# Ojima Benjamin Ufaruna

> Ojima Benjamin Ufaruna is the Nigerian co-founder and CEO of BuyPower, a bill-payment company founded in 2016 and part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch. His software-development background preceded a business built around the frustration of buying electricity when physical payment centers were closed. BuyPower subsequently expanded into other consumer bills, business payments and energy-payment data services.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at BuyPower
- **Organizations:** BuyPower, Emerging Platforms, Rom-Flex
- **Nationality:** Nigerian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Federal University of Technology Minna, Harvard Business School Online, Federal Government College Ugwolawo
- **Known for:** Co-founded BuyPower, a Y Combinator Winter 2017 company., Helped launch an online electricity-payment channel with Kaduna Electric in December 2017., Built a bill-payment business that reported serving more than two million Nigerians by December 2021.

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Received Sun Certified Java Programmer certification in February.
- **—** — Worked as a lead software developer at Rom-Flex and as a software-team supervisor at Emerging Platforms; exact employment dates not independently established.
- **2015** — Received Scrum Master certification in February.
- **2016** — Co-founded BuyPower with Asehinde Oladipo; the service launched in 2016.
- **2017** — BuyPower participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch.
- **2017** — Spoke at the December 4 launch of Kaduna Electric’s BuyPower online-payment channel.
- **2021** — Discussed the company’s fifth anniversary in a founder interview published April 16.
- **2024** — Featured on Venture Valley in an episode published August 3.

## Achievements

- Co-founded BuyPower, a Y Combinator Winter 2017 company.
- Helped launch an online electricity-payment channel with Kaduna Electric in December 2017.
- Built a bill-payment business that reported serving more than two million Nigerians by December 2021.
- Publicly celebrated BuyPower’s Nigerian power-sector fintech innovation award for 2022.

## Latest updates

- **2024-08** — Appeared on Venture Valley’s Founder’s Corner to discuss building BuyPower, fundraising, Y Combinator and customer-led growth.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojima-benjamin-ufaruna-16a47714/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ojima-benjamin-ufaruna
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14