NCB: Can we meet you, sir?
Damilola Mogaji: My name is Damilola Mogaji and I’m a serial solution for now. I build businesses and brands that help young people develop themselves and I, specifically help African undergraduates to maximise their time on campus and to strategically position for desirable outcomes either in business, career or whatever they choose to do. So, I’ve worked with different brands that are focused in this direction such as Consonance and Hultprize in Nigeria and a couple of others. We are currently building Sparkhub and Noved Africa. Yeah, I am a social impact guy. I love to contribute to projects that have direct impact on the society and people generally. I’ve organized a couple of programs on campus. I started my journey 2018 and between that time and now, I’ve done a lot of work in social impact engagement. I organised the biggest entrepreneurship event in OAU in 2019, the largest entrepreneurship virtual conference in Nigeria in 2020, I also organised the biggest undergraduate students’ summit in OAU in 2022, that is the Undergraduate Student Summit by BuildUp Africa. And of course, I recently did Nigerian Young Founders Week (NYFW). What drives me is the enormous potentials of African undergraduates and their little or no access to resources that can help them maintain and develop these potentials to the best that it becomes valuable for even the nation’s economy. So, I’m trying my possible best, in the little way I can, to contribute my quota and also advocate for the development of those potentials.
NCB: That’s a big win. So, could you tell us more about your experience in the field of Geography and how it has, in any way, contributed to what you do?
Damilola Mogaji: So, Geography for me is not the major aspect of everything I’ve said. The major for me is what I have previously mentioned. But the beautiful thing about Geography is the fact that it allows me the opportunity to explore every other thing. I normally say, “Geography in itself is the study of how man relates to the environment, how human beings relate with vegetation, and about nature generally.” Over time, this has made it easy for me to relate to the actual things that are happening in my environment and I’ve been conscious of trying to contribute by adjusting the things that are happening in my immediate environment. I can say that one of the reasons why I had so much desire and passion to do this was because of what my lecturer said in a particular Geography class. He said, “There’s the human side of geography and there’s the physical aspect of geography. The human side of geography allows you to recognize how human beings interact with the immediate environment.” Then I asked myself that how can I, Damilola Mogaji, interact with my immediate environment in such a way that I would make it better, since that is what my course is all about. I won’t say I’m a Geographer, however, my understanding of Geography has contributed to why I have been doing all these.
NCB: Alright. I got to know that you are a community manager. What does your role as a community manager entails and what have you learned from that experience?
Damilola Mogaji: It’s a lot! My journey started as I said in 2018, and from then till now, I have majorly been about community engagement right from building Sparkhub to working with Consonance (although, I already left Consonance) and currently building Noved Africa. I’ve been doing more about community, and the reason is that I just love it when people come together around a particular common goal. And what I’m trying to do always is to facilitate a conversation around a common initiative. Like I always say, community is the future and that is what I believe. I’ve seen companies thrive just because they utilize their community efficiently. I’ve seen people thrive because they leverage the community. I started my journey with Hultprize and Hultprize is one of the most community-focused organisations that I know. Although, I have seen many others. With the way I contribute my quota in building the Hultprize community gave me an understanding that the future of work lies in community. Trust me! It will get to a part when you need anything and all you can do is ask your immediate community. The last time I needed someone to pick up a friend of mine in Kenya, all I did was just to leverage my Hultprize community and someone from the community got the job done for me. This is amongst many other instances of how I have leveraged my community. You can also activate your product with a community instead of hiring people to get that done for you. Community is what religious organizations have leveraged on and we in the corporate world are seeing it already. Trust me, community is the future and that is where I play most. I started my journey as a community manager but what I do now is activate a community and allow others to manage it. It can be stressful doing the two together at a time. I am a community activation genius and that is what I do.
NCB: What are the challenges you face when it comes to building a community?
Damilola Mogaji: Yeah, it can be very challenging. I will try to answer the question as an individual. I engage in the African Undergraduate Ecosystem, which means I work most of the time with undergraduates. Purchasing power in the undergraduate space is very low. Imagine speaking to a company to support certain project for the undergraduate space and you get question like, “will they pay?” knowing fully well that undergraduates don’t have the money. So, two major challenges are low access to resources and low purchasing power within undergraduates space. I think these are the two major challenges I face every time I organise an event or build up a project that has to do with what I want. Reaching out to sponsors for the Nigerian Young Founder’s Week wasn’t so easy because sponsors always have something to say about campus not being a good enough model for their return and that is one of the things my advocacy is trying to make people outside understand that the future of Africa is on campus and you need to invest and wait for your investment in campus to yield overtime. So, any investment made is an investment that will take time to yield return. We are still trying to advocate and create awareness which is our advocacy assignment at Sparkhub.
NCB: As the co-founder of Sparkhub, what really is the role of program managers and what do you do most?
Damilola Mogaji: For Sparkhub, I’ve done a lot of things. When you’re building a company and you don’t have access to cash flow to employ people, you will have to do a lot of things and fill in for most of the roles. You can’t watch your company die. So you’d take on those roles just like a small business owner, you find yourself engaged in social media management, customer representative, graphic designer, web designer, just because you don’t have enough money to employ these experts.That was my case for Sparkhub, I have emceed for Sparkhub. I have been a programme manager, community manager, brand and communication manager at Sparkhub and at some point, I was a graphic designer for Sparkhub. I’m currently the operation manager which is running day to day operation at Sparkhub. Retracing back to the question you asked that how did that come about my role as a program manager? Programme management is alongside community management which is what I do. Once there is an idea, the next thing I’m thinking about is, what can we do for an engagement for this idea that you’re talking about? I started community engagement with Hultprize. Before then, I had an idea to build something and was more like a programme-focused thing. It involved party and organising people to attend and information session were people were organised to come around. As a result of this, I was gradually having my own special ideas and I was facilitating them because it was making sense to me. At that point, I didn’t know I was a program manager until my mentor who was also a programme manager in Lagos told me in the midst of a conversation that everything I did was program management. I was woahed for the first time to hear that Damilola Mogaji is a program manager. I have gone ahead to build Nigerian Young Founder’s Week as a programme and Initiative for Sparkhub as the program manager. I built Undergraduate Students Summit as programme for Noved Africa. Programme management is what I love doing, not that I learnt it at the very beginning. Although, I am now taking courses in that sphere for certification purpose. This is just innate for me and I love doing it. I love organizing stuff. I love facilitating projects and Programmes.
NCB: So, what have been some biggest rewards of working in the space?
Damilola Mogaji: I want to be careful with how I answer this question. I would say my biggest reward here is relevance. I don’t want to use the word popularity. There is a saying that, “the result of good work is more work.” The kind of work that I did at the early stage didn’t attract so much financial value. If you remember, I said it had low purchasing power, and we were just trying to build it and make people see the validity of what we were doing. We were doing the earliest work for people to see that there was value there. If there’s any work I’m doing now, it has to be self-motivated, vision-driven, and something based on a long-term but not necessarily with an immediate financial guarantee. Yes, I would say I have made money, had contracts, and have been paid for those contracts but the money isn’t something substantial to name money as my biggest reward here. But one thing is the relevance that comes with knowing that Damilola Mogaji has this value and that’s why he will be invited to these events. Why I’ll be invited for an interview and invited to platforms and many of these experiences are my biggest returns and it brings credibility. Tomorrow, I could wake up and say I’m writing a book, because I have some sort of relevance, and I’m sure that people will buy it. This relevance makes your opinion count even though you are not financially buoyant and this is as a result of what I do. Relevance is my biggest reward here.
NCB: What do you think is the role that mentorship and community play in supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups?
Damilola Mogaji: I think I have mentioned the impact of community in supporting entrepreneurs. Mentorship is an advantage at anything you do. I use to say that one of the reasons I can’t fail in my life even if I wake up today and make a decision to fail, I still won’t fail is because the quality of mentorship I have in my life. They will definitely put me back on track. I have people I am accountable to and they oversee the work I do and the building of my personal brand. My friend tweeted something recently and said, “a good mentor is a cheat code to success” _Nwachukwu Emmanuel. I can tell you that both of us have leveraged mentorship in a way that has impacted our lives tremendously. The fact that I’m doing impact work was because my mentor saw my potential and advised me in that direction. Emmanuel is one of the smartest software developers that I know and he is doing very good at it in Lagos and that’s because he has a mentor who is a software developer.
There’s something that mentorship does for you, if you are good and your mentor knows you are good, they’ll put you on. So, you are building a business and your mentor is a very relevant person in that space and he knows that you need a grant and he has opportunity for a grant, he would recommend you. My first paying job was given to me by my mentor, my first contract was a result of my mentor’s recommendation, and my first major industry access was given to me by my mentor. The biggest person I know in the tech space today was introduced to me by my mentor. That’s how important it is to have a mentor. Mentorship is not just about age, it’s about privilege to some extent and importantly, industry experience. Albert Einstein said (though not verbatim) “you’d see farther if you seat on the shoulder of someone who has gone ahead.” The undergraduates I am currently mentoring have no reason not to succeed. I have been an undergraduate before, I feel like there’s no decision they want to make as an undergraduate that I won’t be able to advise them on. Mentorship makes your journey faster instead of you struggling, it would help you navigate. My friend got a huge contract because his mentor said “I know this dude” and he showed up and got the contract. One thing I do is that I have a mentor for everything; career, personal, etc. Mentors will help me make quality life decisions in each area of my life. They give me advice based on their own oversight. Although, it is not everytime I take their opinions verbatim without leveraging my own wisdom. For a fact, mentorship is an advantage everytime, everyday.
NCB: Looking at all you’ve said, I realised that you have amassed so many skills over time.
Damilola Mogaji: Maybe.
NCB: What do you think is the most valuable skill you have gained from?
Damilola Mogaji : All my skills are valuable, I can clean, cook etc. Yeah, I’ve done a lot of things. I have once worked at a restaurant. I can do makeup. All my skills are valuable, I don’t have most valuable skill because whenever I need them, they just come through. I’m one of the best campus event organisers in Africa with track records. I am currently working on a project in a company to organise a master class on campus. Maybe I can say that my survive skill is the most valuable which is my ability to survive anywhere. I can network my way out of things, I can negotiate my way out of things, I can sell my way out of things. So all my skills are valuable.
NCB: How do students have access to your mentorship?
Damilola Mogaji: They should join my community first. If you are not a member of my community, you can’t have direct access to me and being in my community and your level of commitment will determine my level of commitment to you. I have engaged myself in mentorship overtime and some mentees are just around because they just love the vibe, not because they really want to be committed. I wouldn’t be getting myself involved in a project that won’t yield results anymore. Commitment is key for me. If I can see that you are willing to be committed, you will succeed. You know why? I have track records. One of the biggest branding minds in Ife, Bode Bosun, was my mentee and many others.
NCB: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Damilola Mogaji: One of the biggest voices of influence in business and education. I am going to own a University in 5 years. I am building a company that is renovating education in Africa. At Noved Africa, our goal is to renovate Africa’s education model. I am on a mission to building something that is more efficient than the system that we have. It is more about building an online university that give students more flexibility to learn: a university that takes campus school out of life and a university where you can study a course of your choice in the comfort of your home and get your degree. You don’t have to see your lecturer everyday or sit within the four walls of a lecturer theatre. This will also afford you the opportunity to develop every other aspect of your life. Quite a number of irrelevant courses studied will be eradicated. The truth is that not everybody needs a university education. You don’t need it to be successful, or to make money and that is what I want to do with renovating education. It will be an online university where you can learn real life skills such as make-up and you’d get a degree for it. One of the reasons we chase all these university schooling is the certificate, not necessarily the knowledge. If it is vocational skill that you can learn, do so and get a certificate for it. If someone can get a B.Sc. in some university courses, then what should stop someone who is a make-up artist from having a certificate too?
Another thing I see myself doing is providing counselling and career mentorship to students that are transitioning from secondary school to campus. The goal is that they choose something that can sustain them in their life time. I am building a company and that is Noved Africa.
NCB: Thank you. So you’ve answered most of my questions but I would like to ask that how you have been able to balance all these with your social life and even church activities? According to what we know, you are a worker in church.
Damilola Mogaji: I want to shock you, I am still a student anyway. I am doing my B.sc, actually.
NCB: Really? I am shock right now.
Damilola Mogaji: So, the beautiful thing is that it is surprising to a lot of people when I tell them that I am still an undergraduate. It takes courage; there are levels you won’t get to if you are not courageous enough to dream it and think it. I’m doing Geography because, I just wanted somewhere I can do other things and it addresses the balance question you asked. I know what I wanted out of life. This makes clarity very important. When you have clarity, you can navigate and it will look like, “how do you balance all these things?” that is the question I get from people most of the time. I know what I want and what I don’t want even as an undergraduate. I know I needed some times to myself not necessarily attend all the classes, not necessarily read as if my life depends on it so that I can focus on other things. While doing that, I still do not want to have a third class, so where can I do that? I thought where I can do all these is in the Social Sciences. God bless Social Sciences for that. I picked Political Science because I have flair for politics and nation building but I was given Geography and of course, I later realised that Geography has its aspect of politics. I’m currently in my final year.
Back to your question, I don’t believe in a balanced life because when it comes to organizing your life, one has to go for one. When you say balance, it is like having it all equal (50/50, 100/100). However, you can’t balance your life that way. Balanced life is having a working life, that anything you are doing is working. It could be giving academics 30% and career 70% or whether you’re giving academics 80% and church 20% and this makes your life efficient. My mentor made me understood this in my 300L. He was on a first class in his 300L and knew he will finish well but he also knew that he won’t become a Mechanical Engineer. Instead, he channelled his energy into entrepreneurship journey. Therefore, he learnt how to make money, learn more skill, try out more businesses, build more start-ups, attend more conferences and industry events and he would have to sacrifice that effort he was investing into school and channelled it into entrepreneurship and he wasn’t going to get first class that way, based on his own ability and desire. He decided to graduate with a 2.1 but 2.1 with a career as an entrepreneur.
He started his career as a program manager and went from that, he is building one of the biggest E-commerce platform in Nigeria, Pod compact. He recently raised $4m. He is one of the promising young men we have in Nigeria and he is going to become a billionaire in next three/ two years. He has the understanding of what he wanted for himself and made right choice, he allocated his time efficiently. Balance is about stabilizing your life which takes sacrificing one for another. The truth is one will always go for the other. When I was in church, I was in church. I was doing church 90% but when I started this, church became 25% and it was a personal choice.
Even though it was looking like I was backsliding but it’s between God and me and God is happy with me and church is also happy with me.And academic too, I’m not going to graduate with first class, maybe I’ll get my distinction in my masters because I know I’ll do the work and choose the kind of school I want and the atmosphere I want for learning. I can’t take my academic destiny seriously and still be able to achieve something substantial. I just know myself that much. But the truth is there are other people that can do all these: they will come to church, do business and still stay up at night and read, I can’t. After all the mental engagement, I get to shut everything down by 10pm but there are people that can work round the clock and I believe God gave everyone ability according to His own wisdom. I know my ability, I know what I want and I can allocate my resources to get the outcome I desire, not necessary a balanced life but a well organised life.
NCB: Thank you so much. So, how would you advise someone who is just starting out on this same lane?
Damilola Mogaji: SLOW IS THE FASTEST WAY TO SUCCESS. There’s nothing to rush. Guess what? I got my first paying job after four years of serious work. Yes, I was earning meagre wages from other side work I was doing but my first official salary was after four years of working. To me, that is what true value is. Although, there are industries you can work that you would get back cash quick but this space where I am, it doesn’t work that way. It has to be steady and you must be consistent. Slow means you have to be consistent, patience and hard-working. I see a lot of young people who like this outcome and on making enquiry, I tell them, it took me six years to be at this current stage even though I am not where I want to be. And it’s a six year of consistent work of building brands everyday and I am still not even there. And someone out of the blues will just come up and say they want to do what Damilola Mogaji is doing because they see the results but they don’t take cognisant of the journey. Trust me, slow and steady wins the game here.
The longer it takes to achieve it, the more sustainable to maintain it. Some people just rush things and most of the things that are rushed lacks quality. Like it is always said, “fast food are not the best, but you get the best out of foods that are patiently cooked.” It took Elon a lot of year to make it that far. He didn’t become Elon overnight. He started from ten years to build a billion dollar and another four to five years to make it $2 billion and it was like this before everything began to work out really well. The way my journey is structured and success itself is, you will see me in two years and things would have changed very rapidly but you wouldn’t know that it took like six or seven years of me just doing something diligently in my small space in Ife. However, learning as much as I can, building relevance as much as I can, building experiences as much as I can, building networks as much as I can. Although, you might not see the results now but in next two years, I’m basically off the roof having my own startup, raise billions of dollars, living a good life, being an example that inspires others. But all these won’t happen overnight, know that it will always takes time. Like I said, steady and slow is the fastest way to success. It’s word of wisdom for anybody that want to decipher it.
NCB: That’s indeed full of wisdom.
Damilola Mogaji: I will also like to add that I have two events coming up this year. One is Undergraduate Students Summit and the second is Employable Graduate Summit. The Undergraduate Students Summit is an orientation summit for undergraduate in their first, second and third year. This summit is to help students understand why they are here because a lots of students can’t define why thy are on campus. This summit will help students understand how they can build networks and make choices, build quality relationship and how they can start positioning for their career. This will as well help them have clarity about how to make it work instead of wasting away. How to take responsibility for their journey on campus. How to build advantage out of disadvantage environmental.
At this summit, I will be speaking and will be bringing many others guest speakers who also are my friends that are blazing in the industry to have these kinds of conversation with them. I have a friend who had over 100million naira through WhatsApp sales and still counting over #500million.Employable Graduate Summit will be a closed summit and it going to be paid. This is basically for undergraduates in their finals. How does labour market works? What should your CV look like? What are the available industries blazing hot right now? How do you get into them? What is the labour market reality? How to position as a fresh graduate? Questions such as these will be demystified and as an attendee, you should be able to get your first paying job in 6 month. We will also bring one or two industry that will employ on spot.
LinkedIn: Damilola Mogaji
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