Abiola Olaniran, founder of mobile game company Gamsole, has died. He died on Wednesday, July 16, at the age of 36.

Details about the cause of death remain unclear. Reports say he was buried the same day in a private ceremony.

Mr Olaniran was widely known for his role in building Africa’s mobile gaming ecosystem. He studied computer science at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and became an expert in Unity3D game development.

He first gained attention in 2010 when he represented Nigeria at the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Poland. He also won the Samsung Developer Challenge.

In 2012, he founded Gamsole, a Lagos-based mobile game company that quickly rose to international success. By 2015, Gamsole games had recorded more than 10 million downloads across 191 countries.

In 2016, Gamsole partnered with MTN to launch Gidi Run, a mobile game that introduced new ways to localise and monetise games for African players. Other popular Gamsole titles include Temple Run, Monster Ninja, and Sweet Candy.

Olaniran once described his mission in gaming as simple: “At Gamsole, we satisfy the lifelong human desire for entertainment. Our goal is to make games that are fun to play; plain and simple.”

His impact went beyond games. In 2015, he made Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 list. He was also named one of the 30 Most Promising Young African Entrepreneurs the following year.

That same year, Abiola Olaniran became an early investor in Techpoint Africa, which has since grown into a major tech media platform on the continent.

In December 2016, Abiola won The Future Awards Africa (TFAA) Prize for Technology.

From 2020 to 2022, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Kenyan education tech company eLimu. There, he led the full rebuild of its mobile learning platforms.