Founder Treasured Ikade’s story begins with a Enterprise Administration diploma, detours by means of a multi-level advertising and marketing stint, and a ₦1.7 million debt that would’ve ended her profession ambitions earlier than they started.
Immediately, after discovering her approach into product administration, Ikade is constructing structured, sensible pathways to assist college graduates uncover and comply with tech careers with out making the sort of errors she did.
Classes from a debt
Following her college commencement in 2018, Ikade says she anticipated to comply with standard profession paths like banking or human useful resource administration. “The reigning factor then was banking. It wasn’t tech,” she says.
However she wished a unique path and threw herself into multi-level advertising and marketing (MLM), a controversial entrepreneurship mannequin the place impartial gross sales representatives promote merchandise and recruit new distributors to earn commissions. “That was my first time understanding enterprise growth,” Ikade says.
She shortly rose to the highest of her advertising and marketing chain in lower than a 12 months. However whereas she was profitable on paper, in actuality, she was sinking beneath the load of an enormous debt.
“I used to be in debt of ₦1.7 million, that was certainly one of my largest mountains,” she recollects. “Individuals put their cash within the enterprise to purchase merchandise in my identify, in order that I may promote and provides them earnings.”
What worsened the state of affairs was that her wage on the time, ₦70,000, was barely sufficient to dwell on and deal with the money owed she was incurring as a marketer. The expertise drove her right into a melancholy, leaving her with a pointy consciousness of how straightforward it’s to make the improper profession selections when pushed by short-term rewards.
“It took me at the very least a 12 months to complete paying off some money owed,” Ikade says. Her mother and father provided recommendation and chipped in financially.
The massive transition into tech
After paying off her money owed, Ikade turned to a former college colleague along with her want to transition into tech. She was launched to Bode Roberts, CEO of Dataleum, and was invited to a tech occasion the place she picked curiosity in knowledge evaluation, made just a few connections, and adopted on with some programs.
“That was the beginning of my tech profession,” Ikade says.
A short time later, nonetheless, dissatisfied with knowledge analytics, Ikade pivoted to product administration, pushed by a want to grasp why companies fail and the way know-how may help companies optimise for fulfillment. It was a area that linked her enterprise background along with her love for technique, operations, and problem-solving. On the time, a product administration masterclass at Utiva price ₦50,000. For her, the discounted price was steep however she scraped it collectively and took the course.
Discovering career-fit with Tekbuddy
For Ikade, the transfer into product was by no means about chasing hype or cash. It was about discovering profession match. “You possibly can solely flourish in a spot the place your character prospers,” she says. Product administration roles performed to her pure strengths: communication, operations, and data-informed decision-making.
“Each profession path has its personal particular function in making a enterprise develop. My imaginative and prescient of the place I need to work is one factor, however my character helps me slim down the choices.”
She additionally grew to become more and more crucial of the best way younger graduates rushed into no matter profession was trending. Too usually she noticed younger folks pour cash into programs with out first asking whether or not the function match their strengths and profession aspirations. Ikade wished to construct one thing that may assist graduates make smarter profession selections.
That imaginative and prescient birthed Tekbuddy, an organisation she co-founded in 2023 to assist graduates enter tech careers with readability. She describes it as a “entire journey” strategy, starting with profession discovery, incorporating ability coaching, and providing sensible job alternatives on the finish.
The Profession Discovery Bootcamp, which used to take days, has now been compressed right into a six-hour evaluation powered by AI. The bootcamp teaches the way to construct fundamental earnings and profession expertise. As soon as a buyer has found out what tech space they’re effectively suited to, they’ll endure a four-month subsidised coaching program (about ₦20,000 month-to-month) to construct competency and expertise for distant work. To make the transition from non-tech roles to tech roles extra sensible, Ikade encourages contributors to tackle entry-level roles like digital assistants or distant assist employees whereas constructing expertise for greater roles.
The method ends with a neighborhood handover, the place graduates are welcomed right into a “profession mastermind” group the place they obtain mentorship, accountability, and ongoing assist. Every cohort even takes on a symbolic identify, the latest being “Nova,” marking their first look as tech professionals.
Innovation and impression
Ikade’s view of innovation is as blunt as it’s sensible: “Innovation is impression and expertise.” For her, work is revolutionary when it measurably improves folks’s lives, reduces friction, and modifications behaviour in lasting methods.
She additionally believes the Nigerian tech ecosystem should rethink its motivations. Too many individuals, she argues, enter tech just for cash. “If we hold going into tech for cash, we’re receivers. At what level will we be givers?” For her, true development within the ecosystem will come from folks looking for to contribute worth, not simply extract earnings.
In line with Ikade, Tekbuddy has impacted over 1,000 abilities up to now one 12 months and 88.7% of profession professionals have seen a constructive change of their KPI because of integrating Tekbuddy’s intensive curriculum.
On balancing her profession with each different factor in her life, Ikade compares all the pieces to balls. “You must learn the way and when to drop some balls. And for me, I drop some balls fastidiously,” she says.
Wanting again, Ikade sees her journey as proof that detours can result in readability. The ₦1.7 million debt and melancholy have all turn out to be a part of a story she now shares with others. Her measure of success isn’t titles or metrics, however the impression she will be able to create for the subsequent Nigerian graduate who feels misplaced.
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