E56: Eyitayo Ogunmola is building a bridge from Naija to the rest of the world

Hello, I'd really like to grow this email list. If you enjoy this newsletter, it would mean the world to Jola and I if you encouraged one friend/fellow immigrant/colleague to subscribe…Very likely, the the only thing you will get in return is warm fuzzy feelings, and if I can attribute it to you, I’d personally send you a thank you email.

Join us as we explore the bitter-sweet world of the immigrant.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Eyitayo Ogunmola, founder of Utiva, a technology talent development startup.

For some people, and I would say for me to an extent, immigrating meant just leaving Nigeria with no clear idea if we would ever go back. Not for Eyitayo.

Eyitayo moved to the United States as an Atlas Corps fellow in 2015. While doing research on tech talent development, discovered there was a need to build a talent development edtech business that could export or outsource African engineers, developers, and similar, globally.

And so Utiva was born in 2018. But as he says on LinkedIn, "I thought this was first a joke. I made so many terrible startup mistakes. Please don't try this at home."

Utiva has gone on to upskill 110K people from 19 African countries and helped over 500 companies source African tech talent.

Eyitayo joined me to talk about the concept of reverse immigration and seeing immigrating as a chance to learn and then bring that knowledge back home. He also shared:

* His go-to playbook for settling into a new country

* Getting intimidated by the accent at his first conference

* The power and beauty of sharing the African perspective

* Adjusting to life in the United States after moving, and more.

Here’s my takeaway for you: You don’t immigrate with cash. You immigrate with a skill.

I agree that I am stripping away some nuance there as cash-flow is an advantage in many ways. But this probably applies more to young folks looking to immigrate.

Official Links

👋🏽 Follow Eyitayo on LinkedIn

🔗 Learn more about Utiva

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