This archive profile highlights Kofo Akinkugbe’s rise from banking into security technology and smart card manufacturing. She is the founder and chief executive of SecureID Nigeria Ltd, a company described as a market leader in smart card technology and digital security.
SecureID was presented as a world-class manufacturing facility with the only smart card production plant in West Africa and one of just six on the continent. The company was said to serve 16 countries across Africa and to be fully certified by VISA, Verve and MasterCard.
Before launching SecureID, Akinkugbe started her career in a bank and later moved into entrepreneurship by setting up Interface Technologies, a security management and biometrics technologies company. She studied mathematics and later earned an MBA from the University of Strathclyde.
According to the profile, she ran Interface Technologies Ltd. for nine years before creating SecureID Nigeria Ltd as an offshoot from a small department within the earlier company. The article also described SecureID as the first VISA certified plant in sub-Saharan Africa.
Akinkugbe was also quoted as a business leader who encouraged innovation and hiring beyond family circles. She urged entrepreneurs to employ people with untapped talent and to test new ideas rather than relying on familiar approaches.
The piece framed her success as proof that a woman could build a strong technology business in a field often treated as male-dominated. It said her determination helped turn a new venture into a growing regional operation.
