Tope Awotona

Tope Awotona
Born	Lagos, Nigeria
Occupation	Technology entrepreneur
Known for	Founder of Calendly

Tope Awotona is a Nigerian-American technology entrepreneur recognized for establishing the software firm Calendly. By 2025, his net worth was valued by Forbes at approximately $1.4 billion, positioning him among the wealthiest Black Billionaires.

Early life and education

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona grew up in a family where his father was both a microbiologist and a business owner, while his mother held a position at a local banking institution. When Awotona was 12, his father tragically lost his life during a carjacking incident. This event prompted his mother to relocate with Awotona and his three siblings from Lagos to the United States, settling in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. Despite completing high school two years ahead of schedule and receiving a scholarship offer to attend college at age 15, his mother felt he was too young to start university immediately and insisted he finish his junior and senior years at Wheeler High School. Reflecting on this period, Awotona described it as "super frustrating" since he had already mapped out his future plans. However, those two years proved valuable for cultural adjustment and helped him prepare to carry forward his father's entrepreneurial vision. He enrolled at the University of Georgia, initially pursuing a major in Computer Science before switching to Business Management Information Systems. Awotona graduated in 2002 from Georgia's Terry College of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. His heritage traces back to the Yoruba ethnic group.

Career

After earning his degree from the University of Georgia, Awotona worked in various corporate roles, including a position at IBM, before transitioning to a startup called Perceptive Software, where he served as an accounting executive. This experience introduced him to the inner workings of a software company. During an attempt to arrange a meeting, Awotona encountered significant frustration, which motivated him to invest his personal savings and incur debt to establish a communication and scheduling software enterprise that evolved into Calendly. Calendly was officially launched in 2013 from Atlanta Tech Village. The company has since grown into a $3 billion software enterprise offering solutions for business communications, team coordination, and meeting follow-ups. By 2024, the Calendly application boasts 10 million users, as reported by Forbes, positioning Awotona among the most affluent immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States.