NOVAT is proud to announce Abbas Irekeola as the recipient of the NOVAT Awards, African Innovator & Impact Maker in the Software Development category. Abbas has also been inducted into the NOVAT Hall of Fame, joining a distinguished community of winners from across all various African countries.
Abbas Irekeola is a seasoned Full-Stack Software Engineer with years of experience building high-impact, scalable systems. His work spans enterprise and public-sector projects that have delivered measurable results, from redesigning pilot scheduling systems that improved operational efficiency and user satisfaction to leading the migration of monolithic systems to microservices architectures, and delivering the Abia IRS system that increased revenue collection and improved compliance.
The NOVAT judging panel evaluated submissions against five rigorous criteria which are evidence & verifiability, clarity of the act, global relevance, originality & creativity; and sustainability. Abbas’s Document of Impact and Executive Summary scored highly across all categories, with judges highlighting his emphasis on verifiable outcomes, clear and replicable solutions, and long-term sustainability.
Reflecting on the award, Abbas said, “I am deeply honoured to receive the NOVAT African Innovator & Impact Maker Award. The selection process was exceptionally rigorous and competitive, the jury’s careful evaluation of impact, evidence, and sustainability shows their real commitment to recognising work that drives meaningful change. I thank the judges and NOVAT for this recognition and remain committed to building solutions that scale and serve communities across Africa and beyond.”
NOVAT celebrates Africa’s brightest innovators, visionaries, leaders, and changemakers shaping the future of technology, creativity, and innovation. The award recognises Abbas’s technical expertise across Java, Spring Boot, Angular, cloud platforms, messaging systems, and monitoring tools, and his demonstrated record of delivering efficiency gains, performance improvements, and tangible social and economic impact.
