Mitchell Elegbe, founder of Interswitch, has been honoured at the 2025 Silverbird Man of the Year Awards for his role in building the infrastructure that helped power Nigeria’s modern electronic payments system.
At the ceremony held in Lagos on Sunday, March 1 2026, Elegbe received the 2025 Silverbird Special Achievement Award, an honour reserved for individuals whose innovation and sustained impact have shaped society and industry.
Receiving the award, Elegbe said the recognition went beyond him as an individual and reflected a long-term commitment to building credible African infrastructure at a time many doubted it was possible.
“This honour represents far more than a personal milestone. It reflects the courage of a team that believed, long before it was fashionable, that Nigeria and Africa could build world-class financial infrastructure.”
He added that the early mission behind Interswitch was built around the idea that technology could expand access and enable commerce at scale, noting that the award further strengthens the company’s resolve to build systems that broaden inclusion across the continent.
Elegbe founded Interswitch in 2002, and the company has since grown into one of Africa’s leading payments and digital commerce firms, providing rails that support transactions for banks, governments, businesses and millions of consumers.
Interswitch’s Executive Vice President for Group Marketing and Communications, Cherry Eromosele, said the honour reflects both Elegbe’s legacy and Interswitch’s broader role in strengthening financial systems across Africa.
The award is a reminder that Nigeria’s digital economy sits on payment infrastructure built over decades. As competition intensifies in fintech and digital commerce, the quality and reliability of those rails’ security, uptime, settlement capacity and interoperability remain critical to financial inclusion and business growth.
