The Year of the Community Builder
What do we do as community builders? How do use our talent? What are the prospects for the future?
These Answers to this questions you would find as you read on this article.
Special shout out to the colossal Ridwan Olalere the convener of Forloop Africa as more grounds are been baptized with the gospel of technology and technology inclusion is been reduced. (More Grace Sir).
I know he(AM Imogie of blessed memory) is watching us from the heavens with smiles on his face and and its instructive to note he laid the foundations for us with his Selfless Lifestyle towards Community Development. He set the pace for us all so that we would follow suit.(Rip bro as we miss you over here).
Being African has made me adapted to any environment I find myself as only Andelans can relate to this — TALENT IS EVENLY DISTRIBUTED BUT OPPORTUNITY IS NOT.
So what do i then do as a proactive Africans who want to change the Narrative for a better future and reduce inclusion in zones where technology has not reached?
I started this Journey come the first week of 2017 and you know the norms as expected in Africa where you would see New Year Goals and Objectives. I took part in the spirit of the season to set my Goals and set down to achieve them.
Let me take you into the world of those goals but first I stated that I was going to attend every meetup and tap into the power of connecting with developers and tech enthusiasts.
I attended virtually every tech meetup I could find available and I took the name of FULL STACK COMMUNITY BUILDER.
Many people never understood where I was going but I took solace from the fact that my Mentors like Prosper Otemuyiwa Christian Nwamba Rotimi Okungbaye Seni Sulyman Hanson Johnson Aniedi Udo-Obong Christian Nwamba Segun Joshua etc were giving their all for this cause expecting nothing in return but for the betterment of the African Continent and so i joined the cause.
Then came one Hackathon after the other and i made sure to attend so as to learn from people who were far better than me but they came a stage where i said i dont want to just to attend but rather win and the opportunity came NASA Solar System challenge where i met with awesome guys like Wale Ayandiran (walecloud), Orji Ifeanyi Chris , Orjiewuru Kingdom Isaac and other awesome guys and we came out third but still wasn't satisfied with this and i told my team mates that we should be part of something bigger and they all agreed and then came @Afri foundry Hackathon were we had some of the biggest developers from round Nigeria Hacking the code for close to 3 days in a confined space and i must state thats the best Hackathon i have attended till date organised by @Acess Bank where we had the opportunity of meeting with the likes of Iyinoluwa Aboyeji as the judges and i also had the opportunity of meeting the Great Daniel Osineye Gbonjubola Amuda and others with whom remain dear to my heart.
Then came Tech point inspired where i also had the opportunity of meeting with the biggest names in Nigeria Tech space as i met with Samuel Gikandi of Africa’s Talking Ltd and i look forward to working with this guys as they are very active in the developer ecosystem in Africa and i also met the Great Adewale Yusuf of techpoint.ng and i was inspired by this event as the likes of Oluseun Onigbinde Sheriff Shittu O. and other speakers gave us the secrets of what it takes to be inspired.
Then came Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited Hackathon in partnership with microsoft Hackathon organised by United Nations and i met some of the smartest female developers in Nigeria tech space as this was the very first time i had females in my team and working together was not easy as i presume but nonetheless we built together and lost together.
Then came Health Meets tech and its instructive to note that this Hack wasn't just for techies as we had Top medical practitioners in the medical field coming together to discuss the way forward for the health space in Nigeria and i was shocked seeing medical stars like Dedun O Paddy Anigbo in my team and we stayed together, disrupted together and we came out winners as this gave birth to Swiftecare.com an e-health startup which would be lauching soon.
Health meets Tech for me was the game changing moment because i had never won an Hackathon before but this time around i won and i was the little man in the team coordinating things.
Then came Product Hunt Lagos where i met the great Adewale Abati ♠ and i was struck by his simplicity. I love this guy as he is carving a Niche for himself and its instructive to note that this guy is so nice that you wont even know he is Nigeria foremost celebrity developer.
Then came @Forloop Lagos and i was more humbled when i met my big bros Prosper Otemuyiwa , Adewale Abati ♠ Wale Ayandiran (walecloud) doing a rap for the code battle and till date i think its the biggest Forloop event we have had till date and Forloop is just getting started as we were listed as No 2 on most influential persons in Nigeria Technology scene by Pulse Team .
If i dont put this my brothers in Asaba would not honor me with an OZO Title because i need it for future prospects. Forloop Asaba came and i was very honored by the opportunity of Hosting Senior developers like Nosakhare Belvi , Wale Ayandiran (walecloud) , Fela Moses Olagunju , Joshua Edigbe , Orji Ifeanyi Chris to the beautiful city of Asaba and guess what ? Asaba developers were baptized with the power of smartness and they never remained the same again.
Then came GDG Lagos the largest gathering of Google developers African as i quote Orjiewuru Kingdom Isaac during one of his facebook post that “we are not in a religous gathering but rather a tech gathering” and i met His Holiness Femi TAIWO and the Goddess of Frontend Ire Aderinokun. we were all gathered in one accord to decipher the Gospel of technology.
Then came @GDG AAUA in Ondo State and i like to state that i found love in Ondo state Joy Epekipolu can relate with this. I met with the likes of Ada Nduka Oyom the Goddess of Community Evangelism and she spoke fire to the people of Ondo state .
Then came Forloop yenagoa as this time we took the gospel to the Delta region and i was even more schocked that the organiser was not a Bayelsa but he was very passionate about making Bayelsa a heaven for tech businesses to thrive. i must say kudos to Essien Saviour for the work you are doing over there as you keep setting the benchmarks for us to follow. special greetings to SAM ESIDEM , Brucas lee for showing us what it takes to build a community.
Lest i forget then came ISEDEV 2017 where i was a speaker and panelist as i saw the Great Sheddy Nathan Akintayo Segun Joshua Emmanuel Okanlawon (SOLAR)and i was shocked by the disruption on display by the participants as smart apps was built and am sure next year would be bigger as all plans are on deck to make it greater next year.
To crown all my story short then came this opportunity tagged YOUNG PROFESSIONAL BOOT CAMP where i was told to apply by one of my friends but i never took it serious but i just said i should give it a shot by applying and the questions asked during the selection process turned out to be what i have learnt during my Sojourn in community works and i had been prepared by the community to be professional and i was selected to among other 200 of the very best professionals age 20 to 25 and i was deeply shocked that i would be sitting with Nigeria Best Minds for 5 days with the CEOS of the biggest companies in Africa and we are cooking something big.
To crown it all 2017 has been indeed the year of the community builder.
THANKS TO THE NIGERIA TECH COMMUNITY FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY AS 2018 would be bigger
