Efosa KC Obano, a University of Toronto alumnus originally from Lagos, Nigeria, left a promising career at Dell Technologies to champion Black Canadian entrepreneurs. His journey began after relocating to Canada in 2013, where he witnessed the growth of the African diaspora from 300,000 to over 1.5 million people. Drawing from his personal experiences growing up without consistent internet or electricity, Obano founded the African Impact Initiative in 2018 to support African entrepreneurs in Canada and Africa. During his tenure at Dell, which aligned with the social justice reckoning following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, he began to engage more deeply with the concerns of Black entrepreneurs in Canada.

In 2021, after engaging extensively with Black founders across the country, Obano discovered that the greatest challenge they faced was not funding but a lack of community and shared experience. This insight motivated him to launch the Black Founders Network (BFN) in October 2021, an inclusive platform that supports Black business owners from ideation through scaling. BFN offers various levels of programming and financial support, such as grants ranging from $4,000 to $50,000 CAD, access to co-working spaces at the University of Toronto’s innovation hub, and mentoring from successful alumni, including founders of OneCliq, which was acquired in 2025.

BFN’s programs cover three stages: Core for aspiring founders, Accelerate for businesses with a minimum viable product seeking to increase revenue, and Scale for companies earning over $250,000 annually who require assistance with seed and Series A fundraising. BFN also runs a career advancement initiative to connect talented Black professionals with employers and a specialized BE Her program aimed at addressing the unique barriers faced by Black women entrepreneurs. Over the past five years, BFN has served more than 15,000 people and built a financial ecosystem valued at over $200 million through its companies’ revenues and raised capital.

Looking ahead, Obano is developing a Black Founders Fund to increase funding opportunities for Black entrepreneurs and is in discussions with additional universities to replicate BFN’s successful model. His shift from a corporate role at Dell to full-time support of Black founders underscores a commitment to creating social change through entrepreneurship, leveraging both community and capital to empower a growing demographic of Black innovators across Canada.