There is something fascinating about Akintunde Sultan, better known across the Nigerian technology ecosystem as Hack Sultan. He understands something that many entrepreneurs, marketers and even technology founders struggle to grasp: attention is valuable, but the ability to mobilise people is considerably more powerful.
On 21 October 2026, Sultan published a seemingly ordinary post on X, asking for 100 retweets and the first 100 people to complete a Google Form. The objective was to rally support for Kelvin, a Nigerian entrepreneur behind Bumpa, in the Africa’s Business Heroes 2026 competition.
His message was remarkably simple: “A Nigerian needs to win.”
There was no elaborate campaign, expensive advertising or complicated marketing language. Just a direct appeal to a community he had spent years cultivating.
The post attracted thousands of views and generated engagement. More importantly, it illustrated Sultan’s understanding of how to activate an audience around a specific objective.
That is what makes Hack Sultan interesting. He is not merely a software engineer who happens to have a substantial social media following. He is a growth hacker in the truest sense of the expression.
And now, he is taking over as Chief Executive Officer of AltSchool Africa.
Adewale Yusuf Steps Down: A Familiar Story of Building and Letting Go
After five years building AltSchool Africa alongside Adewale Yusuf and Opeyemi Awoyemi, Sultan is stepping down as Chief Technology Officer to become CEO, while Yusuf moves to the board.
Founded in October 2021, AltSchool Africa set out to make technology education more accessible to Africans. Five years later, its ambitions have expanded from professional skills training to internationally recognised university degrees.
For those who have followed Adewale’s entrepreneurial journey, the transition is particularly interesting.
I first knew Adewale when he was working at OtekBits and later OneDot Photography. Even then, his relentless drive, commercial instinct and ability to recognise opportunities were unmistakable. He has always had that determination to take an idea, build around it and pursue it until it becomes something substantial.
In 2015, he founded Techpoint Africa, working alongside Muyiwa Matuluko to build one of the continent’s most influential technology publications. In 2020, Adewale stepped down as publisher, handing over leadership to Muyiwa while pursuing new opportunities through TalentQL and eventually AltSchool Africa.
There is a pattern here.
Adewale builds, establishes a vision, develops capable partners and creates room for them to lead.
I saw something of that philosophy firsthand when I spent time with Adewale and Hack Sultan in Dubai. Their chemistry was striking. They challenged each other’s ideas, approached strategy from complementary perspectives and demonstrated a level of trust that is not always common among co-founders.
Neither appeared threatened by the other’s strengths, and it was easy to see how that relationship had helped them build AltSchool.
Interestingly, Adewale has also been developing Beyond Africa, an initiative connecting African founders, investors and talent with international opportunities. Its inaugural conference is scheduled for November 2026 in Austin, Texas.
The early signs of his expanding interests were already there. His decision to step away from AltSchool’s daily operations now looks consistent with a pattern we have seen before.
Who Exactly Is Hack Sultan?
Sultan is a software engineer, entrepreneur and community builder whose influence extends far beyond his social media following.
A computer science graduate of Oduduwa University, he founded DevCareer in 2019 to help aspiring African developers access training, mentorship and opportunities. He subsequently co-founded TalentQL and AltSchool Africa.
Across these ventures, there is a consistent approach: identify a problem, build a community around it and use technology to create opportunities at scale.
His newsletter, NTBTS (Not To Be That Serious), is another example of his understanding of distribution. Through it, he shares technology insights, career opportunities and commentary with an audience he has cultivated outside the unpredictable algorithms of social media.
For anyone who understands marketing, this is significant. Sultan is not simply gathering followers. He is building distribution channels, relationships and communities that can be mobilised.
But there is another side to Hack Sultan that I find particularly interesting.
In March 2024, he shared photographs of a personal project: rebuilding a 1992 BMW E36 into a daily driver and sports car.
The pictures showed a stripped-out interior, a red roll cage and extensive modifications. He even announced that he intended to sell the finished vehicle for ₦40 million.
For someone known primarily for software and digital communities, it was an interesting revelation.
Behind the Hack Sultan identity is someone genuinely interested in engineering, mechanics and building things with his hands.
The BMW project says something about his personality. He is curious about how things work, willing to take them apart and interested in what they could become.
It is a quality that has followed him from software development to entrepreneurship and now into educational leadership.
AltSchool Wants to Become the edX of Africa. But What About Miva University?
Sultan’s announcement of his appointment came with a much bigger revelation about AltSchool’s future.
He is launching the company’s degree programmes through degree.altschoolafrica.com, with plans to bring more international universities into the AltSchool network.
His proposition is ambitious.
According to Sultan, rather than travelling to the United Kingdom and spending approximately £30,000 on a degree, African students could attend the same university through AltSchool for less than £15,000, accessing the same lecturers and earning the same BSc qualification.
He summarised the proposition in six words:
“Equal value. Equal access. Local pricing.”
Then he declared: “Welcome to the edX of Africa.”
This is a significant departure from AltSchool’s original model. The company is no longer positioning itself simply as an alternative to traditional technology training. It wants to become a gateway through which Africans can access international university education at more affordable prices.
But there is an interesting Nigerian comparison worth examining.
In May 2023, Sim Shagaya’s Miva Open University launched with approximately 500 students, taking a more direct approach to the same problem: building a licensed, degree-awarding digital university from the outset.
By October 2026, Miva had reportedly enrolled more than 40,000 students cumulatively, secured full National Universities Commission accreditation for 12 academic programmes and expanded its physical learning infrastructure, including a flagship study centre in Lagos.
That is remarkable growth for an institution barely three and a half years old.
And it raises a question: Was this an approach AltSchool Africa could have taken earlier?
AltSchool started with professional skills and is now moving towards university qualifications. Miva started with university degrees and has been strengthening its digital learning infrastructure, introducing AI-powered learning tools and expanding its technology-driven approach to education.
The two models appear to be converging, although from opposite directions.
There is also an important distinction. Miva is building a Nigerian university with its own degree-awarding structure, while AltSchool’s announced model focuses on providing access to qualifications through international university partnerships.
AltSchool has the advantage of an established technology community, industry-oriented training experience and a brand associated with career development. Miva has the advantage of having started the process of building a regulated university institution earlier.
Both are attempting to address a fundamental problem: the cost, accessibility and relevance of higher education for a young African population.
Imagine a young Nigerian in Aba, a student in Accra or a working professional in Nairobi accessing recognised university education without relocating or abandoning employment.
That is the opportunity.
But the challenge is not simply getting students to enrol. Academic credibility, regulatory recognition, teaching quality and graduate employment outcomes will ultimately determine which models deliver lasting value.
And for Sultan, that is where growth hacking meets the much more demanding business of building an educational institution.
From Hack Sultan to CEO: The Real Test Begins
There is a tendency to underestimate people whose public identities are closely associated with social media.
Sultan’s journey demonstrates why that can be a mistake.
Behind the unconventional X username, the community campaigns, the NTBTS newsletter and even the BMW restoration project is someone who has spent years building technology businesses and helping other Africans access opportunities.
But becoming CEO introduces a different level of responsibility.
Growing a community is one thing. Running an institution that could eventually educate hundreds of thousands of people is another.
AltSchool’s next chapter will require more than clever distribution strategies and an engaged audience. It will demand strong university partnerships, academic credibility, operational discipline and the ability to deliver on the promise of affordable international education.
Sultan has spent years demonstrating that he understands how to build communities and get people to believe in an idea. He now has to demonstrate that he can translate those strengths into an institution that delivers consistently.
Having watched the chemistry between him and Adewale firsthand, I find this transition particularly interesting.
Adewale has done something similar before with Techpoint Africa, and his expanding work with Beyond Africa suggests that he is already looking towards another chapter.
Building a successful business requires vision. Building one that can thrive under another leader requires trust.
Adewale Yusuf helped build AltSchool Africa. Hack Sultan now has the opportunity to redefine what AltSchool Africa can become.
And if the company’s ambitions succeed, Sultan’s most important hack may have nothing to do with software, social media or his 1992 BMW.
It may be changing how an entire generation of Africans goes to university.
