Okiki Podcast Episode 80: How to develop business from the diverse emerging economies in Nigeria with Yinka Ogunleye

Mr. Yinka Ogunleye (Yinka) is an adept and passionate leader in Strategy and Planning with over two (2) decades of experience; dedicated to driving innovation and results across multi-company structured organizations in the Energy, Oil and Gas industry. He has proven ability with broad exposures to manage strategy and planning processes, nurture the growth of business through development of company objectives, targets and performance aspirations. He has exposures covering Oil Exploration, Oil Production and Gas Businesses in the upstream and midstream sectors. 

 He started his career as a Database Administrator, Financial Systems with Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited. His career had since traversed Information Technology, Business Development, Technical and Commercial functions. He had the coordinating role of Strategy Development across six (6) business arms of a Group, spanning upstream Oil and Gas, Energy development, Pipeline, Gas Processing and Monetization. He joined Amazon Energy Group in 2020 as Vice President New Ventures, and Group Head Strategy and Planning. In these roles he was among several functions coordinating the Strategy and Planning programs and initiatives for incubating projects through creative commercial arrangements; developing new business opportunities and partnerships; and superintending over the Group’s corporate strategy, planning and performance program.

Yinka holds a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the Lagos State University, Ojo. He obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Information Technology at the Federal University of Technology, Akure. He also obtained an MBA from the Lagos Business School, and was on exchange program to the IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain where he earned a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Competitive Strategy. He is a certified Project Management Practitioner, Balance Scorecard Professional and Performance Management Practitioner. He has been doing his Doctoral studies where he is currently researching on Innovation and Responsible Leadership at the Gordon's Institute of Business Science, South Africa. He holds a Certificate Business Analytics at the Harvard Business School.

Yinka is an entrepreneur. He is the founder of a start-up called Riba-x(www.riba-x.com), a Search, Connect and Communities platform for small businesses and communities of shared interests. He also runs AtriumData Solutions and Services Limited, a Strategy and Project Consulting company Yinka is also currently into Agri-business, where he is developing a Palm Oil plantation and Pig Farm.

Key Takeaways

 

1. You can still reach your end-goal even if you’re traveling a different path - Yinka was always passionate about IT growing up. He had a computer scientist father and learned coding languages like C++ and worked with databases. He wanted to pursue a degree in Computer Science but unfortunately, didn’t make the cut. Yinka instead pursued a degree in Zoology yet he still managed to land a IT role post-graduation.

2. Don’t be afraid to branch out - After learning Zoology, specializing in genetics and working various roles in the IT field, Yinka went to pursue an MBA in Business and tackled his entrepreneur side. Exploring your interests and diversifying your knowledge is a great way to live a fulfilling life. 

3. Mentor and mentee relationships can have different forms - For Yinka, the mentor-mentee dynamic involved his mentor asking questions and probing his (the mentee’s) thoughts rather than providing advice directly. This pushed Yinka to either mull over his mentor’s prompts or provide an answer to his mentor’s questions, causing him to engage in deep thinking. Today, Yinka and his mentor are as close as brothers. 

4. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey - Entrepreneurship can be extremely gratifying but it also comes with its ups and downs. Yinka founded “Dago” with his good friend, now turned business partner. Unfortunately, the company hit a brick wall and the business relationship between Yinka and his friend fell apart. Today, Yinka repackaged the idea of Dago and turned it into a new project called “Riba-x.”

 

5. Ensure you derive pleasure from what you do - Whether it’s through your job, hobbies or relationships, make sure that what you are investing in brings you joy. If you pursue things that you derive pleasure from, you’re more likely to feel content with it despite any drawbacks. Applying this to a career, if you are doing something you love every single day, eventually money comes second to your happiness.

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ABOUT FIYIN:

Fiyin Obayan is the founder of Okiki Consulting, where she helps business owners communicate their personal brand or company brand stories through video content, in order to communicate to their target audience.

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