Born
19 April 1958
OBARO
John
Tanimola
John Tanimola Obaro is a Nigerian, technology entrepreneur, public speaker and founder of SystemSpecs Nigeria Limited,John Obaro is from Kogi State. He is of the Okun tribe in Nigeria, and was born April 19, 1958. He had his formative years in Kano and Ilorin, Kwara State, where he had elementary education. Raphael Awoseyin "unconsciously influenced" Obaro's decision to study Computer Science.[2] Obaro had his primary education at Baptist School in Ilorin, and his secondary, at Government Secondary School, Ilorin from 1970 to 1974. It was here that Awoseyin, then a temporary teacher in the school, taught Obaro's class mathematics. It stimulated Obaro's interest in the subject, to the point that he (Obaro) decided to study mathematics and computer science in the university. Obaro proceeded to Kwara State College of Technology, now renamed Kwara State Polytechnic for a diploma. He attended the Ahmadu Bello University where he graduated with a second class upper degree in Mathematics and Computer Science in 1979. He proceeded to have an MBA from the University of Lagos in 1981. He is an alumnus of Lagos Business School (LBS), Chief Executive Programme at the Pan-African University, Nigeria, Lagos.[3][4] Obaro was accepted into Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, a program which "serves promising companies in developing countries by providing business training and onsite coaching.
Obaro had his first stint in formal employment as a part-time teacher while he was pursuing his MBA.[6] He started his professional career as a computer salesman at Leventis Group from where he moved to United Bank for Africa to take up a role in Systems Development of the financial institution. In 1984, he joined now defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the Nigeria’s earliest investment banks, where he rose to become the Head of Information Systems. In that position, he led a team that implemented Nigeria’s first international banking application on a network linking Lagos and four other states. With this feat, John led a team that pioneered Nigeria’s online real‐time banking.[7]
He moved on to found SystemSpecs Nigeria Limited, a company he nurtured from a 5-man partner agent of Systems Union, (now Infor) in 1991 to a financial technology company. Prominent among the solutions SystemSpecs has developed are Remita, HumanManager among others.
He is committed to promoting and advancing of local software development. He has given presentations and speeches advocating youth empowerment and IT entrepreneurship. Obaro has served on the boards of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Nigerian Information Technology Policy Drafting Committee, Governing Council of the National ICT Incubation Programme and others
Obaro was recognised as the "Software Personality of the Year" at the Nigeria Communication Week's Beacon of Information and Communications Technology (BoICT) Awards in Lagos on April 23, 2016.[11] He had earlier led his company to Glasgow, Scotland, where SystemSpecs was bestowed with "Leadership in Technology" award hosted by the Africa Forum Scotland for the use of Remita "as a tool of national and economic development." He was conferred a "fellow of the Centre for African Policy, Development and Research, Scotland," and had a research centre after him.[12][13] In 2015, he emerged winner of 'Engineer Simeon Agu Prize for Best Software Entrepreneur' at the National Information Technology Merit Award (NITMA), an annual event organised by Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). He was awarded Nigeria’s IT Personality of the Year at the same NITMA in 2013.
Having enjoyed a successful career with International Merchant Bank (IMB), John Obaro founded SystemSpecs some 25 years ago as a West African Partner to Systems Union, UK, offering the SunSystems suite of solutions. The company soon started developing its own proprietary Payroll and Human Resource Management solution, HumanManager, which has become the preferred choice for many leading public and private sector organisations in Nigeria and West Africa.
In the last decade, SystemSpecs has become a leader in the Nigerian e-Payment space with its Remita solution, which enables efficient and easy payments and collections of funds for Individuals and Corporate Organisations (both public and private) on a SINGLE Inter-Bank platform. Remita is currently the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adopted payment gateway for the facilitation of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) project. Remita processes about $6 Billion worth of transactions on a monthly basis.
John Obaro is a distinguished alumnus of both Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos, and the Chief Executive Program (CEP3) of Lagos Business School. He has served at various times on the Boards of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Governing Council of the National ICT Incubation Program (iDea), and many more.
He is a fellow of the Center for African Policy Development and Research, Glasgow, Scotland; a Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); an ex-member of the Governing Council of Computers Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body; and immediate past 1st Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON). John Obaro was recently recognised with the honour of Leadership in Technology at the 2016 African Achievement Awards in Scotland and also recognised as the ICT Software Personality of the Year 2016 at the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Award,in addition to other numerous indigenous and international awards he has received over the years.
John Obaro’s successful entrepreneurial adventure in software development architecture has attracted and continues to attract attention from both local and international quarters. The prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS) of the Pan-Atlantic University has written two case studies on SystemSpecs while many newspapers, magazines and journals have also featured him at one time or the other.
He is passionate about the promotion of Nigeria’s indigenous software industry as a capable and comparable rival to anywhere in the world.
John Obaro is known in many circles as ‘The Consummate Innovator’. He is a trailblazer on many fronts, and indeed his footprint is evident across many sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Name of Spouse
State of Origin:
Kogi State
Father's Name
Mother's Name
Profession
Finance/Computer consultant
Working Experience
founder of SystemSpecs Nigeria Limited. , computer salesman at Leventis Group , United Bank for Africa , International Merchant Bank of Nigeria
Baptist School in Ilorin.. Government Secondary School, Ilorin from 1970 to 1974..Kwara State College of Technology, . Ahmadu Bello University..University of Lagos in 1981..
Obaro was recognised as the “Software Personality of the Year” at the Nigeria Communication Week’s Beacon of Information and Communications Technology (BoICT) Awards in Lagos on April 23, 2016.[11] He had earlier led his company to Glasgow, Scotland, where SystemSpecs was bestowed with “Leadership in Technology” award hosted by the Africa Forum Scotland for the use of Remita “as a tool of national and economic development.” He was conferred a “fellow of the Centre for African Policy, Development and Research, Scotland,” and had a research centre after him.[12][13] In 2015, he emerged winner of ‘Engineer Simeon Agu Prize for Best Software Entrepreneur’ at the National Information Technology Merit Award (NITMA), an annual event organised by Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). He was awarded Nigeria’s IT Personality of the Year at the same NITMA in 2013.
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