Usman @Abiola_Usman Twitter profile

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Usman

5 years

I just published The UX of BVN — Part 1

A few weeks back, I was curious about something. Anytime a relatively new fintech platform requested for my Bank verification number (BVN)…

link.medium.com

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Orchid road in lekki is a funny manifestation of a mega-slum. N100m house on the right, 20 inch pothole in front. 😢

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Any company who’s hiring you to work remotely are putting a lot of trust in your "execution discipline", reward that trust with stellar performance 👏👏🙌🙌🙌

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

If your customer support is not responsive online, fraudsters will fill that gap for you very fast.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

I launched a card product once. The volume was so exciting for the first few days that I thought of resigning my job. When chargeback came, I just deleted the txn db on mongoDB. 😂😂😂😂😂

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

We lost the battle. 😩 My dad is with His Lord now. I'm proud of the virtuous life he lived. May Allah forgive his shortcomings and admit him to paradise. I'll miss you so much, my fine boy.

Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Life is funny. I spent half of today in an ambulance and the other part, chasing the inefficiencies of the Nigeria healthcare system. Sigh.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

RT if you played this game. 🤗

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

While conducting interviews for my upcoming study on Nigeria fintech fraud attacks- I realized, companies are bleeding cash from attacks on weekly basis. A low trust market with high fraud attack patterns. We’ve estimated the cost damage of each attack. The numbers are crazy!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Hey guys. I'm looking to hire for the following roles for my team at : 1. Content strategist 2. Snr. communication manager 3. Copy writer 4. Social media lead Kindly DM with your profile and portfolio links ONLY.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

I’m all for personal branding but let’s not be delusional, okay? Only you led 5 different teams to achieve $10m in rev. but your salary expectation is N350k? Good.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

I looked at the CV of someone from NIBBS - all I will say is: only work with companies actively creating tangible products/infrastructures, as this affords the opportunity to be in the room when monumental systems are being built and crafted.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 months

As you grow in your career, try to improve your taste of outputs - how you write, present, think and design. There should be an exquisite sense of undeniable quality to it.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Nothing kills a good team member faster than watching you tolerate a bad one. Straight attrition.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

7 years

Dear Nigerian parents, your child's mental health is MORE IMPORTANT than their CGPA.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Lending apps don’t like to build iOS apps for obvious reasons - beyond the expertise. They can’t mine data to do social shame on iOS. 🥲🥲🥲

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Don't go invest your $5k life savings in startups o. Else, every investor updates will be looking like a bad report card. 😂

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

So now: 1. VAT on an increase 2. USSD charges is up . 3. Cash deposit & withdrawal charges. Again, Where is the "cashless policy"? I can't see it 😭

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Just FYI: I’m constantly looking for designers and growth guys - if you know your onions, DM your portfolios. Abeg, don’t send me things you copied on dribbble 😭😭

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Hey guys, I’m looking to hire senior designers for a high growth fintech in Africa. Guys with exceptional product thinking and design proficiency. Kindly DM me with your portfolio and CV.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Please don't envy any "head of anything" or CEO lol. The work in those roles will tear you up. 😀

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Senior people: When you were earning 400k, what was your lifestyle like ?

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Dear founders, take a day to organize an All-hands meeting to explain what stock options mean to your employees. Super important!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Ordinary food ordering company I tried to build. The day we closed, I couldn't face my team. You would think I was owing them money but I wasn't. I just couldn't bring myself to explain that the large vision I pitched in them has failed. 🤦🏽

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Do whatever you want o, as long as you have a wallet service, you will still sell airtime and bill payment. 😊

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Here's a thread detailing what the NIMC's NIN Tokenization Initiative means for your digital products. - Background - The Virtual NIN - The New Onboarding Flow (Key product changes) - Resource link

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

If you work in a startup (whatever the role is) - Here are a few things you can do to be really stand out. 1. Learn the market - the size, value chain, use cases, competitors 2. Try to learn more about the commercial/sales team - their focus, funnels, & lead generations

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

The operations side of every fintech product is often overlooked by spectators. - Remittance and reconciliation - Customer support processes - User audits - Transaction monitoring Learn these as you look to achieve scale.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Agency banking is over-explored as a 1-1 replacement for ATMs. Agency banking is under-explored as a distribution pipeline that can unlock new financial services (lending, insurance, etc) adoption.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

A business's business is to be in business.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Hey guys. I’m working on a study that analyzes the different patterns of fraud that happen on fintech products. If you have any case study you’ll like to feature- kindly DM You’ll be duly credited in the final report. Kindly RT

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

A major fintech player in this market is coming with a new play around e-commerce payment. Amazing !

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 month

We are hiring at @Dotai__ for these roles: - Senior Software Engineer - Data Engineer - Frontend Engineer - Engineering Lead Apply here: Kindly RT.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

You people don’t know how much value Shola just opened up. A multi-club strategy that will be minting African talents - Player academy and transfers - Sponsorship and media exposure - Local league development

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

This is why most of you think everyone on Twitter is your mate - he is arguing about cards with the head of engineering of Interswitch 😀😂🤣 That’s how some of you will come and argue with me about products or tech🌚

Oladimeji Amusa

@smartbizlord

1 year

@alexcrownus Oga, when you see the cards you mentioned show me or go and set up yours, shey you know it all. When you do proper research this tweet will be waiting for you to reply, bye 🤝

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

My PTSD from multiple SARS harassments has been me paranoid to the point I can spot them 3-4 cars behind me. I know when a car is abruptly increasing speed. I educated my personal driver on the routes we will never go through.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

My UX of BVN study yielding great results in changing user onboarding experience for the Nigerian product ecosystem. Great work on Vulte by @PolarisBankLtd

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

I know this is a bit of a hot take. But i dislike how some PMs just swallow excuses from engineers. You cannot ship this ? Tell me why with the specific technical details. Always Ask why. 🌚

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Life is funny. I spent half of today in an ambulance and the other part, chasing the inefficiencies of the Nigeria healthcare system. Sigh.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

The science of “getting things done” is simple. 1. Achieve clarity as early as possible 2. Work with equally passionate people 3. Set high quality standards for your deliveries. But that number 2 is the real shege. 😂

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

My kid will have to study finance because as you look at any value chain, finance sits at the top every time. Forget tech. Your CFO cook the deals.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Dear Nigerian startups, If you know that your platform requires a large chunk of KYC, Don't ask for all the info at sign up. Attach the KYC info to key actions on your product. For example, don't ask for BVN until a user wants to do a transaction. Thank you.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Person use mood swing buy company. Empathy is out of the way.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

@kabirdknl 😂😂so you went to Lautech too ? Nice

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

10 months

😂😂 well, well, if you check some fintech acquisition metrics by location - it will be consistent with this 😂

cease the moment

@Adheydayor

10 months

Asake, Olamide and Seyi Vibez all have Katsina in their top 5 locations. Have they ever toured that state? Asake - 202k listeners Olamide - 149k Seyi - 106k Many other artistes too.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

10 months

At last, the Dot app is live! Months of grit 🔥 Android and iOS: Download and let me know your thoughts. My DM is open.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

I really want to setup a marketplace to buy figma files of projects that didn’t launch. Like actually good designs >> 20 screens.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

The talent war in the ecosystem is real. A way to mitigate this is to schedule proper performance review and pay rise for everyone. Draw a path to their growth plans in your company.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

I just published Introducing Smile ID Artificial Intelligence and KYC Results

Introducing Smile ID Artificial Intelligence and KYC Results

We just released a major update to the Smile Identity portal! We are bringing some powerful and long-awaited new functionality and…

link.medium.com

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Your level of product knowledge is defined by how many things have you built/shipped. It really shapes how you see new ideas.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Me to me: " I will NOT eat up my money in 2020. I will start cooking food at home! I will start cooking. I WILL START COOKING" !!!😂😂 Waiter: Current or savings? 😭😭😭

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

That gut wrenching scene of when your father is lowering into a 6ft grave is a stern reminder - we are all nothing and there's no upside to being evil.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

If I invest in your co with my small check, I will see how unaccountable you are - the moment you stop sending investor updates and communicate issues. Building anything is hard - not communicating in good faith is way worse. I have learnt this expensive lesson.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

I don’t know why people are being snide about Kuda. Their account opening process is one of the fastest and a specific niche of users that move real volume use them. They are running full ad campaign all over Lagos. They put in the real work. Do am if e easy - 😏😏

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

If you're a Nigerian fintech company and you're moving fast and breaking things..by the time chargebacks start coming eh... You will gentle like a morning dew.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Guys, take good care of your parents. If you are doing it already, double it.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Credit card issuance in Nigeria will see amazing volumes. Lending is a good proxy. The headache will be: 1. Risk profiling 2. Fund recovery Solve these and take the market.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

For a fintech, most times, you don’t need more “customer support staff”, you need technical support engineers (not SE😒) People who can actually resolve issues on the go.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

10 months

Insights on the Latest NIBSS Circular: 🔄

Unpacking the NIBSS Circular — What Fintechs Need to Know Now

NIBSS released a circular that has been making the rounds this week. There’s been a lot of speculation regarding this particular circular on the interwebs and office corners in the fintech industry…

medium.com

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

How can a Bamboo/Chaka/Risevest add automated trade strategies? Here's a three-step UX flow - Step 1: - Select asset - Pick your trigger e.g price changes - Choose your parameters - Then execute the triggers Thread 1/3

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

There are tons of fraud attacks, and almost every fintech company experience them. As an ecosystem, we need to aggregate these patterns in a way that can be beneficial. We need to get anti-fraud knowledge to early-stage startup product/engineering teams. We need to do this!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

I think there are two categories of fintech techies in Nigeria: 1. People who have seen actual extensive shege in deploying financial innovations. 2. People who have not seen anything beyond figma and the excitement from McKinsey reports. PS: I'm not shading anyone. Thanks.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Most times, your employers don’t see you beyond your immediate role and that’s the truth.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

I'm not sure why people are excited about the shuttering news of Opay. It's sad and heartbreaking. A potential unicorn just got shattered by your country's blind regulations/antics.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Hey. I'm looking for a vibrant design intern who exudes brilliance in "product thinking" Key word: Product thinking. Not dribbblized screenshots. Very good compensation. Onsite. Ikoyi, Lagos. P.S: I'm a designer. I know what I'm looking for. 🤓 Kindly send a DM.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Flutterwave has a font now. Lit!

Flutterwave Font

Flutterwave Font Design.

www.behance.net

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Recurring payments is about to die a regulatory death.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Here's a tip for the product owners: When you build a product that has several dependencies on 3rd party integrations (mostly local services) A way to manage this well is to build an API status page/slack bot to track uptime & downtimes of these services. Thank me later.😎

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Imagine you don't have to ask your users for BVN to complete KYC anymore? You can use the @SmileIdentity 's Bank Verification service to ease the KYC process for your users. This is a new onboarding paradigm for fintech products. 🤩🙌🥳 More details:

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Vanity metrics but I built this baby. $3500 txn volume Nice margin. New companies in the pipeline😇😇

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

10 months

Always hire people who have something to prove. Something that they want to demonstrate they are capable of, then get out of their way.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

As you progress in your design career, nobody will tell you before you start paying for premium resources, tools and training. You just get to that point where creating a nav bar from scratch is a pure waste of time.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Lilahi lihamd.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

My UX of BVN study is sparking some awesome changes in the usability flow of Nigeria apps. I'm seeing it, already. So exciting! Please reach out to me for the rough design sketch file of the "BVN solution" if you are working on any product that requires it.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Every API product should have a status page. It's a fine way to show trust and the efficiency of your product. Super key!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Some of these companies don't listen to their talents. So you'll be wondering how come star developer X is with a company with such terrible product.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

As you grow your career, the skills that you hone day in, day out are just a tool to get something done - what you need to also grow is your mindset and ability to imagine.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

The quality of your work experience matters a lot. Prioritize this always.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Building a product is different from "taking a product to market". The difference here is what distinguishes top product management talents.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

The business can’t wait for your learning curve. Skill up!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

2 years

Competition gives you pre-launch validation. So “this already exist” is a terrible reason to abandon ideas.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

Guys! The 2021 Smile Identity Insight Report is out! Here are the top stats: - Over 12m ID check across Africa - 618k fraud attempts caught - Average processing time is at 2.7 seconds! 🔥🔥🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 Download the full report here:

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

10 months

This new NIN requirement for account opening is tricky. What it means for me is: if I’m acquiring a customer, I’m doing a two level check on BVN + NIN and both have tokenization (two OTPs) - longer onboarding time. 🥲🥲 Then, I will need to have a PII matching script somewhere

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

7 years

I love ideas. I love to listen to the logics of finding Patterns and picking out pain points that can be solved. However, there's an illusion of grandeur regarding idea generation. Ideas are outputs of your knowledge, which is a limitation. Learn more, you'll have better ideas.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

7 years

Twitter Nigeria be like....

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

🤓 Another day talking about building the right product before building product right.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

Observation: I have noticed that talents who push back a lot on “ideas” instead of asking clarifying questions - are often terrible with collaboration.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

Hey guys! Here's the free sketch file from the UX of BVN study. Download here:

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

You people are arguing about growth marketing ? 😂😂 Start a high growth b2c first then see if you won’t hire a growth marketer after your Q2 board meeting 😂😂

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

@unicodeveloper Mad o. Agba street hustler😃

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

960k ~ 1m house rent on a 400k salary? Of course, it won’t be enough. 😬

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

1 year

The unique knowledge or idea you’re looking for is in the brains of people you’re not talking to or articles/paper you’re not reading. Engage them, today.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

The future of work, The future of work - As you can see, It's not in co-working spaces. 😈

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

One time, I was reaching out to Nigerian blogs to feature a new product we built. They were billing me. No wahala. You'll feature this one on your own. Lol Big things!!!🎉🥳

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

When you think about this SARS issue, no young person is immune to their harassment. They'll drag you out of your car. They'll make you begin to think like a criminal even though you have a legitimate job. I've been harassed and extorted multiple times. We need to do something!!

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

One question, why do a lot of Nigerian companies obsess with "What's your design process?" during interviews but completely ignore your design process when they eventually hire you?

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

4 years

Alhamdulilah for everything 🙌

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

One thing I find weird about Nigerian designers is that they don't like sharing design source files. 🤔 I like to share. Most of my old projects (non-contract works) will be available for download for free very soon

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

As a product designer, I naturally ask a lot of questions when I'm engaging any project. One thing I've noticed about "Nigerian clients" is that the more questions you ask, the more they begin to doubt your capacity to work with them. Why's that ? ☹️☹️🤔🤔

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

5 years

One thing I've learnt in the last part of this year is: Constantly engage your network. Reach out to them about the latest things (articles you published, prototype you designed etc) you are working on. Opportunities are always available.

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Usman

@Abiola_Usman

3 years

I spoke to a very brilliant compliance lead at a fintech co. in Nigeria - I was super shocked by the different flag systems they have to build from IP to firewalls to transaction monitoring - 😳

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