A nurse by training, he embarked on entrepreneurship to solve social problems. He has founded two businesses, the youngest of which is helping underbanked individuals boost their creditworthiness.

Joseph Ezekwem (photo) is a Nigerian entrepreneur, business owner, and nurse who graduated from the College of Nursing (Our Lady of Mercy Hospital) in 2009. Also a 2018 graduate of Western Governors University, he is the founder and CEO of fintech startup Ruubby.

Ruubby, launched on February 1, 2023, in Nigeria, was set up to encourage citizens to actively submit their financial data when making purchases. It is a financial marketplace that allows users to build or improve their credit score, allowing them to access better financial products and improve their creditworthiness.

The startup also provides a business management tool that allows business owners to set up online stores and deliver customer services.  

Ruubby wants “to provide [the] opportunity for local stores to have their stores on our platform and be able to sell to anyone in any state in Nigeria. The main concern for us is to build the infrastructure and seek the right partnership to make this business a success. Our teams are working tirelessly to address this, and I am very proud of them,” Joseph Ezekwem said in February 2023.

The nurse-turned-entrepreneur is also the founder and CEO of Roland Health, an online homecare marketplace founded in October 2022. His marketplace allows caregivers to reach a wider audience and users to easily hire them. 

In 2021, he was still a practicing nurse at Favorite Healthcare Staffing in the United States. Between February and April 2022, he worked as a nurse at Baylor Scott & White Health. Then, in May 2022, he was appointed President and CEO of Umpayas, a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for services such as car rental, package delivery, food delivery, virtual office, etc. He worked there for 4 months.

Melchior Koba