By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief
The Executive Summary section of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy(NAIS) reads in part: “The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has precipitated a paradigmatic shift in global innovation and transformation, driving cutting-edge advancements across nations and industries. The ramifications
of its impact on the global ecosystem and specifically on the developmental trajectory of Nigeria and other African nations are profound and far-reaching. Nigeria, as the continent’s most populous country, is singularly positioned to harness AI’s transformative capacity to address pressing socio-economic conundrums, accelerate economic growth, and pivot the nation into a new epoch of technological empowerment, which will unlock unprecedented opportunities for sustainable development, economic prosperity, and human flourishing.”
Nigeria craves building a resilient economy capable of competing in the global digital landscape, which is a function of critical digital economy stakeholders namely the government, the academia, industry and civil society, and more pulling in the same direction. Ideas rule the world and when these are effectively deployed, they create value, solve societal challenges and generate sustainable economic growth. Innovation-driven enterprises have the power to scale rapidly, create jobs and position such firms competitively at both national and global levels. Currently, there are over 300 active AI startups in Nigeria and counting daily.
One of these AI start-ups-Optimus AI Labs, over the past three years, has caught the attention of not a few digital economy analysts, courtesy of a number of products it has churned out that are helping its clientele streamline processes and reduce inefficiencies. Optimus AI Labs has launched Omnis which it is aggressively pushing to the financial sector to make them more effective and efficient. OMNIS is an AI-powered customer engagement engine that transforms client’s app from a transactional tool into a dynamic, intelligent experience hub.
According to the CEO/Co-founder of Optimus AI Labs Lanre Basamta, “Optimus” embodies our ambition to be the leading AI development and technology house out of Africa.”
OMNIS delivers:
- Personalized experiences that keep users engaged
- Frictionless navigation that makes transactions effortless
- AI-driven support that reduces customer effort and increases satisfaction
Speaking with ICT journalists recently at the Optimus AI Labs in Yaba, Lagos, south west, Nigeria, Mr. Basamta said Optimus AI Labs had been preoccupied over the past two years developing AI-driven tools tailored to the needs of banks, fintechs, microfinance institutions, and other financial service providers. Basamta said the company’s mission was to deploy AI in ways that improved efficiency, enhanced customer experience, and built greater trust in Nigeria’s increasingly digital financial ecosystem.
Said he: “Today, customers struggle to reach their banks when issues arise. Some wait 40 to 50 minutes to speak with an agent. Banks like Access Bank and OPay have tens of millions of users—no number of human agents can keep up with that volume.”
According to Basamta, Optimus AI Labs’ support system used natural language interaction to respond to customer queries, resolve issues in real time, and escalate unresolved complaints. The platform also analysed customer behaviour and needs, allowing it to recommend relevant financial products—a functionality he characterised as a “digital salesperson” that could help financial institutions increase revenue while improving customer experience.
He added that although Optimus AI Labs initially built solutions for small businesses, including but not restricted to schools, the company soon realised that the financial sector provided a much larger opportunity to deploy AI at scale. “The financial sector presents the biggest opportunity for AI to deliver value at scale,” he said.
Basamta said further that the system was also built with regulatory concerns in mind, especially around fraud resolution. He hinted on the collaborative work between his firm and the Central Bank of Nigeria aimed at delighting the customers.
And, with the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) rules requiring financial institutions to resolve fraud-related cases within 14 days, Basamta said the AI-powered support platform would help institutions to meet these obligations by offering faster, more structured responses.
He said the platform could spontaneously engage affected customers, provide step-by-step issue processing, and escalate cases that demanded human intervention—reducing delays that often frustrated users.
Optimus AI Labs began life in 2023 as Pacer Labs, a Canada-based software development and resource outsourcing firm. In its first months, the team focused on delivering reliable engineering and product work for clients across sectors, building a foundation of technical discipline and client-first delivery. That practical beginning established processes and relationships that would define the company’s next phase.
As per Optimus AI Labs company information: “Midway through 2023, we responded to growing inbound demand from startup clients, driven in part by cost advantages that allowed the team to serve partners in both Africa and North America. This period of concentrated client work exposed Pacer’s engineers to the specific problems founders were solving with data and automation, and prompted a strategic shift toward AI-led product work.
“Between 2023 and 2024, the business rebranded as Optimus AI Labs and invested in AI-native product development. The team launched an education-technology product built around generative models and also began offering AI product engineering services to organizations that needed practical, production-ready solutions. That work moved the company from project delivery into product development and platform thinking.
“From 2024 into 2025, we sharpened our focus on large language models and generative AI services. Today we support regional and international clients with end-to-end AI development, from model fine-tuning and integration to deployment and maintenance. Optimus AI Labs combines hands-on engineering with sector knowledge and an ambition to position African technical talent and products in global markets, while delivering measurable value for partners and investors.”
The company’s Vision is To be the leading AI Development and Technology house out of Africa,” while its Mission is: “To increase efficiency of business processes, build best-in-class products, and deploy mass-market solutions that drive scale and growth for our global partners.”
Leadership
CEO/Co-founder of Optimus AI Labs, Basamta has over 20 years of experience in Tech, Business, and Marketing. He previously held senior leadership roles at Interswitch, Cellulant Nigeria, Sidmach Technologies, and Systemspecs, managing multimillion-dollar portfolios.
Optimus AI Labs’ Executive Director, Gbemi Akande has over a decade of experience in startup development and innovation. He led a Toronto-based Venture Studio, launched Canada’s first e-commerce accelerator, and helped grow the startup ecosystem globally. An expert in product strategy, Mr. Akande has been involved in launching over 30 mobile, SaaS, and OTT solutions. –With Additional reporting by Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West, Nigeria.
