Chronicles of an IJGB — 1

CcHub → Andela →TechCity: CcHub

It’s still quite early in my IJGB days in Lagos, Nigeria and as such, I’ve been doing a little bit of catching up and touring the tech/startup scene.

IJGB — I Just Got Back. It is a Nigerian Phrase for citizens who just returned from the diaspora

Only that this time around, I move(d) more with Uber (call me spoilt for good roads in UK). With countless (sad) Uber stories, enough to make a separate blog post, I’ll lean more towards my experiences at the places the Uber rides took me too.

Although, I visited CcHub, Andela and TechCityNG in that order, I’ll like to separate each visit into a separate blog post as the purposes (for visiting), experience (while at it) and learnings are quite distinct. Starting with CcHub…

#1 — Breakfast with Yomi Awobokun at CcHub

Abayomi Awobokun was the CEO of Oando Downstream before he moved to set-up his own oil and natural gas business, ENYO Retail and Supply. He is a 2016 recipient of the Young Global Leader award from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was nominated by the Choiseul Institute in Paris as one of the top 100 under 40 business leaders in Africa.

Abayomi attended the Lagos Business School (LBS) in 2000 before pursuing an MSc. in International Business from the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. In the UK, he worked as Area Manager, Halifax Bank of Scotland before his return to Nigeria.

Private banter: Mr. Yomi, is one of my relatives and we fondly refer to him as Uncle Yoyo. I’m so proud to be associated with him!

At the Breakfast session of about 30 people, he shared from his wealth of knowledge (his further degrees) and experience (holding top Executive positions) on “Building for Billions”. Here, Billions could refer to people or cash.

He also touched on hiring and the kind of people he looks out for, you should definitely reach out to the team at CcHub for a recap.

For me, I had never heard him speak in such capacity before, so yes, I was kind of awed by his enlightened demeanor. He fielded questions so well and was quite articulate in delivering his responses. His sense of humour was also on point 👌.

Healthy banter between Yomi and Bosun with a reporter for the Nation

He and Bosun teased each other, they had (first) met at last year’s Tutu Fellowship, where Tutu fellows are exceptional Africans from a wide range of social, cultural, economic and geographic backgrounds, high achievers and respected.

Me trying hard to look serious when I noticed ShutaBug was about to take my picture

One part of me was like “Preaachhh!” each time he said something profound, while I sipped on my pap and beancakes from King’s Breakfast (the packaging was A1).

I even did a mini-thread on Twitter because my ~5,000 followers needed to be hearing what I was hearing.

Catch up with some of my notes in this thread

This session ended with me and one of my other relatives getting a personal photo with our beloved uncle.

Dapo, Yomi and myself

Bonus: I got to reunite with one of my Day 1 homeys, Early. Got a picture with 'Bosun and Damilola of Co-Creation Hub amongst other hearty selfies.

Holding Benjamin as a constant; L-R: Early, Bosun and Dami

In summary, my visiting CcHub today was quite beneficial to me because, I got to learn at the feet of Uncle Yoyo and take selfies with friends (some for the first-time). Oh, how could I forget that Ogi and Akara that schooled abroad!

Up Next: Visiting Andela — a tale of friendship and growth

Click the picture to go straight to the Andela recap.