Home
›
About Us
About Us
R&D Brokerage for Africa
We connect companies with qualified research providers to solve real business challenges. By tapping into local expertise, we help businesses invest in R&D that actually works, and build solutions that create value across the continent.
THE PROBLEM
Africa's innovation potential is not the question. The issue is what's holding it back.
Africa's innovation ecosystem has enormous potential, yet efficiency and productivity across wider industry remain low. Total Factor Productivity across the continent is hampered by low levels of human capital, inefficient resource allocation, and systemic institutional barriers.
A critical contributor to this negative status quo is severely low
investment in research and development. Data from the UNESCO
Institute for Statistics shows that Sub-Saharan Africa has 88
researchers for every million people, compared to 4,358 across
Europe and Northern America. Consequently, African countries
dominate the lower echelons of the Global Innovation Index — 80% of
the lowest-performing countries are located on the continent.
The gap between local research activity and practical industry challenges is not a talent problem. It is a connection problem.
88 researchers per million people in Sub-Saharan Africa,
versus 4,358 across Europe and Northern America.
A US$7 billion annual opportunity to strengthen business innovation through R&D across Africa.
THE IMPERATIVE
Strengthening R&D is not a luxury. It is the foundation for everything else.
Private industry across Africa needs locally relevant R&D to boost productivity and drive scale. Local research talent across higher institutions and research institutes needs access to private industry — to work on problems that stretch them and build their capacity.
Optimizing capital to strengthen business innovation through R&D represents a US$7 billion annual opportunity across Africa. This includes an estimated US$4.4 billion in potential new private R&D expenditure that could be mobilized from corporations across Africa's private sector.
Technology can close this gap — matching industry needs with specialized local research talent and channeling capital into R&D for industry and business innovation. At scale, this has the potential to grow and sustain research enterprise on the continent and accelerate industry innovation through higher-quality, high-value research output.
THINKNG’S RESPONSE
A multi-country platform that brokers end-to-end R&D for corporations across Africa.
Thinkng operates at the intersection between research and industry. The platform builds specialized, industry-aligned R&D capability and gives private enterprises access to it — sustainably and cost-effectively.
We deliver this through three connected approaches: Direct Facilitation of IP Development, which resources high-value enterprise R&D projects to facilitate IP generation leveraging local R&D assets; Cohort-Based R&D Resourcing, which develops and equips multiple cohorts of local research talent to engage directly with industry-specific innovation demands;  and R&D Skills Psychometric Assessments, which identify high-potential local R&D talent capable of carrying out high-quality research.
Our platform builds on proven models like Andela's success in Africa's technology talent development, adapting this approach to Africa's research and innovation landscape.
$1.2B
Target annual R&D capital by 2030
500+
Researchers trained so far
Who We Are
We Are Thinkng
Thinkng is an R&D brokerage business operating across five capability areas in Africa. Currently being incubated by Gawani Africa and working from Vancouver and Abuja, we connect enterprises commissioning research with the institutions and researchers delivering it, and the funders backing both.
Learn more
Turning research expertise into paid opportunities.
Our Purpose, Mission & Vision
Our Purpose
To build the infrastructure that connects research to industry.
Our Mission
To channel private-sector capital and research talent into applied R&D projects that turn Africa's ideas into measurable industry and community outcomes.
Our Vision
A continent where R&D fuels enterprise, prosperity, and pride — an indispensable engine of global innovation.
94+
Projects supported
500+
Researchers trained
100+
Partners engaged
$1.2B
Capital mobilized
100+
Verified outcomes
Our Values
What Guides Us
Lead with Evidence
We advance only what is proven. Every decision, project, and partnership is grounded in verifiable data.
Earn Trust through Transparency
We say what we do and show what we have done. Trust is our ecosystem's currency; we earn it by being accountable in both success and failure.
Deliver with Precision
We measure twice, act once, and deliver results that withstand rigorous scrutiny. Precision is respect for data, diligence, and the measurable impact our partners deserve.
Rooted in Local Intelligence
We start from local realities and insights. The strongest ideas grow from context — country-specific truths, lived expertise, and data from each market we serve.
Think in Systems
We build for continuity, not applause. We design ecosystems where R&D-driven innovation becomes routine infrastructure for African prosperity.
Leadership
Led by Thinkers, Researchers & Industry Builders
Our leadership team brings expertise in research management, private-sector partnerships, policy implementation, and African innovation ecosystems. We combine local insights with continental experience to guide Thinkng's strategic direction.
Martin Eigbike, Founder
Founder
Martin Eigbike
Twenty years in strategy and policy advisory across Africa, advising governments, multilateral agencies including WHO and UK DHSC, and private corporations across more than 25 countries.
Board member of the Science for Africa Foundation and a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa.
Stanley Okezie, Technology
TECHNOLOGY
Stanley Okezie
Leads the technology direction of the Thinkng platform.
Holds an MBA in Health, Technology and Innovation from Johns Hopkins, with a background spanning software engineering, data analysis, project design and management consulting across the health and technology sectors.
Misimi Akinlolu, Product
product
Misimi Akinlolu
Leads product design and development for the Thinkng platform.
A senior business analyst with a track record of turning data into actionable insight, optimising business processes, and delivering strategic recommendations that support organisational growth.
Oshoze Ozono, Operations
Operations
Oshoze Ozono
Leads operations, talent and corporate programmes.
Joined Gawani Africa in 2022 and has since led coordination on a Gates Foundation primary healthcare reform project and the project management office for BeGreen Africa, delivered with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, IKEA and UNICEF.
Get in Touch
Submit
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.