My name is Opemipo Aikomo.

I'm a designer, software engineer and maker. I picked up graphic design in uni and stumbled into a career building digital products.

I cofounded Paystack — a pioneering company for online payments in Africa, acquired by Stripe in 2020. I worked here for 8+ years, and was ultimately responsible for the product and brand experience.

Last year, I joined HIFI to build new financial software with stablecoins. In my new role, I lead Design and the Engineering team.

My studio practice is focused on the development of creative infrastructure in Nigeria. As Independent Arts, I work with artists to build sustainable models for art production.

Our flagship project is E Dey Happen, a multi-year collaboration with two artists to establish their animated series. Independent Arts has helped to fund, produce and market the show, and continues to do so until we build a permanent distribution partnership.

I'm also working with 16/16, a creative hospitality business, to develop the Ajasa Makerspace — a clay and 3D printing facility in Lagos Island. We're exploring the transformation of space into a craft-led, commercially sustainable entity.

Moonlight is the vehicle that organises all of this — and a place to bring new ideas to life. I run the studio with my partner, Princess.

Last year, we founded Main Squeeze, a stylish compression sock brand redefining its category. We won the AXA Award for best new startup in the UK and are now pushing into B2B and retail.

This year, I'm launching Axiom with Ridwan Olalere. We're starting with a fellowship for post-graduate students in agriculture, health and education, taking their work from validated idea to deployed system.

The program launches in May 2026.

I grew up in Alimosho with my parents and siblings.

Over the years, I've moved across Lagos and even lived for short periods in cities across the world. Home to me isn't a single place, but a network of people, spaces I return to, and systems I share with others.

These days, I live between Lagos and New York.

I've run this website for over a decade, and only recently moved years of writing from Wordpress and Medium into it. Now I have rants as far back as 2011. Browse the archive.

I write personal essays when I have a story to tell, or when it's the only path to figuring something out. I write about design and how teams work, about building companies and what it costs, about Lagos and what it means to make things here.

I also write on the Moonlighting journal, where I document everything about the studio — updates on projects and what we're learning.

Writing this was an exercise in becoming, and Robin Sloan's website was a great inspiration. In my journal, I titled this "Manifesto".

Nice to meet you.

You can reach me at ope@moonlight.ng

London, April 2026