Daniel Obasuyi | Software Engineer

Another reason they think we are not good enough in Nigeria is that they want us to know everything. It's only in Nigeria they will expect some with 1yrs experience to know Docker, Kubernetes, Messaging Queues, and advance DSA before they can employ you.

I have followed with rapt attention the discourse that followed my conversation at the Platform Nigeria on May Day. The stark reality is this - opportunities are few and far between, unemployment/underemployment is high and sadly there are too few employers for a huge market such as ours, at least when compared to other markets such as China, India that have similar youth bulge. We Nigerians are some of the most hardworking and gritty people in the world. But we must tell ourselves the truth. Nigeria currently doesn’t have enough highly skilled technical talent resident in Nigeria to build companies that can scale globally. Interestingly, I have also read a lot of employers double down and agree with my current diagnosis around our country’s technical talent pipeline gap and confirmed it is true. Former Minister, Kemi Adeosun also referenced Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote comments around finding the right quality and quantity of talents for his refinery project. Let me ask a hard question - can we say that Nigeria has enough highly skilled technical talent still resident in Nigeria? That's a huge conundrum that any organization that wants to maintain market leadership must solve for. How many engineering executives do we have remaining in Nigeria that lead a payments team that handles payments infrastructure processing tens millions of transactions daily without fail? How many senior data scientists do we have in Nigeria that can create data models to appraise millions of customers while managing prudent NPLs? How many senior growth executives in Nigeria have the experience of growing a digital apps towards acquiring 80k customers a day through digital and offline channels while maintaining prudent CACs? It is important to note that this is not about Nigerians generally, this is about senior Nigerian talents still resident in Nigeria. Nigeria is not producing enough high quality senior technical talent and the little we have are emigrating. I can explain these to be that Nigeria does not have too many feeder industries across the board. As such, there are fewer starter companies that young talent can come from to feed into senior roles in other companies. Every one then ends up fighting for the same pool of senior leaders that have experience and bandwidth to deliver and win in the market. The effect of the Japa wave has been very well chronicled and I must add that this has been a trans-generational challenge. Remember that time in the early 80s where a lot of our medical professionals left for places like Saudi and the UAE? As at March 2024, Nigeria had lost around 16,000 medical doctors to other countries, most especially the US and the UK. The quality of technical education is also falling as our standard of education is lagging behind global counterparts. Can we say we have enough senior technical talent in Nigeria to compete with global competition especially China? But Moniepoint, Dangote, Flutterwave, LemFi are competing with them. Training young talents can fill the gap for the future but is inadequate for today. Companies need senior talent and cannot wait the eight to ten years needed to get them to senior levels to compete. In training young talent, Moniepoint has seen a lot of bright spots through our various interventions that are aimed at deepening the talent pool. So we are indeed doing something about improving talent density for the ecosystem. Through our DreamDevs programme, which is in its second year, we're training talented young engineering graduates with the skills they need to enter the workforce as top talent. We have supported the government's 3MTT agenda as well as a partnership with Unilag’s NITHUB to push the HatchDev initiative. Our Women in Tech internship programme, which now in its sixth year, provides women with the access, training and opportunities they need to build careers in tech. I also personally have a scholarship program for STEM students across select Nigerian universities in every geo-political zone. Competing globally also means that you spend top dollars to retain top Nigerian talents that you have nurtured. We routinely retain Nigerians that emigrate and pay them according to their local market standards. A recent example is an exceptional first class graduate we nurtured through our women in Tech program and had to go to school just as a path to emigrate and we had to retain abroad and offer an alternative naturalization path for her. Moniepoint has over 3,500 full time employees with over 90% Nigerian talents, and we’re growing 20% YoY. We’d love a world where this is at 99% while building for the world. Self deception isn’t a virtue and we must tell ourselves the home truth - we need to raise the quantity and quality of our technical talents resident in Nigeria to compete. No organization can rise above the quality of its output and execution is everything in this game. Nigeria will be great. Let’s all do the work together. By the way, top tech talents still resident in Nigeria, we need you badly. We pay above market rates and you will make real impact. Please apply here: moniepoint.com/careers For top Nigerian talents out of the country, we hire out of the UK, Portugal, Spain, India and Pakistan. Also apply, we are building digital banking infrastructure that provides financial happiness for emerging markets.

The real issue is that the "500 job openings" at Moniepoint do not exist. It's a popular corporate scam where you constantly recruit without actually hiring anyone, because showing a large number of job vacancies while advertising your aggressive recruitment campaign is a growth metric you display to investors. It shows that the company is "growing fast" which means they should invest more money. "We can't fill 500 job openings" in an absurdly deep job market like Nigeria is just a fintech bro performing for USD to locate him from whichever venture capital or private equity investor he's targeting. It's the same thing as when an NGO lawyer jumps on every trending human rights case without really achieving anything - it's a performance for the oyibo with USD to reward them. Motion without movement. Fake activity scam.

I've recruited an entire team twice in the past 3 years, and I've also consulted for founders on the continent looking for high quality affordable talent. It's very well known across Africa and beyond that if you're looking for high quality African talent that will work like their life depends on it and won't cost an arm and a leg, you go to Nigeria. Nigeria lacks lots of things, but qualified, talented people who are ready to work their ass off are not among them. I've seen it first hand. Except you're looking for an astronaut, there is literally no vacancy you cannot fill in Nigeria. Anyone who says they "couldn't fill job openings" in Nigeria is a bloody liar. It's simply not true and there's nothing to argue about.

They’d call them expatriate …. Worse of all most times, Nigerians end up training them on the job … I’ve experienced this first hand😂😂😂

@atul1602 @Simon_Ingari What’s the best time?

@Simon_Ingari Either be the first impression or the last memory. Never the middle.

If HR asks you to choose when to be interviwed, don't choose 11:00 AM.

Sir Frank, Yes I agree with this angle. I also submit that, there's a reason established football clubs have academies this might not apply to you but companies of that size should have graduate trainees. It is better to design a hiring pipeline that disciples culture fit, instead of establishing narratives that the country's workforce is not hirable. What most of these companies won't admit to publicly is: They adore the optics that comes with having a lot of "oyinbo people" on the team, so that the media section on their company's landing page actually reflects "global". In fact, they wouldn't blink twice before they lay that oyinbo man what he's worth whilst negotiating 1/4 to their countrymen who would do thrice the workload. This hiring glitch might also not be their fault, as most of these variables are influenced from the potentials of funding - I say this on good authority. Instead of admitting this in public, it is easier to shit on the skill stack of the country's workforce. Sir Frank, For his industry - there are insanely talented Nigerians. Insanely. He should open wallet.

@Suii2210 Active

Lets connect if you are in tech !

Toph really went and created an entire bloodline of Crazy Earthbenders 😮‍💨🔥

He started in August 2020 and has deposited N35 million in investment between then and now (68 months). That’s an average of ₦514,706 investment in stocks per month. Meaning their income must have been north of N2m monthly on average over the 6-year period. I pity anyone who would run themselves to the ground because they want to be like this person because they saw N50k first deposit. Can you see the part of the story that is missing?

Pornography is a heart problem, not a marriage problem. You can't fix it with more sex or a better wife. You fix it by hating your sin and loving Jesus more than your immorality. The gospel is the only power that truly breaks the chains.

@Joshissilly_0 @BlessedGirl001 It was mentioned in the face eater episode of ATLA

@BlessedGirl001 Ahh didn't know about that one How did you read about him?

Roku was indecisive against Sozin because of "Long time friendship", but Roku didn't seat and Watch Sozin Wipeout the air nomands. Roku died in the volcano 🌋 gas before Sozin carried out his plans. Sozin couldn't help him escape because if he did, Roku would stop him from his plans

@comfortfajugbag I'm looking to learn AI video, happy to connect

I want to connect with people who are into: LLMs AI automation Building with Claude Technology AI Videos

"Poverty Does Not Come From a Decrease in Wealth, but From a Multiplication of Desires" - Plato.

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Design first. Own the domain knowledge. Own the system design and understand how everything works. From the HLD down to the LLD, understand it first, then let AI help you out. Why? If you run into any production bug or issue, debugging and coming up with solutions will be seamless because you built and understood the architecture yourself. My issue is with people who build blindly with AI.

A developer can be a vibe coder. But a vibe coder can never be a developer.

Better marry someone that knows how to pray because there will come a time where you'll understand that, marriage isn't all about money and sex.

The fastest way to accelerate your career is to get in environments where your dream life is their average day.

@Bhavani_00007 .net apps

I still don't understand what the purple one is used for 😭 can someone explain?