
OneTech started with initial funding support from JPMorgan and has gained support from Google, the Mayor of London, Leeds City Council and Baltic Ventures and more. As a result, OneTech has been able to offer support programmes to a vast range of founders across the United Kingdom.[12]
Awards and honours
OneTech has gone on to go from strength to strength, and to date has supported over 3,000 founders with support, coaching and access to funding. In 2023, OneTech won the Social Impact in Enterprise Award at the National Enterprise Awards.[13]
In 2019, Obanye was recognised by Inclusive boards and the financial times as one of the 100 influential BAME leaders in tech. In 2022 Obanye was recognised by Startups Magazine X. In 2023, Obanye was nominated by UKBlackBusiness for social good award in 2023.
An entrepreneur herself, Obanye does this whilst splitting her time between her new venture The Startup Game (a board game) and supporting BEO's F100 programme and Lambeth Council's Elevate initiative as a steering group and advisory board member.
Personal life
Obanye is a mum of 2 and a keen padel player, runner and gym enthusiast.
References
- ↑ Emma Obanye. Mayor of London's Techinvest.
- ↑ Emma Joy Obanye. Gordon & Eden.
- ↑ Super-fan 2.0: Why loving One Direction can be hard work BBC.
- ↑ Meet our winning Digital Entrepreneurs: The stars of our Wayra £40k start-up competition. ShortList.
- ↑ Three new start-ups join the London Wayra Academy. Fresh Business Thinking.
- ↑ BBC Worldwide Labs 2014 digital programme. BBC.
- ↑ New Women-Led Angel Network Seed Funds Super-Fan Manager Buddybounce. Techcrunch.
- ↑ Musically.
- ↑ A Day in the Life of Emma Obanye, Managing Director of OneTech. OneTech.
- ↑ What can VCs do to ensure investments are more inclusive and diverse?. Field House Associates.
- ↑ OneTech spins out from Capital Enterprise to support underserved communities in tech. Startups Magazine.
- ↑ Blog. OneTech.
- ↑ OneTech spins out from Capital Enterprise to support underserved communities in tech. Startups Magazine.
