Nigerian software engineer and co-founder of online payment platform Paystack, Shola Akinlade, has ventured into European football space after completing the purchase of Danish second division club Aarhus Fremad, Peoples Gazette can confirm.
It is good enough, Aarhus Fremad has a new owner. And in contrast to what the club’s previous owners have previously stated about this kind of thing , it is a foreign investor.
Shola Akinlade, 38 years old and from Nigeria, has bought 55 percent of the 2nd division club. He lives today in North Carolina, USA, after he has become a billionaire by selling an IT company.
However, there will be no major changes at Riisvangen from day one, assures the club’s director Lars Kruse. Aarhus Fremad has neither started the hunt for AGF nor the Super League. And there will not be a half-African team playing in the club after the summer holidays, as has been seen in other clubs after similar acquisitions.
– It’s actually so boring that there won’t be any changes. The plan is for us to continue with the setup we have. There are, of course, some investments that are just right; Some fitness equipment, some GPS trackers on the players and so on.
It is no secret that it has probably cost a little of my otherwise positive energy that I have had to transfer this money on an ongoing basis to keep the club going. It is one of the worst things you can experience in a company when liquidity is at the limit. It’s terrible.
LARS KRUSE, DIRECTOR OF AARHUS FREMAD
After all, Aarhus Fremad has a history of big arm movements, where at the beginning of the millennium they wanted to return to the Superliga and challenge AGF. But that’s not the kind we’re talking about here?
– No no no. Not at all. Of course, we hope that the table looks like it does now when the season ends, but it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t, says Lars Kruse, referring to Aarhus Fremad’s first place in the 2nd division.
– I heard you have 20 seats And how do you find a man from one of Africa’s largest cities, Lagos, with a lot of IT millions in hand?
– You must choose Aarhus Forward, was the answer.
And so one day a message ticked into Lars Kruse’s phone, which he initially probably had to read twice before he was convinced of its authenticity.
On Tuesday, the money from Shola Akinlade went into Aarhus Fremad’s account, and he is now the majority owner of the club.
He has already been to Aarhus, and agrees with the club’s modest conditions.
– I picked him up at the airport, and on the way to Riisvangen he said himself that he had read that we had a stadium with space for 5,000 spectators – of which there were 20 seats. And it eased a bit, then I let go of him being disappointed when he saw our stadium, laughs Lars Kruse.
Who is Shola Akinlade?
Aarhus Fremad’s new majority owner, 38-year-old Shola Akinlade, is from Lagos in Nigeria. He currently lives in North Carolina, USA.
He is educated in computer science from Babcock University in Nigeria. In 2020, he sold his company Paystack for, according to his own statement, 200 million dollars (small DKK 1.4 billion) to the American financial company Stripe.
Paystack is a system somewhat similar to Paypal where smaller African companies can receive digital payments from, among other things, credit cards.
In 2022, Shola Akinlade, together with co-founder of the company, Ezra Olubi, was appointed Officer of the Order of the Niger by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
In 2022, Shola Akinlade started the football club Sporting Lagos in his hometown. The club plays in the second best Nigerian league and will now cooperate with Aarhus Fremad.
Shole Akinlade will hold a press conference on the acquisition on Tuesday.
Shola Akinlade has made his money from an IT business he sold in 2020.
– He has created a company that has made it possible for small African businessmen to receive money from credit cards. And he has done that so well that he has been bought by Stripe, which is a huge American company that collaborates with VISA, among other things. And if he is good enough for them, then he is probably also good enough for Aarhus Fremad.
How did it come about?
– It is a close acquaintance of the club, for whom I have great respect, who referred him to us and spoke well of him. I generally attach great importance to standing up for people. I use that a lot. I’ve checked with people who know about Shola’s industry and heard about him.
