Optimus AI Labs, a fast-rising Nigerian technology company, is positioning itself at the forefront of AI-driven enterprise solutions, with a particular focus on transforming customer support and service delivery across the country’s financial sector.
With rapidly advancing AI capabilities, strong partnerships, and growing global recognition, Optimus AI Labs appears well-positioned to shape the next phase of Nigeria’s AI revolution, starting with customer support, where millions of Nigerians stand to benefit the most.
Speaking during a media chat in Lagos, the company’s Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder, Mr. Lanre Basamta, revealed that Optimus AI Labs has spent the past two years building sophisticated artificial intelligence products tailored to the needs of banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions.
The company’s core mission, he said, is to deploy AI capabilities that bolster efficiency, enhance customer experience, and deepen trust in Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.
Basamta disclosed that the company’s flagship innovation is a fully AI-powered support platform designed to tackle one of the industry’s most persistent problems: poor customer service response times.
“Today, customers struggle to reach their banks when issues arise. Some wait 40 to 50 minutes to speak with an agent,” he explained. “Banks like Access Bank and OPay have tens of millions of users, no number of human agents can keep up with that volume.”
The new AI agent developed by Optimus AI Labs can hold real-time, context-aware conversations with customers, resolving issues instantly or escalating them when needed.
Basamta noted that the service is particularly timely, given the Central Bank of Nigeria’s newly released consumer protection policy, which mandates strict timelines for fraud reporting and resolution.
“The real problem is not that people don’t want to report fraud. The problem is they can’t reach their banks in time,” he said. “Our solution helps banks comply with regulations while also delighting their customers.”
Optimus AI Labs is also gaining attention for Omnis, its AI recommendation engine built for banks. Omnis analyses user behaviour and spending patterns to suggest personalised banking products or services.
“The engine understands customers so well that it can recommend offerings better than any salesperson,” Basamta said. “It improves user experience and drives new revenue streams for banks.”
The company has already partnered with Providus Bank and is in talks with other major institutions.
Before shifting fully into enterprise solutions, the company built Nigeria’s first AI-powered learning management system for secondary schools, called ZIKI. The platform leverages AI to deliver curriculum-based lessons across subjects and topics, developed in collaboration with 24 Nigerian teachers.
However, limited financial capacity within Nigeria’s education sector prompted the company to focus on financial services, where demand and scale are significantly higher.
Despite being a relatively young firm, Optimus AI Labs now serves clients beyond Nigeria. Basamta revealed that the company built an AI-driven learning platform and a robust dental management system for clients in Canada—customers who have never met the team in person.
“A small company out of Lagos is delivering enterprise AI solutions to American and Canadian businesses. They trust us, they pay us, and they keep giving us more work,” he said.
Basamta’s career spans senior positions at Remita, Sidmach, Cellulant, and InterSwitch, where he managed mobile banking across 14 African countries and more than 80 banks. He credits this experience, as well as strategic training and his co-founder’s global exposure, for enabling their shift into AI.
The company rebranded to Optimus AI Labs two years ago, after identifying AI as the differentiator that would set them apart in a rapidly changing economy marked by forex liberalization, subsidy removal, and new regulatory pressures.
Now headquartered in the same building once occupied by KUDA Microfinance Bank, Basamta says Optimus AI Labs is inspired by the success stories that preceded it.
“KUDA started here and is now valued at nearly half a billion dollars. Big things have been built from this place,” he said. “Our dream is to grow even bigger, to build the future for ourselves, our staff, and the country.”
