Abdulkadir Suleiman Lapai builds and leads several tech companies in Nigeria. He creates digital tools that improve how schools and healthcare centers operate, always focusing on local needs.
A Nigerian software engineer and entrepreneur, Lapai plays a key role in growing his country’s tech sector. He leads Tespire, a company he founded to expand digital access in education and healthcare.
Lapai and Umar Madugu started Tespire in 2022. The company equips private Nigerian schools with internet, tablets, and management software. Tespire aims to modernize education and cut financial losses caused by poor tuition fee management. Its platform speeds up payment collection, improves communication between schools and parents, and boosts administrative transparency.
Tespire says it has generated over $12 million in revenue for partner schools and improved their administrative efficiency by 80%. In May 2025, Alternative Bank funded Tespire’s new health research program, Asibiti. Asibiti builds tools for hospital management and medical data handling. Its first product, the Asibiti box, connects patient data in one place and helps track care. Hospitals in Niger State tested it, and the company plans to expand to private clinics.
Lapai also founded JD Lab, a tech firm that supports projects solving Africa’s unique challenges with emerging technologies. He co-founded Labspace Nigeria, an innovation hub offering shared workspaces and backing sustainable growth projects.
He consults for Nigeria’s Ministry of Science and Technology and leads the IT team for TEDxMinna, a platform for spreading fresh ideas.
Lapai earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University in 2011. He completed a master’s in finance and investment at Ahmadu Bello University in 2019. He started his career in 2012 as a research assistant at the Federal Agency for Science & Technology.
From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a software engineer. In 2017, he became special assistant to the governor of Niger State. There, he oversaw the development of a management system for the State’s Career Information and Resource Center (NSCIRC).
Melchior Koba
