Afrigather Mahmood Owolabi is proof that persistence defines success. From navigating the hurdles of the UK’s inflexible job market to co-founding one of the disruptive EdTech platforms, Transition Faculty, Owolabi has made a profession out of doing the not possible.
Owolabi’s journey is a masterclass in defying odds and shattering glass ceilings. After overcoming a serious barrier, he’s now rewriting the principles of profession transitions for a complete era of African professionals.
At a time when African abilities are gaining unprecedented world consideration, Owolabi is main the cost, proving that the way forward for work is borderless. His mission? To coach, mentor, and empower the subsequent wave of tech expertise able to tackle the world.
A Humble Starting with Huge Goals
Contemporary out of college, Owolabi’s profession took flight throughout the e-commerce growth in Nigeria, the place he labored with a rising tech startup. The expertise was a formative one, sparking a lifelong curiosity about shopper behaviour and the “why” behind buying selections.
“Witnessing the creation and engineering of platforms that attracted and retained prospects sparked my deep fascination,” he tells Enterprise Elites Africa.
It didn’t take lengthy for Owolabi to translate that fascination right into a profession centered on advertising and shopper engagement, working with main manufacturers like Airtel, Sterling Financial institution, Flutterwave, and Unilever.
His early profession experiences laid a basis for what would turn into a driving pressure in his skilled life—understanding easy methods to harness the facility of selling to construct and scale tech companies.
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The Turning Level
Owolabi’s choice to relocate to the UK was a pivotal second in his profession. The UK, with its refined tech market, appeared like the right place to additional his ambitions. Nevertheless it wasn’t the seamless transition he had imagined.
“I discovered it tough to switch my expertise into the UK job market, which frequently emphasises ‘UK expertise’,” he admits. This problem is one which many worldwide professionals face, and for Owolabi, it was a stark reminder of how sure job markets may be closed off to outsiders, no matter their {qualifications}.
As an alternative of succumbing to frustration, Owolabi noticed this as a possibility for drawback fixing. He started documenting each step he took to safe job interviews, carry out properly in them, and ultimately land presents. It labored. His first function at a tech startup in Wembley, North London, was the breakthrough he wanted.
After updating his LinkedIn profile with this success, he was shocked by the flood of inquiries from pals and acquaintances—a lot of them fellow Nigerians—who have been battling the identical problem of transferring African work expertise into the UK market. “It grew to become clear that I wasn’t alone in dealing with this problem,” Owolabi notes. His means to navigate the UK job market grew to become a invaluable asset to others.
A New Alternative
Along with his problem-solving instincts in full gear, Owolabi started providing profession teaching to friends dealing with related struggles. What he found was a vital hole out there: whereas some African professionals may transition their expertise to the UK job market, a good portion – about 70% of these he mentored – couldn’t.
“Their expertise weren’t in excessive demand,” Owolabi remembers. This was significantly true for these not in tech-related fields, the place job alternatives have been ample.
Recognising this want, Owolabi noticed potential within the EdTech area. “This realisation highlighted the potential within the EdTech sector, and I noticed a possibility to be a part of the renaissance of coaching folks to suit into company roles,” he explains.
Teaming up with a software program engineer, Yomi Omotosho, who was already engaged on related challenges, the duo co-founded Transition Faculty, an EdTech platform designed to assist people transition into tech roles. This system presents six weeks of intense coaching, dwell undertaking expertise, and job readiness assist.
Constructing Success
Owolabi attributes a lot of his success to a mindset grounded in steady enchancment. “Dedication, steady self-improvement, and surrounding myself with like-minded people have been vital,” he says.
His guiding philosophy—“No one is coming to avoid wasting you” and “How unhealthy would you like it”—retains him centered on fixed development. Whether or not it’s upskilling himself or mentoring others, Owolabi’s dedication to self-improvement has been a core driver of Transition Faculty’s development, which has been achieved with out exterior funding.
The varsity has skilled over 5,000 college students and counting, equipping them with the abilities wanted to thrive in tech roles globally. This success is constructed on Owolabi’s perception that true wealth isn’t simply measured in monetary phrases however within the impression one has on others.
“I outline wealth as impression,” he asserts. For him, wealth is about affect, schooling, and innovation—components that create lasting legacies. It’s this definition of wealth that guides his work at Transition Faculty, the place he sees the potential to vary lives by means of schooling and mentorship.
Empowering Africa’s Workforce
Owolabi is fast to level out that whereas the world’s notion of Africa is altering, there’s nonetheless quite a lot of untapped potential throughout the continent. “I used to name Africa a virgin territory, however that’s quickly altering,” he says.
African entrepreneurs are main this alteration, harnessing the continent’s most precious useful resource—its folks. Owolabi believes that as extra entrepreneurs spend money on schooling and skill-building, the continent will proceed to rise as a world pressure.
“1000’s of jobs have been created, a whole bunch of 1000’s of lives have been touched, billions of income have been generated, and extra funding is flowing into the continent like by no means earlier than,” he observes.
His imaginative and prescient for Transition Faculty is evident: to be the pipeline for the tech expertise that may drive Africa’s continued development. With rising investments in numerous sectors, there’s a rising have to empower the workforce with the fitting expertise.
“We intention to coach people not simply to satisfy the calls for of their native financial system however to turn into professionals able to working globally,” Owolabi says.
Assume Globally, Act with Objective
For the subsequent era of African entrepreneurs and leaders, Owolabi’s recommendation is straightforward however highly effective: suppose globally. “Don’t restrict your horizon to the continent,” he urges.
He sees monumental potential in stepping out of consolation zones and embracing the worldwide stage, reminding future leaders that they’re invaluable gamers in a world ecosystem.
