Olatunji Obaoye is a Utiva alumnus and a Product Manager at Africhange Technologies, Canada. In this interview, Olatunji takes us through how he pursued a career in product management: the steps he took, challenges he faced and lessons he learned. 

Tell us about what you currently do

Currently, I head the Product Management department at Africhange Technologies. Africhange Technologies is a financial technology company in Edmonton, Canada. We have different products in the market including, Africhange: a cross-border remittance platform that allows immigrants send money to their home countries, Nairaex: a popular cryptocurrency exchange platform in Nigeria, and Cashout. I lead the team that delivers the whole experience to customers. 

Sounds interesting. How did you get here? What has your product management journey been like?

Before joining Africhange, I had done many things. I worked in digital marketing, logistics, sales and project management. I started as a project manager for a student-run NGO called AIESEC while I was at the university. After this stint with project management, I worked at a logistics company as a sales executive and later joined an oil company as a transport manager. By 2015/2016, I was getting bored, so I began to search career paths that would suit me. I decided to switch to digital marketing and started working as a Digital marketer shortly afterwards. I did this till 2018. 

In early 2019, I got on a government project as a project manager (again). Parts of the project required me to execute product management-related tasks. I didn't know how to handle some of these tasks, especially market research, so I asked a friend that worked in the tech industry for help. On one occasion, while my friend and I were brainstorming, he said I was thinking like a product manager and should consider exploring product management. My response to him was "I don't even know what that is, but I will research and see". True to my word, I started conducting research on product management, and I found it quite interesting: it seemed like a perfect blend of different careers. At that moment, I thought to myself “I can do this thing”.

Coincidentally, I saw a product management training AD from Utiva, and I enrolled. Not long after the training, I left my job to join a startup as a product manager. After working for the startup for six months, I joined my current company in 2020 as a product manager. Between 2020 and now, I have been promoted several times: from product manager to lead product manager, then senior product manager and currently, head of the product department. 

That’s quite an interesting story. Before Product Management, was there a particular career path you wanted to explore?

Initially, I had only two career options: digital marketing or project management. I was unsure of project management because of how monotonous it was for me; digital marketing, on the other hand, brought out my creative side. I was looking for an opportunity to utilize the skills I had learned from both careers. Thankfully, product management allowed me to combine digital marketing with project management and a couple of other careers.

What would you say were your biggest challenges with learning and transitioning into product management?

For me, finding a mentor was challenging. Product managers are typically busy people, so getting someone willing to dedicate their time to mentor me was difficult. I overcame this challenge by maximizing my resources: I had a community of people that I had learned with at Utiva; we leaned on each other for support, and we connected each other to opportunities, resources, people and helpful communities.

The second challenge for me was getting my first product to practise with. I overcame this challenge by approaching a couple of friends and acquaintances that had tech startups and needed help with their products. So, I offered to work for them for free, and these people gave me my first hands-on experience. I worked with different companies and on their diverse products at once. This accelerated my growth tremendously. I was getting years of experience in 3 months; I would pick learnings from company A and apply them in company b. By the time I had done this, I had worked on 4 or 5 different projects; 3 had made it to the market, and I had built great confidence in my abilities.

You were on “fire”. What would you say largely motivated you?

I was hungry. Not hungry for growth, I needed money. LOL

How were you so confident? Not many people acquire tech skills and are confident enough to pursue tech projects

For me, it was either product management or nothing. I asked questions and researched subjects like how much do product managers earn? Who are the top product managers? What are the best products in the market? etc. The more I did this research, I discovered that product managers could make as much as $200,000 in a year. As I uncovered the opportunities in product management, I knew I needed to accelerate my learning, network a lot, ask as many questions as possible, and take career development courses. 

My point is, It's not really about confidence, it's more about how much you want this. Do you think you can do this and succeed? If you believe you can, then be ready to give it to you all.

That's an enlightening perspective. You’ve come pretty far, what are your plans for the future? 

In the next couple of years, I want to see the possibilities with the products we are building at Africhange. We are currently doing well in Canada, and I want to see how far we can go.

Connect with Olatunji on social media: 

Twitter: tunjiobaoye
IG: Tunjiobaoye
Facebook: Olatunji Obaoye