……And Now My Watch Has Ended
The day was December 1st, 2016, I just resumed as Andela’s first ever Community Manager, Technical Talent. My task was
- to lead the community and own the brand of Andela, to attract new community members and Fellows (now Engineers) to the organization.
- build and own regional strategy, outreach and messaging for the Community-at-large.
- build models, metrics of success and growth strategies, ensuring long-term success and growth of our community.
Coming from being a Talent Acquisition Officer at Access Bank with no clue of how to build communities, today I leave Andela knowing I have;
- grown Andela Nigeria’s internal developer community by a whopping 600%
- supported Andela’s expansion into Rwanda to recruit the first 2 cohorts
- supported our external community through the ALC to impact 30,000+ African developers with so many success stories of how lives have been changed
- supported @forloopAfrica, a developer community which has grown to 35+ cities within 8 African countries with a community of 10,000+ members
- been part of a brand that everyone in Nigeria can be proud of which has proved that “brilliance is indeed evenly distributed”
I step out knowing I was part of an awesome movement and will forever be grateful for what seems like the most impactful 2.5years of my working career. Massive thank you to the support system I had;
- Seun (wifey) who always ensured I showed up to work with the power of 2
- James Ndiga, Anthonio Pinheiro, Mike, OLUWAGBENGA OMOLAYO, Sadiq Ademosu, @Kehinde Banasko, Kenny and Ezinne Chimah who brought true meaning to how colleagues can become brothers/sisters and lifetime friends
- Rotimi Okungbaye who was forever present with his camera documenting my Andela story
- Agnes Muthoni my manager who taught me that growth shouldn’t only be vertical but horizontal
- My direct reports Annabelle Amotsuka, Konko Adeola Alokolaro, and @Chisom who brought the best out of me as a manager
- Evan Green-Lowe who constantly challenged me to be better than yesterday
- Seni Sulyman, from whom I learned what type of leader I would like to be.
- the entire pre-fellowship team (LOS, NBO, KLA, KIG) who put up with my crazy energy on a daily basis and showed me nothing but love
- all of the Andela team who have become family!
Anyways, I’m off to the next challenge, where I go to lead an existing startup coming into Nigeria in the capacity of Country Head. I’m super excited and can’t wait to see what the next couple of years hold.
For now, at Andela, my watch has ended……
