Afripreneur
How This EdTech CEO Is Helping Africans Access Premium Tech Skills Relevant For The Future Of Work
Eyitayo Ogunmola is the CEO of Utiva, a leading tech education startup in sub-saharan Africa and a technology education entrepreneur with more than 9 years experience in Product management, international development And technology leadership. In this exclusive interview with Alaba Ayinuola of Business Africa Online, He talked about his entrepreneurship journey, the Utiva brand and how they are helping people transition into roles in the technology industry in Nigeria and Africa. Excerpts.
Alaba: Tell us about Utiva and the role you play?
Eyitayo: Well, Utiva is a one-stop-shop for everything technology education. What we do is help Africans learn premium technology skills and then create paths to helping people transition into roles in the technology industry. If you think about this inform of a mission, I’d say that ours is to help Africans participate in the digital economy and benefit from the value that
digitalization gives to us as a continent.
One of the ways to think about this is to think about the population of the African youths.
According to research, by 2030 Africa will have one of the largest populations of young people that are ready to work in the job market, about 600,000,000 of them. And what we do at Utiva is to lower the barrier to entry and learning for so many young Africans that want to acquire technical skills. And also help them access new jobs.
Within 2 years, we have developed learning programs in some very specific areas of digital skill training. From Product Management to Product design to Data Analytics to Artificial intelligence to Digital Marketing. Our focus is to make the learning programs so interesting and attractive for people to participate. That is pretty much what we do at Utiva.
Now talking about my own role, I am the Chief Executive Officer, so what I do is to lead the team, lead the practice, and to champion the organization’s policy the way the organization is structured. So I typically will report to the board, I am the person that pursues the investors, also the one cheer leading and helping the stakeholders to get attracted to the brand Utiva.
Alaba: What was your startup capital and how were you able to raise it?
Eyitayo: Now the interesting thing about Utiva is that we bootstrapped from the very beginning. We didn’t raise a dime. I pretty much used my own personal savings to run Utiva from day one. And as a social enterprise, I will say that we have benefited so much from impact investing or social impact financing in the form of grants to subsidise our training.
So Utiva has been a bootstrapper from the beginning, we so much believe in bootstrapping to a point before we start using other people’s money to run the organization.
Alaba: What are the challenges, competition and how are you overcoming them?
Eyitayo: Well in terms of competition, I will say that we pretty much do not always see ourselves as competitors in the education space, we love to see ourselves as complementors. But there are other amazing companies and organizations that are playing in our space. There are organizations that are niched and are focused on different areas of technology education training, so I may not be able to mention names here but I will say that there are great organizations that are focused on training in programs. There are organizations that do not do training, they just connect people to the job market, there are organizations that are focused on digital skills training, some are focused on providing internships to people that have been trained.
So what we do which is like the competitive advantage that we have is that we are a one-stop shop for everything technology skill training. From Data to Product to Design to Digital Marketing to Growth Hacking to Artificial Intelligence and this is a value proposition that makes our students get very attracted to Utiva. Because they trust us and the trust is pretty much built around the fact that we have built several digital schools and they know that yes we really know what we are doing.
In terms of the way we also overcome the competition, we built Utiva to be very affordable. We lower the barrier to entry for Africans and we do not believe that you need to break the bank to learn a technology skill and that is one of the areas of the competitive advantages that we have. Another one for us is the post-training values that we offer our students.
We have built 3 different models around our post training value. One is the virtual internship. What this means is that at the end of every training program, you have the opportunity to work on multiple projects in the form of virtual internship. The second one is access to job opportunities. Our students gain access to different job opportunities because we have a large network of employers that are hiring through us. And the third one which I consider to be an awesome value is the fact that we are lowering the barrier to entry for those that really need help, speaking of people with disability. We actually just launched a training program that gives 500 people with disability an opportunity to learn digital skills.
These are some of the many values that we offer that makes people want to be a part of our learning program.
Alaba: How does your organization measure it’s the impact?
Eyitayo: So, there are three major ways of measuring impact for us and we are quite very intentional about the way we measure impact. So think about it this way, we measure impact, first by measuring how we are helping you as a student close the knowledge gap. So from the beginning, we want to know what you know, then at the end of the learning program we want to know what you know. So we see the knowledge gap and how we have been able to close it.
The second way we are measuring impact is how you have been able to take the knowledge from the class to practice and we do that within the 3 months virtual internship, we look at how our students have been studying using multiple analytical strategy to evaluate how our students are working on multiple projects and how they are able to juggle these projects and most importantly how they are able to translate what they have learned from the class environment to the real work environment through that virtual internship.
The third one is what employers are saying about our students, that’s like ultimate value. We currently have a 65% transition rate into new jobs and beyond the transition rate, we also look at how employers are getting satisfied with the quality of talents that are passing through Utiva because it is not enough for you to transition, we also need to know how satisfied these employers are with our students.
So, these are the ways we are measuring impact. How you are transitioning to new jobs and the values that employers are getting from the quality of students that pass through our programs.
Alaba: What is the future for Utiva and what steps are you taking in achieving them?
Eyitayo: I am going to be very brief about the future for Utiva because for us at Utiva, we are still in the execution phase. Our focus today is to deliver quality training for our students. But the future of Utiva is to help other educators become successful. The education space is an amazing space to play in and one of the things that we are doing is that we are helping every other educator to become successful in the future.
Beyond being a company that offers quality training, and helping young Africans transition into new jobs, we also want to help other educators to become better so that we can scale the value for Africans, I mean we can’t do it all, how do we even train 600,000,000 young people alone? So we want to replicate ourselves in other educators. That is the future for us.
Alaba: How is your business contributing to the development of the educational sector in Nigeria and Africa?
Eyitayo: Yes, yes! So let me explain a little bit about that. Our contribution is to replicate ourselves, so the way we think about this is that we want to be successful, we want to build successful models, we want to build a successful learning approach. We want to be successful and we want to help other educators to be successful. We want to help other educators to learn the right andragogy and the right pedagogy to become successful.
For us at Utiva, success is built around how much we are helping other educators in the educational sector to become successful. It is in view of this that we launched a mini project which is like a startup incubator for educators. And right now we have about 10 of them that we are coaching and mentoring and helping to access funding abroad just to scale success and that is the way we are thinking about that.
Alaba: How is the government policy supporting startups and entrepreneurs in Nigeria?
Eyitayo: I would say that there are two ways to think about this right, there are so many government policies out there that are structured around providing support to lots of entrepreneurs in Africa, so I will give you an instance, the creative industry loan. The creative industry loan was a CBN initiative that was built to support Nigerian startups. Let me give you another example, the Vice President launched multiple projects to attract investors and also to make the entrepreneurial ecosystem quite very attractive.
However, the policy is not the challenge, what the real challenge is the access. Because most of these policies that the government put in place are there and also the programmatic intervention that the government put in place are there. Where the problem lies is that most African or most Nigerian entrepreneurs do not have the capacity to access some of these opportunities. You know the CBN interest rate policy supports startups, supports entrepreneurs. They are there, but Nigerian entrepreneurs need to be supported in such a way that when these policies are enacted, the barriers to benefiting from these policies are lowered so that we can access them.
Also, the government needs to create an opportunity to talk to entrepreneurs. Beyond just creating policies here and there, the government needs t o talk to entrepreneurs every time. The more you talk to entrepreneurs, the more you are able to understand what works for them and create structures that can really support them.
Alaba: What advice would you give potential entrepreneurs who intend to start a business or invest in Africa?
Eyitayo: The Advice I would give is to start. Start fast and learn fast. I mean you cannot over-prepare for entrepreneurship in Nigeria because it is a totally different ball game. But start and learn very fast. That is the advice I will give, and I would say that think more global, build a more global product. It’s ok to build products for a Nigerian market, but build a global product so that you can benefit from the global dynamics.
Alaba: How does it feel to be an African entrepreneur?
Eyitayo: I think it’s a mixed feeling. Sometimes you are excited because of the opportunity, because of the market, because there are problems and where there are problems there are opportunities
and that is exciting. Then another one is like as an African entrepreneur, you are fighting too many unnecessary battles. We can really build a successful or a super successful African entrepreneurship ecosystem or build a super successful business landscape for the African market if African entrepreneurs do not always have to fight unnecessary battles.
Like you fight battles with electricity, you fight battles with bad roads, you fight battles with bad employees, taxation. You are fighting multiple battles that the government is supposed to fight for you so that you can focus on your core which is building business.
Alaba: How do you relax and what books do you read?
Eyitayo: I travel a lot. Although COVID-19 has really taken that opportunity away from me, because travelling is my thing. Then I read a lot of books around internal navigation, around leadership. That’s one of the things I have been studying so much. Beyond just the motivational leadership books, I read some core books around internal navigation. So one of the areas of books that I have been exposing myself to is biography. I have been reading the biography of some super successful entrepreneurs and I will recommend that other entrepreneurs also start to study biographies of other super successful entrepreneurs. Thank you!
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P R O F I L E
Eyitayo Ogunmola is a Technology Education Entrepreneur with more than 9 years experience in Product management, international development and technology leadership. He has lived and worked in 4 countries and also led at the VP level of a consulting company.
Eyitayo founded Utiva, a leading technology Education company in Sub-Saharan Africa that helps Africans learn tech skills relevant for the future of work. Prior to Utiva, He worked in the International development sector, working on USAID funded tech projects. And also founded PM Hub, a boutique for product development.
He holds a Masters degree in business strategy, leadership and change from Heriot-Watt University. He is a MIT Solve Entrepreneur, 2020 Facebook Accelerator Leader, Halcyon Incubator Fellow, Global Good Funds Fellow; Chevening Scholar, Atlas Corps Fellow, 2019 Unleash Talent.
In 2019, Eyitayo was nominated for Future Awards Africa 2019 under the Education category and most recently is his nomination for the Tech Times Africa Awards under the CEO category.
Senegalese businesswoman Adja Sembene Fall said she had no choice but to launch her start-up business online because her new Contanna fair-trade tea company only had $200 to its name.
“Due to lack of finance, it was not possible to get a physical shop. We started out in the backyard of my brother’s house. We sold our teas via social media for three years,” said Fall. She says her line of luxury brand tea products is about more than taste. Fall says Contanna teas sell a “Senegalese experience” that promotes a women-owned, 100% locally sourced and processed product based on recipes infusing family and cultural traditions.
“Digitizing our buying process was really important. We were also able to present and adjust packaging of our product online, [to emphasize] it was premium and different from what was available in Senegal,” the 29-year-old added.
Contanna says its first year of operations, a focus on Instagram and its website drew $5,000 in online sales. As the online business grew, Fall said, Contanna hit $12,000 in sales and established a community of around 2,000 clients.
Contanna recently opened a pop-up stall at Dakar’s Sea Plaza shopping mall. In January, it was named a winner of the African Development Bank’s AgriPitch Competition, which supports African youth agripreneurs by improving their business bankability and ensuring that they are “pitch ready” for potential investors.
The 2022 AgriPitch competition, which started last October, received nearly 750 complete entries from entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector – or “agripreneurs” – from 38 African countries. The judging panel comprised women- led enterprise support advisory firm, Private Equity Support; the Private Financing Advisory Network, a global network of climate and clean energy financing experts; and EldoHub, an education, innovation, and technology organization targeting youth and women.
The competition, which this year awarded $140,000 in prizes, is a key activity of the Bank’s ENABLE Youth Program.
“African youth have great ideas. It was exciting to see the high level of innovation and passion from these young agripreneurs, particularly the large number of women-owned enterprises like Contanna,” said Edson Mpyisi, the Bank’s Chief Financial Economist and ENABLE Youth Coordinator.
AgriPitch organizers selected 25 semi-finalists, 68% of them women-owned or led businesses, to attend a two-week business development virtual boot camp. The boot camp culminated in a pitch session to judges, who chose 9 agripreneurs to advance to the finals.
“I was pitching in front of my shop – where customers were passing by. They were so encouraging when they discovered that [my business] is a 100% Senegalese company and especially that the founder was a woman,” said Fall. She received $25,000 as the winner in the AgriPitch competition women-owned business category.
Fall says she’ll use part of the prize money to upgrade a digital payment system and for computers and digital skills training for Contanna employees, all women.
“We don’t eschew hiring men. The women were first to apply and were qualified. They currently log their work production and stock building in paper books. We are training them to build capacity to use Google Sheets [and other digital software],” Fall said.
Contanna and the two-dozen other competition finalists will retain access to the AgriPitch “deal room” to avail of post-competition digital expertise, business development, and investor engagement.
“We look forward to working closely with the entrepreneurs in the coming months through individual business advisory support and investor engagement in the deal room,” said Diana Gichaga, Managing Partner at Private Equity Support.
Afripreneur
Helping a friend to acquire her first home ignited my interest in real estate – Ayodeji Kehinde
Ayodeji Kehinde is a real estate entrepreneur and founder of KFAO Corporates Services, one of Nigeria’s leading real estate and brokerage firm. She prides herself in her passion and heartfelt drive to serve her clients’ best interest. Ayodeji is dedicated, knowledgeable, and committed to finding the perfect fit, whether space for residential or office/commercial, for her clientele. Naturally, she loves the subject of architecture, designs, property and environment. In this exclusive interview with Alaba Ayinuola of Business Africa Online, Ayodeji shares her entrepreneurship journey into the real estate industry and how she is helping her clients acquire their dream properties. Excerpt.
Alaba: What makes KFAO Coroporates and Formidables standout?
Ayodeji: Integrity is key in whatever one does and that is our core value! Buying Real Estate is not like every other goods you see on the shelves you point at and you make payment. Real Estate involves Due Diligence. When you allow lack of integrity and accountability take over you as a Real Estate Service provider, then you are close to doom.
At KFAO and Formidable Corporate Partners, we are dedicated to providing world-class service and market-leading expertise to our clients. We are passionate about providing the extra value that others simply will not when it comes to due diligence with integrity and accountability.
When you approach us with your products as a developer, we do not rely on the documents cited, we go extra miles to verify and do searches on the property and where we found that the properties are in the handcuffs of government or any other encumbrance, be as it may, we back-out even when money has exchanged hands, we refund.
A whole lot of properties are out there being sold by some other brokerage firms without due diligence. Some would after finding out the property isn’t good to sell, still go ahead thereby putting investors’ funds to waste. We are not keen about what money we want to make but the security of our investors’ funds is our concern.
Alaba: What are the 3 things that excites you about the real estate industry?
Ayodeji: In simple terms; Money, Meeting people and Solving people’s housing need.
Alaba: If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to improve the industry, what would you suggest?
Ayodeji: In Nigeria, the most important document to property buyers and landowners which is the Certificate Of Occupancy , C of O as it’s called has become very difficult to get. The document is issued by the state governments in Nigeria and verifies that you own the land or property in question. Property purchased without a Certificate of Occupancy is the equivalent of purchasing a vehicle without a logbook.
As a Nigerian landowner or property owner, this is not the kind of situation you find yourself. The administration is faulted. Understanding the top skills for those that want a career in Real Estate can be helpful hence the need to get a handful of skilled labour.
If I had the opportunity to reform the Nigerian Real Estate Sector, the above are what I would face squarely and make sure I achieve them.
Alaba: Why should property buyers engage a professional realtor?
Ayodeji: You might be far out of your element when it comes to reviewing and understanding the multiple documents involved in a real estate deal. You should have a thorough understanding of what you’re getting into regardless of whether you’re buying or selling. Purchase agreements alone can top 10 pages.
A realtor will be far more familiar with all this paperwork than you are. Consider this if you’re still thinking about saving money: Some mistakes or omissions in these documents can cost you as much as that commission you were trying to avoid paying or even far more.
For those looking out to get a realtor, I’ll advise they don’t get weary of what’s going to cost them but look out for the expertise like we have in KFAO and Formidables which is a sure security for their investment.
Alaba: What are some common myths about working in your industry?
Ayodeji: “You don’t need them to get a property”. Yes you can sell your home without an agent? In fact, you can even buy a home without them. Many underestimate the value an experienced Realtor / Broker like KFAO and Formidables can bring to them.
The truth is, Realtors/Brokers have a duty to put your best interests in the transaction at the forefront. They can provide you with knowledge about the current market conditions and use their expertise to negotiate the best deal for you. You can trust us in that aspect. We ensure that you have all your ducks in a row regarding paperwork and walk you through the process.
Another myth is “If Your Home Isn’t in Great Condition, No One Will Buy It”. It’s true that some remodeling projects can increase your home’s value. But if your home is outdated or needs major repairs, it doesn’t necessarily mean no one will want to buy it. The Truth is that there are people that only buy homes that are in poor condition and require updating or major repairs. These are typically local real estate investors and professional home buyers who update and renovate properties as a business. If your current home needs some work, consider selling the property to a professional home buyer.
A common seller myth is that offering a lower commission will net more money. What this will do is cause agents with the most qualified buyers to go to the higher listed commission properties first and show the lower commission properties with less enthusiasm. The result is that fewer interested buyers will see your property and fewer cooperating brokers will show it, and the longer your property stays in the market, the more frustrated you become and you might end up selling on distress.
Alaba: How are you thriving as a real estate entrepreneur and a mum?
Ayodeji: Let’s face it, women must play many different roles at the same time. Being a mom, partner, friend, sister, daughter not to mention employee or business owner or household manager requires multitasking and prioritization skills or else you won’t be able to do it all. As a Real Estate Entrepreneur and a mother, the ability to manage my time effectively has always been my saving grace.
Alaba: What skill do you think all women should learn and why?
Ayodeji: Women today are blessed with many opportunities to explore their passions and make their mark. You can be a homemaker, lawyer, programmer, or whatever you so desire. You can get married if and when you choose, to whom you want, and have a family that takes many forms. The options abound. At the same time, though, as a woman, you can face unique challenges and barriers to getting what you want.
Financial skills to me are the most paramount I’ll want all women to have. Learning the basics of simple addition, subtraction and multiplication is essential and the reason being that this will help you with all the financial skills you need to create a household budget and live within your means, manage all resources at your disposal. Master the art and science behind investing and building your wealth. You’ll be set to live comfortably now and save for retirement.
Goal setting skills are mandatory in the business world and life. You can’t get what you want unless you envision it. Give yourself the space to dream and imagine what you want. Then, be able to identify priorities and tactical plans to make things happen.
Alaba: Do you have a specific advice for women wanting to get into real estate?
Ayodeji: What has really helped me this far as a Real Estate Entrepreneur is the fact that I had always wanted to be in a position where I could really own my time and space and drive my own business. You’re only going to be successful in real estate if you want to have the sales skills and entrepreneurial drive to build your own brand and always be available to book businesses. For every woman that wants to be a Real Estate Entrepreneur, my best advice is that they must have an inexhaustible desire to see success irrespective of the challenges encountered.
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Damilola Felicia Badmus is a multi-talented individual with several areas of expertise, including personal brand photography, consulting, writing, and speaking. She is also recognized as a LinkedIn Influencer.
Her main area of interest is helping people build their personal brand on LinkedIn through the effective use of images and content strategy. Damilola understands the power of visual storytelling and how it can be leveraged to create a strong and impactful presence on LinkedIn. And she strives to share this knowledge with others through her work as a photographer and consultant.
In addition, Damilola is a Nigerian based in the United Kingdom and she aim to help people effectively use LinkedIn to build their brand and reach their goals, which is evident through her book “How LinkedIn Works.”
Alaba: You recently launched your first book, “How LinkedIn Works”. What inspired this?
Damilola: The inspiration behind my book came from my desire to provide comprehensive and in-depth information to people who are seeking to understand and effectively utilize LinkedIn.
I recognized that teaching people in a one-on-one setting through masterclasses may not fully address all of their questions and concerns, so writing a book was a way for me to reach a wider audience and provide them with a comprehensive resource that they can refer to. This desire to help others understand and succeed on LinkedIn is what motivated me to write the book.
Alaba: For brands new to LinkedIn, what is the platform all about and why is it so important?
Damilola: LinkedIn is a social network platform that caters to professionals and enables them to connect, network, and showcase their work experience, education, skills, and accomplishments.
For brands, it provides a platform to reach a highly targeted audience of professionals and decision-makers and establish relationships with them by sharing relevant content and showcasing their products and services.
Additionally, it’s a crucial tool for individuals to build a strong personal brand and establish themselves as a thought leader in their industry, leading to increased visibility, credibility, and career opportunities.
Alaba: What was your process for writing this book, “How LinkedIn Works”?
Damilola: The idea to write ‘How LinkedIn Works’ came to me through the Holy Spirit, and I was encouraged by some of my friends to write it. I then took a structured approach to write the book, starting by outlining the chapters and adding subtitles to them. This allowed me to have a clear vision for what I wanted to achieve with the book and helped me to bring that vision to life in an organized and manageable way.
Alaba: What’s the most interesting reaction/feedback you’ve had about your new book?
Damilola: The most interesting feedback I’ve received about my book is that it is highly informative and easy to understand. People have appreciated the fact that they were able to learn new things about LinkedIn and that the book provides clear and self-explanatory information.
I’d also say the feedback suggests that my book is serving its purpose as a comprehensive resource for people looking to effectively use LinkedIn. It is always rewarding to hear that your hard work and efforts have had a positive impact on others.
Alaba: Which part/chapter of How LinkedIn Works was the easiest or trickiest to write?
Damilola: Chapter 3 “Create content like a pro” was the easiest and trickiest to write. This is because creating content is one of my areas of expertise therefore it was easy. However, the ability to share my knowledge and experience on this topic needed to be put in an effective and clear manner.
In this chapter, I shared my insights on how to use content pillars to create compelling content on LinkedIn and generate ideas for posts that will engage your target audience. By breaking down this often-challenging aspect of using LinkedIn into manageable steps, I made it easier for readers to understand and implement the advice I was providing.
Damilola Felicia Badmus
Alaba: What do you hope to achieve with this book?
Damilola: My goal for this book is to help individuals and brands effectively use LinkedIn to build their personal brand, establish their presence and authority in their industry, and reach their professional goals. By providing comprehensive and actionable advice on how to navigate LinkedIn, I hope to empower others to succeed on the platform.
Alaba: Do you have a favourite social media platform? What and why?
Damilola: My favourite social media platform is LinkedIn, and the reason for this is its opportunities for self-expression through writing and its positive and inspiring community. One of the key ways I have leveraged this community is by organizing three successful networking events in Nigeria.
Through these events, I have had the chance to meet with over 100 individuals and connect with like-minded individuals who share my interests and values. I find LinkedIn to be a powerful tool in supporting my professional goals and helping me build my personal brand and establish myself as a thought leader in my field.
Alaba: As a LinkedIn Influencer yourself, how has the platform added value to your growth?
Damilola: As a LinkedIn Influencer, the platform has played a significant role in my growth by providing me with a platform to share my expertise and knowledge with a wide audience. By leveraging the power of LinkedIn, I have been able to build my personal brand, establish myself as a thought leader in my field, connect with individuals who share my interests and values and help brands bring their products/services to the face of my audience.
Through writing and sharing content on LinkedIn, I have been able to demonstrate my expertise and knowledge, and engage with a growing community of followers and supporters. This has helped me to establish credibility and authority in my field and has opened up new opportunities for me to connect and collaborate with others.
Additionally, LinkedIn has provided me with valuable insights and data on my audience and the impact of my content, which has helped me to refine my approach and improve my results over time. The platform’s emphasis on professional networking and connection has also been invaluable, allowing me to build meaningful relationships with individuals and organizations in my field.
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Alaba: Lastly, your advice to new entrants to the platform or those still navigating their way?
Damilola: For new entrants to LinkedIn or those still navigating their way, my advice is to focus on building a strong personal brand. Start by crafting a compelling and accurate profile that showcases your skills, experience, and values, and be sure to include a professional headshot and background image.
Next, start connecting with individuals and organizations in your field and find people with hashtags. Consistently share valuable and relevant content, whether it be your own original content or content from others that you have curated and added your own thoughts too. This will help you establish yourself as a thought leader and build your authority in your field.
Another key aspect to success on LinkedIn is to network, network, network! Reach out to people you admire and want to learn from, and actively engage with others by commenting and liking their posts. Collaborating with others on LinkedIn can lead to new opportunities, mutually beneficial relationships, and even new business ventures.
Finally, be patient and persistent. Building a strong personal brand and establishing yourself as An influencer on LinkedIn takes time and effort, but the rewards are well worth it. Stay focused on your goals, be consistent in your efforts, and never stop learning and growing. The possibilities on LinkedIn are endless, and with the right approach, you can achieve great success on the platform.
