Our Story

Built for Evidence

Dataphyte Hub grew from a decade of journalism, research, data tools, and public-interest technology into an institutional platform for managing experiments, generating intelligence, and helping partners make evidence-backed decisions.

The Origin

How the Innovation Hub Came to Be

Dataphyte Hub grew out of a decade of building — in journalism, research, data tools, and civic technology — and a growing realisation that the infrastructure Dataphyte had been quietly creating could support a wider portfolio of partners and experiments.

Through building Dataphyte, it became evident that what Nigeria and Africa's innovation community needed most was not just another programme or grant — but a permanent institutional home. A place where tools, talent pipelines, research capacity, evidence systems, and catalytic funding could converge under one roof.

The Hub is not a pivot. It is an evolution — a deepening of everything Dataphyte has built, made available to the founders, journalists, technologists, researchers, and changemakers who need it most.

The inspiration: to be for West Africa what Northwestern University's Knight Lab is for journalism technology in the United States — a home for experiments that become institutions.

The Vision

Built to Last

The DIH is designed to be a permanent national asset — not a project that ends when a funding cycle closes. Every programme, platform, and fund is structured to generate the sustainability to keep going long after any single funder's involvement.

Dataphyte — Media, research, and data analytics organisation built to deploy data tools for Africa's socio-economic development.
The Platform Ecosystem — GoLoka, Anfani, Nubia AI, Dataphyte Academy — a suite of digital tools built from Dataphyte's operational work.
The Innovation Hub — Formalising the infrastructure. Opening it to the ecosystem. Building the institution that will outlast any single programme or funder.
Named in Honour

The Dapo Olorunyomi Theatre (DOT)

At the heart of the Dataphyte Innovation Hub sits a fully equipped digital media studio and event theatre named for Dapo Olorunyomi — founder of Premium Times and one of Nigeria's most consequential investigative editors and champions of independent accountability journalism.

The DOT is a tribute to Dapo's legacy and the mentorship, belief, and inspiration he continues to provide — built while he is still alive to see it. It embodies a simple conviction: that people who build institutions others stand on should be celebrated before they are gone.

"We believe you should honour the people who built the institutions you stand on — while they are still here to receive it. Not after they are gone."

Why the Name

You Honour People While They Are Alive

The decision to name the theatre for Dapo Olorunyomi was deliberate and deeply held. In many cultures and institutions, spaces are named for people only after they die. The Dataphyte Innovation Hub is rejecting that tradition.

Dapo Olorunyomi founded Premium Times Nigeria — a platform that has broken some of the most consequential accountability journalism stories in Nigeria's modern history. He built an institution that endures under pressure, that trains the next generation, and that refuses to be bought. That is exactly the spirit the Hub is trying to embody.

The DOT serves as a podcast studio, live event space, media training centre, and civic convening venue. It is the space where journalists learn, where ideas are broadcast, and where the Hub's relationship with Nigeria's broader media ecosystem is most tangibly expressed.

It is also a signal to everyone who works in the Hub: the people who build things that matter deserve to be celebrated — now, not posthumously.

The Foundation

The Dataphyte Foundation — Mission and Mandate

The Dataphyte Foundation is the not-for-profit arm of the Dataphyte ecosystem — the institutional vehicle through which the Innovation Hub, the Catalytic Fund, the language AI initiative, and the media resilience programmes are structured and governed.

The Foundation's mandate is to deploy data tools and technology for the socio-economic development of Africa. That is not a slogan — it is a description of a decade's actual work: building civic platforms, training journalists and civil servants, producing language datasets, and holding public institutions to account.

Where Dataphyte the media and analytics organisation is driven by editorial and commercial imperatives, the Foundation is driven by public benefit. It accepts grants, manages fellowships, administers funds, and maintains the infrastructure through which partners, funders, and communities engage with the broader Dataphyte ecosystem.

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Mission

Deploy data tools and technology for the socio-economic development of Africa — grounded in evidence, empathy, and civic purpose.

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Mandate

Build the physical, digital, and human infrastructure for a generation of African innovators, journalists, and civic leaders.

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Scope

Nigeria as origin and core. Pan-African expansion. Global South leadership and international partnerships.

What Guides Us

Values That Shape Every Decision

Empathy

We design with and for the communities most affected by the problems we are solving — not about them.

Professionalism

We hold ourselves to the highest standard of institutional excellence — in research, in journalism, and in delivery.

Innovation

We are not satisfied with existing approaches when better approaches are available. We build and we iterate.

Collaboration

No single institution can solve Africa's challenges. We work across silos — with universities, governments, CSOs, private sector, and communities.

Integrity

We are honest about what we know and what we do not know. We cite sources. We correct errors. We do not manufacture certainty.

Inclusion

Women, persons with disabilities, youth outside Lagos and Abuja, and communities typically left behind — they are not afterthoughts here. They are the priority.

The People

The Team Behind the Hub

The Dataphyte Innovation Hub is built by journalists, technologists, researchers, and community builders who share the conviction that Africa's digital future must be shaped by Africans.

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Joshua Olufemi
Founder & Executive Director
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Programmes Lead
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Technology & Platforms
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Research & Data
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Media & Communications
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Partnerships & Fundraising
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Training & Academy
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Operations & Finance
Get Involved

This Is Being Built. Join the Build.

There is room for founders, funders, researchers, journalists, educators, and institutions that believe Africa's digital future should be built by Africans.

Apply to a Programme ↗ Become a Partner