The People Behind Korè
Two Founders.
One Mission.
Korè was built by two Nigerian engineers who saw a broken market and decided to fix it — not from a Silicon Valley office, but from Lagos, where the problem lives.
2026
Founded
Lagos
Headquartered
CAMA 2020
Incorporated Under
$1M
Pre-Money Valuation
Toluwanimi leads Korè's business strategy, product vision, investor relations, and go-to-market execution. With a background in MERN stack engineering and a deep understanding of Nigerian commerce, he bridges the gap between technology and the real-world market challenges facing millions of Nigerian traders and farmers. He is the driving force behind Korè's mission to build Africa's most trusted digital marketplace.
"I grew up watching brilliant Nigerian entrepreneurs run incredible businesses from physical stalls with no digital tools, no trust infrastructure, and no way to scale. Korè exists to change that — permanently."
Responsibilities at Korè
- Overall company direction and vision
- Investor outreach and pre-seed fundraising
- Brand, marketing, and public representation
- Strategic partnerships and merchant relations
- Legal and regulatory compliance oversight
Samuel leads Korè's entire technology stack — from platform architecture and backend systems to DevOps infrastructure and product engineering. He built the core platform using Laravel, TypeScript, and Supabase, with a focus on performance at scale across Nigeria's varied network conditions. His engineering decisions underpin the trust, security, and reliability that Korè's marketplace is built on.
"The best technology is invisible — it just works. My job is to build the infrastructure that makes every farmer, trader, and buyer on Korè feel like the platform was designed specifically for them."
Responsibilities at Korè
- Platform architecture and technical direction
- Backend and frontend development
- Cloud infrastructure and DevOps (Google Cloud Run)
- Payment gateway integration (Paystack / Flutterwave)
- Data security and NDPA 2023 compliance
Origin Story
How Korè Was Born
Not from a whiteboard session. From a real problem, in a real country, affecting real people.
38M Tonnes
Food wasted in Nigeria yearly
#1 in Africa — EU & FAO
140M
Nigerians living in poverty
63% rate — World Bank 2025
40M+
MSMEs with no digital storefront
eCommerce penetration <3%
Korè didn't start with a pitch deck. It started with a question Toluwanimi and Samuel couldn't stop asking: "Why does Nigeria produce enough food to feed itself, yet 38 million tonnes rot every year while 140 million people live in poverty?"
The answer wasn't a lack of farmers, goods, or buyers. It was the complete absence of trusted, efficient digital infrastructure connecting the two ends of the market. Farmers couldn't reach buyers at scale. Traders had no digital presence beyond a WhatsApp status. Buyers had no reliable platform to source local produce. And nobody trusted anyone they hadn't met face-to-face.
Toluwanimi and Samuel — both engineers, both Nigerians, both deeply familiar with how commerce actually works on Lagos streets — decided to build the missing layer. Not a clone of Amazon. Not a copy of Jumia. Something built from scratch for how Nigerians actually buy, sell, negotiate, and transact.
In early 2026, they incorporated Kore Technology Limited in Lagos under CAMA 2020, built the platform architecture, and began working toward the launch of Oja Market — with food and agricultural goods as the first vertical, because that's where the waste crisis is most urgent, and where the impact will be most immediate.
"Oja ti wa ni tiwa." The market has always been ours.
Now we're building it.
Company Timeline
Early 2026
The Problem Became Personal
Toluwanimi and Samuel identified a painful gap in Nigerian commerce: 40M+ MSMEs with no trusted digital marketplace, and 38M tonnes of food wasted every year because farmers couldn't reach buyers fast enough.
March 2026
Company Incorporated
Kore Technology Limited was formally incorporated in Lagos, Nigeria, under CAMA 2020. The Founders' Agreement and Articles of Association were executed, establishing the company's dual-class share structure and governance framework.
April 2026
Platform Architecture Built
Samuel completed the core platform architecture — Laravel backend, TypeScript API, Supabase database, Google Cloud Run infrastructure. Toluwanimi defined the product roadmap, brand identity, and go-to-market strategy.
Q3 2026
MVP Launch — Target
Korè platform goes live. First 500 verified sellers onboarded in Lagos. Food and agricultural goods as the anchor category. Escrow payments via Paystack. Logistics integration active.
We're Hiring
Want to Build With Us?
Korè is a pre-seed startup building something that matters. We're looking for engineers, designers, and operations leads who believe the Nigerian market deserves world-class infrastructure.