Bunmi Akinyemiju (born February 4, 1977 in East Lansing, Michigan), is an American entrepreneur. He was born to Nigerian parents who were both in Ph.D programs at Michigan State at the time. He moved to Nigeria with his parents when he was 5 years old and moved back to East Lansing, a place he calls home, when he turned 21.
Positions Held
Bunmi is Vice President of Artemis Solutions Group – an IT consulting firm. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Enliven Software LLC, which provides unique financial solutions to businesses through its e-Invoicing and e-Payment software. Enliven Software LLC was originally Fidesic corporation – based in technology hotbed Seattle, WA. Ex-Microsoft employees originally launched Fidesic in 2000 with deep experience in the online payments space. It was created to deliver paperless electronic invoicing, payments products as well as sophisticated Electronic Data Interchange type technologies inexpensively to small and medium sized businesses, but was acquired in 2009 when Bunmi and John W. Gilkey completed the acquisition of its assets, trademarks, intellectual property and technology infrastructure in the first round of start-up financing for the new Michigan based venture that relocated the company and rebranded it as Enliven Software LLC.
In terms of coverage, Bunmi’s involvements are not limited within the United States. Bunmi is director of an “education portal” company in Africa called Splashers Technologies. In recent years, among other things, the company has created online educational portals for institutions in West Africa and especially in Nigeria to automate a wide variety of administrative and academic related processes in higher educational institutions. This provision has enabled a faster and more efficient way of performing critical routines that exist in most tertiary institutions and should further promote the use of computers among such demographics. In addition to this, Bunmi is a stakeholder in the affairs of the Venture Garden Group – a Global Technology Group of strategically related companies, with ownership of several fully developed intellectual properties designed to deliver solutions, to customers in a global marketplace.
Bunmi’s Early Life
Bunmi has always had a great passion for technology, and started programming while he was still in Nigeria at age 14. Afterwards, Bunmi gained admission into the Federal University of Technology in Akure, Nigeria, the quality in him quickly singled him out from the crowd of other tech savvies. Besides his primary educational goals, Bunmi was also musically inclined. He loved to play the saxophone and was good at it. With amateur skills he was often called to play the at large events. It was not very long after he commenced in that university that he had to return to the United States of America.
Prior to Artemis, he owned and operated an independent software development firm (Splashers Technologies) started in 1995 – at age 18. After his graduation in 2000 from Michigan State University, he became a Principal with Artemis. Now as the Vice-President and Director of the EBusiness at Artemis, Bunmi participates in all major business decisions and is involved in the day-to-day operations of Artemis. He also oversees Web and Software development operations at Artemis, which handles the engineering of web-based and non-web based software applications to solve business problems.
Bunmi’s Guiding Philosophy
Bunmi is specialized in technology team leadership and mentoring, project management as well as technical sales. He builds something from nothing, and nurtures the growth process of individuals, teams, or businesses. In someway, similar to how a new mother enjoys watching her first child grow, he spends time nurturing and caring for teams growing under his watch. He loves building winning teams, leveraging his experience in software development, leading software teams and consulting for technological initiatives.
These days, Bunmi spends more of his time mentoring the up and coming leaders and innovators while building his “software as a service” company into a global leader; surrounding himself with talented and passionate people and efficiently connecting capital and resources, to create value in all the organizations he is involved with.
Other Engagements
Bunmi served on the Mayor of Lansing's Transition team task force responsible for Economic Development, Job creation and Converging technologies. He played a significant role in founding the Greater Lansing Area .NET user group. He is on the Advisory board for the Mid-Michigan Children's Initiative (MMCI). He also runs a mentoring program for the Boys and Girls club of Lansing. Bunmi remains a Member of the board of Small Business Association of Michigan; a non-profit management organization poised to take on the fight for small business in Michigan and recently, was selected to join the board of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners – west chapter.
Bunmi’s Personal Life and Interests
For nightlife and entertainment, Bunmi hangs out in places where the music isn't too loud, making it easier to talk and socialize. Such places, Bunmi says, attracts a crowd of mature professionals. He cites an example of The Exchange in Downtown Lansing. His interests also include basketball, cars, angel investing, technological gadgets, jazz music, soccer and venture capital.
On July 30, 2011, at the age of 34, Bunmi Akinyemiju formally tied the knot with his long lasting friend and soul mate Olayinka Ogunbi – commonly refered to as Yinka among friends. Yinka is a health worker at the Federal Medical Center in Nigeria. Their marriage was held in the presence of a large congregation of friends, family and well wishers in the ancient city of Ibadan in Oyo state, Nigeria.
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