At the intersection of innovation and impact stands James Osita, the managing partner of BlackCrest, a dynamic fintech entrepreneur reshaping Africa’s digital finance landscape.
With over $20 million in funding powering his ventures, Osita is not just building tech solutions; he is unlocking financial access and inclusion across the continent.
His journey reflects the new wave of African tech leaders transforming challenges into billion-dollar opportunities.
Osita, who is leading a startup-focused law firm in Lagos, has successfully advised over 50 founders who have raised a cumulative of $20 million in pre-seed and seed investment rounds.
The young entrepreneur, who studied law at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was called to the bar at 21, and then pursued a master’s in innovation management in the UK with a fully funded Chevening scholarship.
Through his experience as a lawyer and the business insights he gained from his postgraduate diploma in management from the Nigerian University of Technology and Management (NUTM), Osita launched his law firm in 2021 at the age of 25.
On his motivation to start his business, Osita says, “I was building a fintech company called Surepayy between 2021 and 2023. My goal was to develop a digital escrow system that helps Nigerians shop safely online. After attempting partnerships with banks to scale the product, I quickly realised how easy I had it because I was a lawyer.”
“I began speaking with other founders to understand their experiences navigating compliance, data protection, and partnerships, and I noticed a significant gap in the legal services market.”
“I then reached out to my friends, Vincent and Eustace, who attended law school with me in 2018, and together, we founded BlackCrest, a startup-focused law firm offering tailored legal solutions to African startups of all stages.”
Regarding the challenges he faces, Osita notes that his biggest hurdle at BlackCrest has been increasing the number of retainer clients while managing competing deliverables.
“When you position yourself as the best, you must deliver consistent, high-quality support, which is not always easy when you have many clients to cater to,” he says.
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On how he manages these challenges, the young entrepreneur explains, “For sales, we address the challenge by using content as a sustaining marketing strategy.
At BlackCrest, we host monthly webinars on various legal issues affecting the startup ecosystem and organise an in-person Founders Meet and Chat (MAC) quarterly in Lagos. We also post an average of 50 pieces of content monthly on LinkedIn to drive visibility for our firm.”
“For competing deliverables, we assign each of our associates to different retainer clients and foster a culture of work ownership and excellence in line with our core values of innovation, client-centricity, and excellence.”
On how he funded his business, Osita says, “I started BlackCrest with the funds I saved from my first company, Flourish Consult, a writing and consulting firm I launched during my NYSC service year in 2019. I reviewed over 400 CVs for young professionals at Flourish Consult before I switched my interest to tech.
“I also leveraged my network from the NUTM, where I was a fully funded management scholar, to get referrals to startups that needed legal support. The rest, as they say, is history.”
Speaking on his goals, he says, “My short-term goal is to increase our number of retainer clients at BlackCrest while maintaining our current quality and delivery time.
“In the long term, I aim to transition BlackCrest into a Swiss Verein structure, expand into multiple jurisdictions, and support startups globally—because I believe well-managed tech innovation businesses can create jobs, reduce poverty and inequality, cure terminal ailments, and change the world.”
To young lawyers aspiring to start their own businesses, Osita advises, “Stop overthinking and just start. I never worked as an associate in any law firm, yet I successfully built a leading startup-focused law firm by investment deal size. Focus on your core strengths. I gained business and leadership experience from running Flourish Consult and Surepayy immediately after service; that background helped me become the kind of leader capable of building BlackCrest.”
