About Emeka’s visit to Port Harcourt

This article was inspired by Chukwuemeka Afigbo’s visit to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during which he visited 4 hubs and co-working spaces, 2 of which I am directly connected to. Emeka’s visit was emotional to me, as a large part of the success of Google Developer Group Port Harcourt (GDG PH) was as a result of his support and guidance.

Before Emeka resumed with Facebook as Head, Platform Partnership for Middle East and Africa, he was the Developer Relations Program Manager at Google, overseeing and managing developers in Sub Saharan Africa. It was at this period in 2013, that I discovered the Google Developer Group Program, while searching the internet for tech and developer focused events in Nigeria and Rivers State where I reside. Hanson Johnson showed up many times in my search results. I googled more, got in touch, and started planning to attend one of his events.

Hanson, who was the Lead Organizer for GDG Uyo, saw my the passion and enthusiasm, and coupled with my background as a software engineer, recommended I applied to start a GDG in Port Harcourt, which I did.

Emeka and his then colleague Marcus Ayodele, went through my application and approved my leadership of the community. That was how GDG Port Harcourt was born.

The journey through developer evangelism started with Emeka and Ayodele guiding me on how to host impactful events. First, I had to learn these Google technologies in other for me to effectively teach members of my local community. We got so much support, mentorship from Emeka and his colleague on how to write a good report after every event, how to communicate, amongst other things.

In 2015, I was humbled by the gift of the privilege to attend the annual Google I/O event — an event that brought about 6,000 developers and community advocates from around the world together in Silicon Valley for a 2 day immersion in Google technologies and updates. I also attended the Global GDG Summit during this period. The trip to Silicon Valley affected my life positively in many ways, it helped me develop a new appreciation for technology, even as it opened my eyes to how far you can go, if you truly follow your passion. I owe these experiences to the Developer Relations team at that time and specially to Emeka.

It was a bitter sweet moment for me in 2016, when it was announced, that Emeka would be moving to Facebook, and to assume a much bigger role and the scope of his responsibility would be the Middle East and Africa. I felt happy for him but felt sad for myself, because Emeka was someone who appreciated hard work and recognized passion. He tried his best to give you all the support you needed. I believe other leads during his time can attest to this, as it was his culture to support passionate people.

You can therefore imagine my joy, when the news broke, that Emeka would be visiting Port Harcourt. I was most enthusiastic about his coming. By 7:30 in the morning of Friday, April 28, I was already at the Bubble Co Working, waiting to meet with my long time mentor. He arrived at about 9:20 am, and I had the privilege of the first handshake.

Now, let me talk about the Bubble Co Working space in Port Harcourt. As GDG Port Harcourt was growing and organizing events where students and developers from the city regularly meet to learn and teach each other technology, we needed a meeting point where you could go and find 2 or 3 developers around to talk to, ask questions and help each other debug codes or just be around like minds. The Bubble Co working space was born out of this need to have a place where developers could meet and network with other developers. Co working was a culture I had been exposed to for a quite a well and I was unhappy that we had nothing of such was in Port Harcourt at the time. I pitched the idea early to a friend, Ihunanya Thompson Amadi. He is a very good developer and had some idle space. The idea sounded not interesting to him until months later, a mutual friend, Jesse el Ighor pitched it again to him, this time, Jesse was ready to manage the place. The Bubble kicked off and has been the one place in Port Harcourt where you can find the highest concentration of some of the best in computing.

Developers are always around working on their projects and a few sometimes remain to code all night. Mabiri.com, an e-commerce android and web application was built nearly from scratch at the Bubble, Dewbicon Technologies and it’s Interstate Bus Ticket reservation application was designed and developed from the Bubble. To me, the Bubble will always remain the first developer co working space in Port Harcourt and the place where developers can come together to mingle, of course you’ll be required to pay some fee but it’s where to find like minds.

GDG Port Harcourt is the most active, if not the only developer community in Port Harcourt. Although a lot of people had played with the opportunity of the free program but some have seized the opportunity to learn, make lifelong friends, become co founders and some are even finding their love partners in the community and the Bubble co working space is where we all hangout.

The GDG Program is run by volunteers and I’ll want to say special thanks to those who have volunteered with me to champion GDG Port Harcourt, in our own little way, I believe we have affected young lives positively.

We have come a long way and would not have gotten this far without the support and understanding of Netopps, an organisation run by Bereni D. Fiberesima. Netopps was our first and only sponsor besides Google, and has almost always provided space, contacts, administrative support and funding. It was during one of these events, specifically the Google Study Jam in 2015, that Amaete Umanah came into the community. He as since been a blessing, deploying his Silicon Valley experience, to mentor and add value to the community. I look forward to when Netopps launches its hub as I know what that would mean for the community.

Many people do not know this, but the idea of Netopps’ most popular event — Startup Sunday, was inspired partly by the need to equip our developers with global work ethics and expose them to the real world of investors and high profile clients. Bereni wanted developers to think more about creating marketable products that could be accepted by Y Combinator and other similar organisations.

Startup Sunday has since provided a conducive environment for developers to connect, meet future partners, close deals and access opportunities. It was during the last meetup that I won the Elevetor Pitch challenge and was offered a three month rent free space at the KoWork Ng — a new co working space in GRA Port Harcourt, from where I currently operate, thanks to my new ‘landlord’ Teinye Isokariari, founder of Ko WorkNg.

In three years the GDG PH has made significant progress. It had the rare privilege of becoming an active group in August 6th, 2014, barely 4 months after we were inaugurated, a feat in the Developer community. Again this was due to the support of Chukwuemeka Afigbo and his team. Special thanks also goes to Ihunanya Thompson Amadi for the massive support in championing GDG Port Harcourt with me, although more will be required of you in the future of GDG PH, and then to the planning committee members and the Women TechMakers Lead Esther Itolima.

The Startup South Fireside Chat at the Genesis Skybar Lounge, was the high point of Emeka’s visit. It was moderated by Uche Aniche and sponsored by Project LEAD, an initiative of the Genesis group. I am aware of the intense work behind the scene, by some players of the ecosystem to pull this through with barely 48 hours notice. I want to personally thank Dr Nnaeto Orazulike the Group MD of Genesis Group for identifying with the vision and for the speedy approvals in spite of his busy schedule. I enjoyed listening to Mrs Uzoma Chukwuma share the vision of Project LEAD and the inspiring story of how the Genesis Group was born. She also shared Dr Nnaeto Orazulike’s vision for the youth through Project Lead which stands for Living Everyday Achieving Dreams.

The environment was serene and welcoming and members of the community had a really good time with Emeka over over mock-tail. Emeka being a community leader himself discerned and appreciated the level of work involved in putting together such an event. He commended Genesis for supporting the developer community and encouraged more such events to boost the growth of the community.

Emeka passionately answered questions from developers, startup founders, and social media influencers. I was proud to learn through his answer to a question asked, that the first ever Facebook developer community was born in Lagos, Nigeria and later in the year, it will spread to other countries, including the US, Europe and Asia. I felt proud of Emeka to be associated with an international program that started from Nigeria, the Facebook Developer Circle.

It was an awesome event and very emotional to me. We had enough time to take pictures and selfies with Emeka. Thank you Uche Aniche for bringing Emeka to Port Harcourt and for making the trip smooth and eventful. Thank you for being a voice for the community and for the opportunities you bring through Startup South.

In conclusion, I’ll say Emeka didn’t just give me a platform for my passion, he supported me and inspired me to learn, gave me a platform like GDG and i remember his words to us at Google I/O 15, he said to persist because you never know who is watching what you are doing. To me, Emeka is the founder of the developer circle or community in Sub Saharan Africa or let’s say Nigeria to be precise. He founded the first GDG in the region, GDG Lagos, which is still the most active in the Sub Saharan Africa. I am grateful that Emeka was given the reception he deserves.

Words cannot express how much I miss working with him, may the good Lord strengthen, keep him and give him the grace to be more awesome. Developers owe him a lot and I look forward to seeing him again in the future, till then mentor, I will keep doing what I do best with passion driving me.

May the code be with us all and may God grant us the grace to keep being awesome.

- Osahon Gino .E