Beyond the Meetup: How BitDevs Lagos Is Building a Community of Bitcoin Contributors

On the last Saturday of every month, developers, researchers, students and Bitcoin enthusiasts gather in Lagos for BitDevs. Some are already contributing to Bitcoin projects. Others are exploring open source or trying to understand the technology and where they might fit into the ecosystem.

They come with different questions and levels of experience, but share an opportunity to learn, exchange ideas and spend time with people who can help them take their next steps.

Across Africa, local Bitcoin communities are creating spaces like this. In this series, we spotlight the people behind them and the work happening within them, starting with BitDevs Lagos.

We spoke with Tobechi Chukwuleta, the community’s lead organizer, about its beginnings, the support members find there and what it takes to build a community whose impact extends beyond its monthly gatherings.

From a Small Gathering to a Growing Community

The story of BitDevs Lagos began with relationships formed around Qala (now Btrust Builders) and its fellowship community. The idea was straightforward: bring people together regularly to discuss Bitcoin, share what they were learning and welcome others into the conversation.

That first iteration eventually lost momentum as members became occupied with other commitments. When the opportunity to restart the gatherings came up, Tobechi was willing to try again.

For almost a year, he funded the meetings himself while maintaining his regular nine-to-five job. His priority was to make the gatherings useful: a place where people could develop their understanding of Bitcoin, ask questions and explore their interests.

As members began bringing others along, attendance grew. The original meeting space gave way to a larger room, and the organisers eventually opened an adjoining space to accommodate more people.

Btrust later began supporting BitDevs Lagos, providing support for a community that had initially depended heavily on its organizer’s personal resources, but the work of building the community remained rooted in something less visible than attendance figures: the time spent helping people learn, making introductions and giving members reasons to return.

Helping Members Find a Starting Point

For someone interested in Bitcoin development, access to information is only part of the challenge. There are courses, documentation and open-source projects to explore, but deciding what to focus on can be difficult.

BitDevs Lagos has become a place where members can work through those decisions with support.

Tobechi described a hands-on approach to helping people find direction. He would identify what a member needed to learn, gather relevant resources and put together a roadmap suited to their interests and experience. He then stayed involved, answering questions and checking in on their progress.

Some of these journeys took months. He recalled supporting one member through eight months of regular check-ins before they became more confident navigating their learning independently.

That kind of guidance helps bridge the gap between having resources and knowing how to use them. A learning roadmap can give someone a starting point, while continued conversations help them work through difficulties and decide what to do next.

It also encourages members to keep learning between formal program opportunities. Rather than waiting for an application cycle to open, they can use that time to strengthen their foundations and explore the work they might eventually pursue.

Not everyone arrives with the same goal. Some want to become Bitcoin developers. Others are interested in building products, exploring open source or understanding how Bitcoin relates to other financial technologies. Some come simply because they are curious.

The community makes room for those different interests without expecting everyone to follow the same route.

Where Learning Leads to Contribution

Several people associated with BitDevs Lagos have gone on to contribute to open-source projects and receive support through Btrust’s developer grant program. They include Rita Anene, Chuks Agbakuru, Abiodun Awoyemi and Micheal.

Their experiences show how local communities can form part of a contributor’s journey. A meetup can introduce someone to a project or an area of research. A conversation can help them understand a technical problem. Support from other members can make it easier to keep going when progress feels slow.

These relationships do not replace the individual effort required to become a contributor. They provide an environment in which that effort can develop.

Community support and grant funding also serve different purposes. A community can help someone discover an interest, build knowledge and find people to learn alongside. Funding can make it more practical to dedicate sustained time to contributing to and maintaining open-source software.

Together, they can help address different challenges developers face as they move from exploring Bitcoin to working on it.

Building a Community That Members Help Lead

As BitDevs Lagos grows, another part of the work is helping members take greater ownership of the space.

A community becomes more sustainable when its knowledge and responsibilities are shared. Members who initially attend to listen can gradually become comfortable asking questions, explaining what they have learned and leading discussions themselves.

That transition matters. Preparing to explain a topic encourages deeper understanding, while discussing it with others creates opportunities to test assumptions and consider different perspectives.

It also means the community has more people to learn from. Members bring different technical interests, experiences and questions, broadening the conversations beyond what one organiser could provide.

For Tobechi, helping people become more independent is part of the purpose of supporting them. The aim is not to remain the person everyone relies on for direction, but to help members build enough confidence and understanding to find their own way, and eventually support others.

Why Building Locally Matters

Online resources make it possible to learn about Bitcoin from almost anywhere. Local communities offer something different: relationships that develop through returning, participating and getting to know the people around you.

At a regular gathering, someone can follow up on a question from the previous month, share a problem they are working through or hear how another member approached a similar challenge. Over time, those exchanges can make an unfamiliar field feel more accessible.

For newcomers, meeting people who are already contributing can also make the work feel more tangible. Open-source development is no longer only something happening in repositories or among people elsewhere. It becomes something they can ask about, observe and begin to participate in.

BitDevs Lagos provides a place for those connections to form. Its value is not limited to whether every attendee becomes a developer. Members can leave with a clearer understanding of Bitcoin, a new area to explore or someone to turn to when they need help.

Those outcomes are less visible than a merged pull request or a grant announcement, but they are part of the work that makes sustained participation possible.

Supporting the People Behind the Gatherings

A regular meetup can appear simple from the outside. Keeping it useful takes sustained effort: organizing a venue, preparing discussions, welcoming newcomers and following up with people between events.

For almost a year, Tobechi carried the financial responsibility for BitDevs Lagos alongside his job. His experience highlights the personal commitment that often keeps local communities going before wider support arrives.

Btrust’s support recognizes the importance of that work. Supporting contributors matters, but so does supporting the spaces where people first encounter Bitcoin development, build relationships and begin to see a role for themselves.

These spaces need room to develop in ways that reflect their members’ interests and circumstances. In Lagos, that has meant combining regular technical conversations with individual guidance and opportunities for members to take on more responsibility.

Btrust currently supports over 20 BitDevs communities in Africa, providing funding and sharing knowledge to help organizers build and sustain spaces for technical learning and collaboration. This support also includes the BitDevs Playbook, a practical, open-source guide for building and sustaining Bitcoin-only technical communities across the Global Majority. Together, these efforts help organizers draw on shared experience while developing communities that reflect their local needs.

Beyond the Monthly Meetup

The story of BitDevs Lagos is not only about a gathering that outgrew its original room. It is about what happens between meetings: the resources shared, the questions answered, the months of check-ins and the encouragement to keep learning.

During our conversation, Tobechi shared a saying that has stayed with him throughout the journey: “Do the work and good things will happen.”

It is a fitting reflection on what it takes to build a community. The progress may not always be immediate or easy to measure, but it grows through the people who keep showing up, the knowledge they share and the opportunities they create for one another.

At BitDevs Lagos, that work is continuing, one gathering, one conversation and one contribution at a time. Interested in exploring Bitcoin, meeting other builders or finding your place in the ecosystem, Join the BitDevs Lagos community and be part of the conversations shaping Bitcoin development locally.