2019: Finding Kelvin
My 2019 Year in Review and a little more
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.“
— Steve Jobs
The journey that led me here
Have you ever felt that urge to understand your journey, your purpose and to even understand yourself? The need that originates from the feeling that you are alone in this world, and that your progress is dependent on the process of figuring out your life, and the result(s) thereof. Steve Jobs, in the quote above, shared something profound that I have held on to for the past few years of my life. The quote has defined my attitude towards my career, or what I would like to call my journey.
Finding Kelvin
Finding yourself is an iterative journey, a continuous process of which the feedback loop is a necessity, not an element of convenience. The journey that has led me to where I am today, got a definitive start when I was in junior secondary school, buying and selling phones, both smart and dumb, every Saturday in Computer Village, Nigeria’s foremost ICT accessories marketplace. It continued when I started selling phone accessories and tablets during my first and second year studying at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The journey got a jump start when I started my first company, Goldenmuv Ventures, followed shortly by my second company, Cloudshot Technology Limited in 2014. The journey got an indelible mark when my team at Cloudshot Technology Limited built VoissApp and got over 2500 students to sign up and use the platform. The journey is still ongoing. I talk so confidently about my journey sometimes that one might begin to think I have it figured out, but I actually do not. I see my journey like a mystery being unravelled as the year goes by, and I remain constantly excited as I write each chapter of the story of my life. The dots can only be connected looking backwards.
An increasing number of people reach out to me for help with getting a grip of their life, and it is startling to see very young people feel the need to define their story even before they are done with the first chapter. My recommendation is that you remain useful at every point in your life; join a team, a community or an organization based on what you are interested in and then learn the skill(s) needed to remain relevant. It will make more sense down the road.
Raised by the Community
Have you heard the story of a young village boy the community believed in and sent to school collaboratively? That is my story. If asked to count my blessings, I would start by counting the people around me.
I graduated as a Mechanical Engineer in September 2017 and moved into an apartment in Lagos complete with a laptop, internet and power, all courtesy of Aniedi Udo-Obong because he believed in me. I bombarded Oo Nwoye’s email inbox until he gave me an opportunity to volunteer with him in December 2017, an engagement that has metamorphosed in an awesome track record for me. I worked with Iyinoluwa Aboyeji on a few projects in 2018 and he gifted me with a 2018 Macbook Air early January 2019. I noticed I was having a twitter fan and it turned out to be one of the people I really respected — Adeyemi Fowe, who without meeting me, gave me the opportunity to run a Chess pilot project. Charles Emembolu gave me a platform with TechQuest to impact thousands of young people and he has supported and provided guidance for me throughout the journey.
Many more people have been very influential in my journey, which is why my 2017 Year in Review described my awesomeness in relation to the people around me. Truth is, I might never truly understand what these guys see in me, but the work to be done seems a lot interesting because there are people that I have to be successful for. I owe my journey to these ones. Thank you.
Highlights of the year
In my 2018 Year in Review article, I shared some of the goals I hoped to achieve in 2019. You’ll be able to see the highlights of my 2019 in context if you go through it.
“I am so looking forward to my first international air travel. I am not sure when this will be but I know it’s going to happen this year. I am also looking forward to raising my first $100,000 this year.”— My 2018 Year in Review
Milestones Achieved in 2019
- Crushed my financial goal (raised over $150,000).
- First international air travel (made it 2; Asia and Europe).
- Co-authored my first academic paper for publication.
- Sealed partnerships with 3 state ministeries and 2 government bodies.
- Recognized as one of the #YTech100 by the Future Awards Africa 2019.
- Sealed partnerships with 3 multi-nationals and 2 international org.
- Made my first investment in a startup.
- My article got published on Union Bank’s Edu360 Magazine.
- Finally completed my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
- First video interviews on TimeWithFlora and Channels.
2019 Engagements
My role as a program manager and a business developer (egolang dev.) got me involved in a number of engagements. These are the top 10:
- Pitch2Win: A Techcircle program that had over 200 startups compete for N1million. I also got to engage with the Nigerian/Japanese VC community.
- MTN mPulse: TechQuest partnered MTN to deliver the mPulse Hackathon that engaged over 700 students online. 15 students won laptops.
- UPG2019: I worked with the good folks at United People Global to host a session at UPG Lagos on the state of the city: Education.
- Mission — T: An ongoing project in partnership with IHS Towers to deliver STEM education to 4500 students of 45 schools across 3 states in Nigeria.
- AfricaScienceWeek & AfricaCodeWeek: Over 2000 secondary school students impacted in two weeks synced with other African countries.
- Google CS First: TechQuest partnered Google in an ongoing project to introduce 2000 students to coding with Scratch (+online safety).
- ICL2019: Presented our first paper at the 48th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning in Bangkok, Thailand.
- DevFest2019: We hosted over 2000 developers and technology enthusiasts in Lagos for the biggest developer event in Africa.
- IDOS2019: I hosted an interactive Barcamp session and also won the IDOS challenge at the International Dialogue on STEM in Berlin, Germany.
- OyaMakeWeGroove3.0: For the 3rd time running, we hosted the tech community in what we call the end of the year tech party. See pictures.
Other Engagements
Excluding those above, I had a couple of speaking, judging and special appearance engagements this year. Here are the major ones:
- Vodacom Robotics Challenge
- Technovation Challenge (Iridescent)
- Tech Ogun Summit
- Unilag OpenHack event
- Microsoft for Startups
- Nordic Nigeria event
- ICTEL Expo 2019
- Green Girl Summit
- MTNF Scholars Alumni Gathering
- Agbami STEM Symposium
PS: Special apologies to a few events that I could not attend because of one reason or the other; HultzPrize Ife & Regionals, CSCon Ife, Wordcamp etc.
The end of the beginning
In 2018, I was called the energy god because of the sheer number of things I exhibited the drive to accomplish, irrespective of conflicting circumstances. In 2019, I focused more on the skills I wanted to develop and the engagements I wanted to be associated with. One of the greatest lessons I took out of 2019 is “Self — Preservation is key”. You have to do whatever you can to preserve yourself, and this can mean putting yourself first, developing certain skills to stay relevant, preserving your health or even just staying true to your values. I was disappointed a few times in 2019, but I have learnt to take my L and move on.
“Truth is you have actually failed at many things and now you are winning. It is going to be permanent and sustainable. I watched you closely as you did the things I wanted to do back in school like start a company. It seemed like VoissApp did not eventually scale but the experience was permanent. You are a winner, I’m always happy to see young mids dreaming big and chasing their dreams. You are an inspiration for me to keep doing.” — Taiwo O. to me.
The above was one of the best messages I received in 2019. It reminded me of the fact that I have failed more times than I can remember, but it also reassured me that a winning future is merely characterized by a few failures and disappointments, but never defined by them. Keep doing! I found a quote written on the wall just next to my room when I was in 200 Level. I could not help but read it every day for almost a year. It read;
“If the universe says it is your turn to perform on the stage, will you be ready?”
Beginning with the end
A lot has changed over the years. My role has evolved over time; I have called myself a community manager, educator/trainer, business analyst, front-end developer, entrepreneur, mechanical engineer, robotics engineer, operations manager, project/product/program manager, business developer etc. Up until the end of 2019, I felt the need to be associated with just one role (and this was because I felt it was confusing to be associated with different roles). The truth is that it does not matter what you call me. One thing that has stayed constant is my passion for building platforms or products for people or businesses to achieve their greatest positive potential.
In 2020, I will be diving deeper into building these platforms and products to enable people and businesses, especially across Africa, reach great heights. This decade will see a lot of action in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and I will be playing a very active role to ensure it is achieved. I had a discussion with a friend concerning this decade and we decided it would be the decade we work the hardest than we ever have and will ever need to work in our entire lives. This means laying the right foundations for investment, building for sustainability, getting the right certifications, furthering our studies, building companies and making money!
Thank you for reading. Happy New Year; here’s to creating today, dots that would be worthy of connection when we look back at this year in the future.
Welcome to 2020; the year we go pro!
