Nosike Nwigene: From flunking medicine to shaping Africa’s AI policy

When Nosike Nwigene was working as a communications professional for tech startups at InsiderPR, a global public relations (PR) firm focused on startups in emerging markets, one of the companies he handled as a junior account manager ran into trouble with regulators.

Max.ng, a mobility startup, had been caught up in a regulatory ban. While others might have responded with a statement or taken to social media to complain, Nwigene wanted to understand what had gone wrong.

“Complaining online is something we always want to do,” he says. “But I was like, this is more than complaining. Something needs to be done.”

That curiosity would take him beyond communications and into policy advocacy. He eventually contributed to the Nigeria Startup Bill, writing advocacy materials, appearing on television to explain the proposed legislation, and supporting efforts to get states to adopt it.

“I am that person who is always curious about a situation and finds the solution to it,” he says. “And this has been part of me throughout my journey.”

That journey, however, did not begin in technology or policy. In fact, neither was part of the plan.

Growing up in Lagos, Nwigene was expected to become a doctor. His father was a doctor, while his mother studied English, and reading and writing were a regular part of family life. His father, in particular, made sure his children spent time with books.

“My dad used to give us tasks before he went out,” Nwigene says. “We would have to summarise maybe five or ten pages of a textbook before my dad would return.”

By the time Nwigene completed secondary school at King’s College, Lagos, in 2005, medicine had already been chosen as his path. He sat the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), administered by Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), hoping to study medicine, but missed the cut-off for his preferred university.

He enrolled at TPP, a preparatory school in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he prepared for A-levels and rewrote his West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC) before applying to study medicine at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He was unsuccessful.

“So, I left for Abuja,” he says.

After unsuccessful attempts to gain admission to other public universities, including Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Anambra State, his father learnt that the University of Abuja had received approval to begin a medical programme. Nwigene sat JAMB again, gained admission and finally began studying medicine.

“I was in medicine for two years,” he says. “But then, after a few stumbles along the way, I was booted out.”

He eventually switched to Industrial Chemistry and graduated in 2012.

While medicine kept slipping out of reach, another path was beginning to emerge. Nwigene found that writing, marketing and organising events came naturally to him.

“I used to write content for events and organisations,” he says. “I would do anything around marketing and awareness that would bring people to events.”

By the time he graduated, freelancing and communications work had become a regular part of his life.

“I already had an idea of what I was good at and what I would excel at,” he says. “I didn’t know exactly where all of it was taking me, but I knew I could do these things and I knew I was good at them.”

From digital marketing to tech PR

A friend sent him an opening at InsiderPR. After a series of interviews, he joined the firm in April 2019 as a digital engagement specialist.

He developed brand stories, managed social platforms, ghostwrote for executives, and supported clients’ communications and marketing teams. He also worked with startups, venture capital firms, and executives, while sitting in meetings with journalists covering the technology sector.

“Every time the team was carrying out something, I was always carried along,” he says. “They would always put me in meetings with Reuters, Bloomberg, Semafor and so many people covering the tech ecosystem.”

After three years, Nwigene became an Account Manager, leading client relationships and service delivery and advising startups and experts on communications and digital strategy.

More importantly, InsiderPR changed how he viewed his own career.

“When I joined Insider, I realised that there are more professions than doctors and engineers and lawyers,” he says. “Those are not the only professions out there.”

For someone who had spent years being pushed towards medicine, seeing people build careers in communications was significant.

“And I saw that they were making the kind of money that they told me only doctors and engineers and lawyers could make,” he says.

Moving between Lagos and Abuja gave Nwigene a view of the tech ecosystem from both sides. In Abuja, the hub where he worked served as the secretariat for what was then known as the Nigeria Startup Bill, according to Nwigene. At the same time, he was working with a mobility startup facing regulatory uncertainty.

“I could see that this was not an isolated problem,” Nwigene says. “A lot of technology companies were running into questions about how existing regulations applied to new business models, while government was also trying to understand a rapidly changing ecosystem.”

He asked to volunteer with the Startup Bill team and was brought on as a communications officer. He wrote and edited advocacy materials, briefing notes, talking points, articles, and blog posts, and appeared on national television to explain the Bill and its progress.

When the process moved towards state-level adoption, his work expanded to engagements with state governments and Houses of Assembly.

“I was glad we were able to achieve this,” he says. “It is really helping the tech ecosystem in Nigeria.”

Nwigene later received a commendation letter from the Office of the President for his contribution, which he describes as one of the things he is most proud of in his career.

Beyond tech comms

After years of working with startups and technology companies, Nwigene’s work expanded into civic technology and development.

In June 2023, he became a fellow at Code for Africa, a pan-African civic technology and data journalism organisation, working as a digital strategist with partner civil society organisations. One assignment involved supporting work with the African Union on digital engagement, storytelling, and visibility around democratic participation and institutional accountability. He also conducted audience research and capability assessments, Nwigene told TechCabal.

“The biggest thing I took from the fellowship was a deeper understanding of how technology, communications, civic participation and public institutions intersect,” he says.

In September 2024, he began consulting with the Climate Investment Funds at the World Bank, supporting communications around climate investment projects. His work included executive speeches, impact stories, blogs, visual content, social media, newsletters, and communications around programme launches and COP29 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

The work drew on a skill he had developed throughout his career: making complex information understandable to different audiences.

Building what comes next

Now, Nwigene is building Nonfictly, a small advisory that grew out of the freelance work he started about a decade ago. What began as a name for his independent work has become a five-person team working with startups, senior executives, public sector leaders and organisations.

“Today, I lead a five-person team of writers, thinkers, creatives and problem solvers,” Nwigene says. “We help partners make sense of complicated ideas, tell their stories clearly, get noticed by the right audiences and find practical ways to open doors and get things done.”

He works directly with clients while guiding the team across projects involving communications, stakeholder relationships, government and policy issues, according to him.

That work has taken him deeper into the relationship between technology, government, and regulation, particularly what emerging policies mean for companies building and scaling in Africa. It is also drawing him towards AI policy and governance.

At the 2026 GITEX Nigeria Government Leadership & AI Summit, Nwigene moderated a panel on Africa’s AI compute capacity with Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency; Dr Lourino Chemane of Mozambique’s National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies; and Dr Mactar Seck of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Nosike Nwigene moderating a panel session at GITEX Nigeria Government Leadership & AI Summit. Nwigene moderated a panel on Africa’s AI compute capacity with Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency; Dr Lourino Chemane of Mozambique’s National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies; and Dr Mactar Seck of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Image Source: Nosike Nwigene/GITEX Nigeria 2026

Over the next year, he wants to deepen his work in AI governance and technology policy, particularly the practical implications of emerging regulation for African companies.

“I’m interested in the space between policy being developed and companies having to operate within it,” he says.

For Nwigene, the journey has also been shaped by the people he has met and learned from along the way.

“I did not go to any conventional school to learn marketing or even do communications. Everything I know, I picked up while on this journey. I learned along the way from everyone I have had the privilege to work with. People have shaped me in more ways than I can count.”

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