Fun fact: My first job was as a Financial Advisor at ARM.

As a young Geophysics graduate from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), I took an early pivot into sales and marketing as a faster route to getting my professional career started.

Fun fact: My first job was as a Financial Adviser at ARM.

I lasted just 30 days!

Selling insurance back then was quite a task. I had just relocated to Lagos after NYSC and didn't have an established network or an initial customer base to introduce the products to. It was a challenging start, but looking back, even that experience was part of the journey.

I eventually switched to social and digital marketing, invested in both online and on-site training, and gradually found my footing.

And voilà! That was how I progressed from Social Media Executive to Digital Marketing Specialist, Product Marketing Specialist, Growth and Product Marketing Manager, and eventually Head of Growth, Marketing and Communications.

It wasn't a straight line. There were difficult moments, uncomfortable transitions, critical learning curves and challenges that stretched me beyond what I thought I was capable of. But every experience contributed to the professional and leader I am becoming.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work across e-commerce, payment processing, SaaS, mobility, healthtech, real estate, NGO, fintech and financial services, among other industries.

After 12 years of building, learning, leading teams and helping businesses grow, I knew it was time to start building something of my own. Something driven not just by commercial success, but by legacy, purpose and impact.

Today, I am pleased to announce that I am taking on a new chapter as Co-Founder of PeerShield.

At PeerShield, we are building a collaborative financial crime intelligence platform designed to help financial institutions connect relevant signals, identify suspicious activities and strengthen their collective ability to detect and prevent fraud.

We believe that fraud is no longer just an individual institution's problem. As financial crime becomes increasingly sophisticated, institutions need better ways to collaborate, exchange privacy-conscious intelligence and respond to emerging threats, so the whole ecosystem becomes harder to attack.

Our ambition is to contribute to a stronger, more connected and more resilient financial ecosystem, starting in Africa.

This journey would not have happened without people who believed in me, opened doors and invested in my growth.

First, a special thank you to Habeeb Adeokun for the introduction that helped set this journey in motion. I had the privilege of working with you in 2022 when you served as Managing Director of the MFB where I led Growth and Product Marketing. I appreciate the role you played in connecting me to this opportunity.

I also cannot tell this story without acknowledging my mentor and life coach, Oluwole Ogunlade, MBA, FCILG.

Between 2018 and 2020, I had the privilege of working with you at VoguePay, where I witnessed firsthand what exemplary leadership, discipline and stewardship look like.

During that period, we helped lead a platform processing approximately $25 million in monthly transaction value, quietly building from Lagos, Nigeria.

But beyond the numbers and professional experiences, what has stayed with me most is your leadership and the generosity with which you share the many graces God has given you.

Even though we parted ways professionally in 2020, you have never stopped checking in, asking what I am working on, taking an interest in my progress and offering guidance whenever I need it.

That kind of mentorship goes beyond the workplace, and I do not take it for granted. Thank you for being such an important part of my journey.

To everyone who has contributed to my journey, directly or indirectly, thank you.

I am particularly excited about what we are building at PeerShield and what this could mean for the future of financial crime prevention in Africa.

The journey continues. This time, we are building something that we hope will outlive us.

Here's to grace, growth, building and impact.

If you work in fraud, risk or compliance at a bank, MFB or fintech, I'd love to connect and hear what you're seeing. Send me a DM.