Abiola Olaniran, the soft-spoken software engineer who turned a campus coding hobby into one of Africa’s best-known mobile-gaming brands, passed away on Wednesday, July 16, aged 36. Sources close to the family confirm that the Gamsole founder was buried the same day in a private ceremony. Although he shunned the limelight, Olaniran’s résumé reads like a highlight reel of Africa’s emerging tech scene.
After leading his Obafemi Awolowo University team to national victory in the 2010 Microsoft Imagine Cup, he doubled down on game development and, two years later, incorporated Gamsole in Lagos. At a time when Africa’s gaming scene was almost non-existent, he chose the then-new Windows Phone store as his launchpad, cranking out colourful casual titles that resonated far beyond Nigeria’s borders.
By early 2015 Gamsole had crossed the 10-million-download mark across Windows Phone, Android and feature-phone stores, a milestone that placed the company, and African game development, on the global map. That same year, the studio announced its flagship endless runner title, Gidi Run, which it would later launch in partnership with MTN, ushering in a new approach to games monetisation within Africa.
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