By Nnasom David

Best Olunusi, a native of Ogun State, Nigeria, is making his mark at the forefront of software engineering, securing positions at some of the world’s leading technology and financial firms.

Olunusi’s journey began in 2018 when he received the Hidden Gems Scholarship from Quest Educational Services, a U.S.-based nonprofit. The scholarship provides financial support for academically exceptional Nigerian students to study abroad.

Olunusi’s academic achievements, including his performance on the West African School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), qualified him for the scholarship.

During his undergraduate studies in computer science, Olunusi received multiple job offers from companies including Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), Google, Goldman Sachs, Intuit, PagerDuty, and DRW Holdings.

He currently works as a full-time software engineer at DRW Holdings, applying his expertise in developing proprietary software. His prior experience includes contributing to analytics systems at PagerDuty.

Olunusi cited his experience at Microsoft, where he worked on Microsoft Teams, as a significant professional milestone. “I specifically wrote the initial implementation of the Parent-Teacher meeting feature in Teams’ educational offering,” he stated.

In addition to his professional work, Olunusi has participated in and won competitions, including the U.S. Army HBCU xTech Competition, and was selected for the Palantir Future Fellowship.

He also participated in hackathons, including a second-place finish at Auburn University in 2023.

Olunusi is currently pursuing a part-time master’s degree in Computer Science and contributes to open-source projects.