Glory Olamigoke, a tech professional and advocate for African youth empowerment, has been driving change in the tech industry through his initiatives and leadership roles.

With a vision to transform Africa’s technological landscape, he has successfully launched programs and platforms that provide knowledge, guidance, and opportunities to thousands of African youths.

In this interview, Olamigoke shares his journey from being a software developer to a product manager, highlights his notable digital products, discusses the impact of his initiatives, and outlines his plans to empower 10,000 African youths in tech careers by 2025.

Can you tell us more about your background and how you transitioned from being a software developer to a product manager in the tech industry?

I had my primary and secondary education in schools in Akure, Ondo state and applied to study Medicine at the University of Ilorin. Guess what? I got Human Anatomy instead. I wouldn’t say I knew I was going to be in tech but I sure knew I wasn’t going to do anything along what I had studied. I must also add that I noticed I had this flair for computers.

I got into tech in 2018 when I learnt web design using wordpress. I used that skill to creatively build websites. Later on, I learnt how to code and used that skill to build interactive web applications. Along the way doing these and working on select projects/products, I noticed I had great skills leading and managing others. I realised that I was a leader and had the ability to manage people and projects. I didn’t know there was anything called Product Management yet but got to learn more about it in 2021. I loved it and it summed up what I could see myself doing at the highest levels.

I transitioned into it that same year and have not looked back since.
Could you share some of the notable digital products you have worked on during your career and the impact they have made in their respective industries?

Before I got a role as a PM in the Fintech space, I majorly worked on a number of digital web-based products. Amongst them, I particularly loved Efeeko, an online study platform for African university students. It featured an e-learning platform, e-commerce integrations and an online forum. It was built to help students prepare for success in their academics, and has launched subjects such as physiology, biochemistry and integrated paper with more on the way.

I have also been privileged to work on an app for SWBN TV, a religious broadcasting network, several e-commerce products for brands within Nigeria and outside including Trendy Abby, Olgay Stores & SI Bello Group.

As a PM in the Fintech space, I have worked on an agency banking product which has helped thousands of the most rural customers in Nigeria access banking services for the first time.

As a founder of Cleonify, could you discuss some of the key projects you led and the challenges you encountered while building digital infrastructure for businesses, companies, and startups?

At Cleonify, some of the key projects revolved around some of the products I have already shared about. But there were others such as web projects for Careerwise NG: a career mentorship startup in Nigeria, FM Capital Group: a venture capital investment company with over $10 million in investments based in the US. and a journal management platform for the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education,

About the challenges, I would say making payments to international hosting and application service providers was one. Nigerian cards are quite restrictive thereby making dollar payments very tedious. Thankfully, there are more payment services now trying to bridge that gap so maybe there is some improvement there. Another challenge I had was a number of companies did not have proper marketing strategies in place for their products & services, which meant that whatever we were building for them was not going to be maximized for their business goals and profit.

What inspired you to launch the CWD Bootcamp, and what were the main objectives of this initiative?
In 2020, I had just attended the Headstart Africa Summit by John Obidi. I was hungry for impact. I looked at the skill I had then, software development, and decided I wanted to help others learn this as well, and not just that. I wanted to ultimately raise problem solvers.

This gave birth to CWD Bootcamp, a platform established to help African youths learn how to code. My vision was simple: If more youths can learn how to code, then more youths will be empowered to build digital solutions to the biggest problems in Africa.

With a small team of volunteers, coaches and mentors that I assembled, we went on to organise several FREE digital training bootcamps which successfully helped over 700 African youths get empowered with coding skills.

Some of the participants from these boot camps have gone on to build great careers in software development today.

Tell us more about the Get Into Tech Africa initiative. How did you come up with the idea, and what specific career paths in the tech industry does it focus on?
What were the main achievements of the first program cohort, and what are your plans for the second cohort?

CWD Bootcamp was great, but in time I realised its vision was restrictive as it was targeted towards only software development. I wanted to do more and that meant retiring it for something that could carry a bigger vision.

This is where the Get Into Tech Africa Initiative came in.

In January 2022 I conceived an idea to help African youths become global change makers by providing them with the opportunity to get started and grow in specific career paths in Tech. It was to provide them with the much needed knowledge, clarity and guidance to get started and grow in these career paths AT NO COST.

It launched in March 2022 with the first program cohort taking place from March till May 2022. It featured 3,000 global participants, 12 international experts, & 12 Sessions covering 12 In demand tech career paths. These were Graphic Design, Web Design, Software Development, Data Science, Product Management, Project Management, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Product Design, Mobile App Development, Blockchain Development, & Video Editing

I am proud to say it was a huge success. There were dozens of testimonials which gave me insight into the real impact of the program, and served as positive motivation and feedback to me.

For the second program cohort holding later in the year, we are looking at an even more immersive and impacting experience, and the goal is to not just help more African youths get into tech but help them get job ready and employable.

You have been involved in various international fellowships and mentorship programs. Could you elaborate on your role in the Savvy Fellowship, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, and the Innovate for Africa Fellowship? How do these programs contribute to your mission of empowering African entrepreneurs and youth in the tech sector?

I was privileged to be selected as mentor in the Savvy global fellowship program for entrepreneurs which was a virtual fellowship program for passionate and brilliant young professionals seeking to be part of the new generation of impact entrepreneurs, as well as the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme, one of the largest African Philanthropic Initiatives committed to empowering African Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Africa.

First, qualifying for these roles was a big deal for me and meant I was actually doing something right in my own journey. Getting on the inside and seeing the scope of these programs, their mission, and how much intentionality and effort was being put into achieving their goals of impact was motivation for me. If they could do these, then I could also do something too, howbeit in my own little way.

Being selected as a mentor in these programs also let me know that there are a lot of people in search of guidance, who need someone to hold their hands on their way to becoming the best version of themselves in business, entrepreneurship or tech as a whole.
With your participation in the Y Combinator Startup School and numerous professional certifications, how has personal development played a role in your career growth? How do you apply the knowledge gained from these programs and certifications to your work?

Personal development has played a very huge part in whom I have become today and whom I will yet evolve into. I don’t joke with it. I believe strongly that in life, while there are usually a lot of things one cannot control, there are also a number of other things one can. Personal development is one of those things firmly in our control and which has the ability to get us closer to whom we need to be.

My personal development journey has been very strategic. I first identified areas I wanted to become better in and aggressively undertook learning from top platforms and online schools around the world. My catalogue of certifications comprises a lot of both free and paid courses, and across software development, marketing, entrepreneurship, project management, cloud services and currently product management. Every bit of these was intentional.

What have these made me become? Someone who is all-round knowledgeable and knows something about almost every crucial part of business and technology. Of course, I am in a better position to help, mentor, coach and guide others, coupled with my real-life experiences in those areas.

What are some of the major challenges you see for African youths in pursuing careers in technology, and how does your work address those challenges?

Technology is one of the greatest tools for advancing humanity, creating innovation and solving problems. If you look at Europe and the west, their advancements as a whole have corresponded with equal advancements in technology.

When you see how much of what we still struggle with in Africa, you easily have to look at our level of technological advancement and understand why.

African youths are currently most disadvantaged when it comes to technology because there are very little opportunities available for the average person to grow and excel in the most important career paths in Tech. Accessing the required education is hindered by a lack of funds, power or data. When the few manage to get educated, there is a barrier to getting good roles in the global tech ecosystem.

These are some of what I am hoping the Get Into Tech Africa Program will solve, and has already began to solve in bits. First providing thousands of youths with a free means to get enough knowledge and education to break into the most important tech careers, and then helping them get roles in the right places to grow their careers and develop their skills.

The goal is that with these skills, they will build solutions to Africa’s biggest problems

Could you share your vision for the future and the impact you aim to make in the tech industry? How do you plan to achieve your goal of impacting 10,000 African youths and helping them build successful tech careers by 2025?

By 2025, I hope to have verifiably impacted and helped at least 10, 000 African youths get started and build successful careers in tech. I intend to do this through the means of programs, conferences and immersive bootcamps which would take a lot of youths from ground zero to a place where they can start to fulfil their dreams in tech. I am also building the Get Into Tech Africa Community which currently has over 2000 members, and growing.

Lastly, how do you balance your professional endeavors with your personal life? What strategies do you employ to maintain productivity and well-being while pursuing multiple initiatives and roles?

Honestly, maintaining that balance of late has been quite tedious but I recognise it as something that is crucial for my longevity and continual productivity.
These days, I am learning to relax. Take my mind off work, see movies, go out when possible, read books and also write. I am an author of three books so writing helps take my mind off work. I also play the piano and am developing a big hobby for travelling.