Seni was previously Vice President of Global Operations at Andela, where he “contributed tremendously to lighting the spark for an entire generation of technologists”. As Seni advanced through multiple roles across the organization, including Director of Operations and Country Director, he grew global operations by 400%, and led major departments across Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda, and Egypt. Under his leadership, Andela emerged as the #1 Best place to work in Nigeria and Africa.

On moving back to Nigeria from the US, he wrote: 

“It was the first time in my adult life that I lived in an environment where I felt like my knowledge, capabilities, character and interests had an exponentially larger impact on my experiences than the colour of my skin.“

Seni joined Andela two years after completing his MBA at Harvard, having previously built a new business jet airline in Nigeria for Bristow Group in a record 12 months. His prior career spans across roles at Bain & Company in Chicago where he helped a CPG company identify half a billion dollars in cost savings, and Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley, where he developed strategies to grow the billion-dollar technology services division.

Seni’s personal mission is to build an ecosystem of exemplary businesses and develop leaders that create value through ethical leadership and superior execution. In addition to his professional contributions, he writes and speaks regularly on his philosophy on changing the world through cultivating African talent. On this Medium post he wrote:

“The goal when I bought that one way ticket back to Nigeria in 2014 was to create or scale products and services that improve the quality of life for my fellow Nigerians. I wanted to feel like I had done something tangible for Nigeria, after many years of doing things for other economies.“

On Black Genius, we’ll find out how Seni’s upbringing influenced his philosophy, the secrets to his success, and the strategies he’ll be employing to cultivate high-performance businesses in his newest venture, Rincon. Tune in live on Friday at Noon EST (set a reminder here) or subscribe to Black Genius on Apple Podcasts to listen next week.

Have questions for Seni? Drop them in the comments!

Black Genius was created in 2020 to highlight the visionaries, brands and worldmakers mobilizing the global Black Diaspora towards a Liberated future through technology, the arts, the sciences and political organizing. The return for Black History Month aligns with NOIR Labs’ drive to amplify African voices, histories and futures during a period often focused primarily on America’s Civil Rights era and Black firsts. Understanding Africa’s complexities is critical to understanding Black history and futurity.

Black Genius is partnering with the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance (HEA) for this ten-part series due to their pledge “to work together as one” to unlock the potential of Africa.

Who Are the Harambeans?

HEA is an alliance of determined entrepreneurs–visionaries who are transforming Africa’s challenges into opportunities, creating positive and scalable change, and enabling Africa to reach her boundless potential. The highly selective Alliance receives thousands of applications each year from leading entrepreneurs at the world’s top schools, from which only 30 applicants are selected. To be inducted as a Harambean, selected applicants must complete a rigorous colloquium on entrepreneurship and sign a pledge to commit to Africa’s development above all else.

The creator of the Black Genius podcast, NOIR Labs Founder Lolade Siyonbola, states about Harambeans: “I really used to doubt whether we would see a Liberated Africa in our lifetimes. But when I became a Harambean, and met these incredible humans, I knew for certain we would see Africa Liberated by this generation.”

“When the pandemic is over, if nothing else remains, there will be cockroaches and Harambeans joyfully rebuilding the world,” Harambeans founder, Okendo Lewis-Gayle has been known to say. He was the 6th Black Genius, interviewed last June by Siyonbola. You can listen to his interview here.

^{From Top Left: Nelly Wandji of Moonlook. Seni Sulyman, formerly of Andela. Haweya Mohamed of AfroBytes.}

Selectees

The Harambeans selected for this series were found to demonstrate compassion, intellectual acuity, and profound vision in their enterprise models, thought leadership and personal journeys. We believe they are models for all Black leaders to emulate across the globe.

The first Black Genius to be featured in the Harambe series, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, made history when the startup he co-founded, Andela, received a $24 Million investment from Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan’s CZI fund for African Engineers. Zuckerberg’s surprise visit to Lagos in 2016 sent shockwaves across the African tech community, and awakened those unaware of the exploding African tech economy. The Andela-CZI partnership spurned a new era in African entrepreneurship catalyzing billions of dollars in investment interest in African startups, with investments surpassing $1 billion in both 2019 and 2020.

Aboyeji has since gone on to found two more startups–Flutterwave and Future Africa–and invested in many impact-focused enterprises. Future Africa returned $3.7M to investors at the end of 2020, experiencing explosive growth across their portfolio in the midst of the pandemic. Aboyeji regularly writes and speaks on the urgency of inclusive African development, and the need for African elites to do more for the plight of the common man.

Other Harambeans to be featured in the series include Nelly Wandji, Seni Sulyman and Haweya Mohamed, founder of AfroBytes. Previous Black Genius guests include Alex Tsado of Alliance for Africa’s Intelligence, Tokini Peterside of ART X Lagos and Kevin Beckford an Obama staffer and co-founder of the Hustler’s Guild. Future Black Genius 10×10 series will focus on the arts, technology and health.

Subscribe to noirpress on YouTube and Apple Podcasts to make sure that you never miss an episode of Black Genius. Know someone who should be featured on Black Genius? Nominate them here. Contact us here to become a Black Genius partner.

Have questions for our guests? Leave them in the comments!

Also celebrating their 9th anniversary, Forbes Africa is the primary source that is “documenting the present for posterity and the countless stories of entrepreneurs and visionaries taking us into the future.”

From their site: “The Covid-19 pandemic may have come right in the middle of the country’s mid-life crisis, but there is hope in the form of its tech innovators and the resilience of its growing youth population, cementing its never-say-die attitude. We focus on these young leaders, and also include a state-of-the-nation report with commentary from the top billionaire and multi-millionaire titans on how they are strategizing their business models in the new normal.” You can get your digital copy here.

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji had this to say in his love letter to Nigeria for her 60th birthday:

Happy 60th Birthday Nigeria.

If you were a civil servant today would be your retirement party and shortly after we should send you back to the village but we are worried you might get kidnapped. In any case rest easy the youth who should get your hand over notes are at home as the universities are on strike or unemployed because they don’t have the skills to do meaningful work. You say they – not you – should go to the village and farm but they’ll probably be killed by a bandit who makes more so why risk life. They are patiently waiting a never-ending turn. But perhaps if they watch enough premiership games and argue with strangers on twitter about Big Brother, maybe trend a few dance challenges on instagram and TikTok – somehow they’ll figure out like those Ma(r)lians did that despite your stern exterior and bellowing voice, at 60 you are so frail they don’t need your permission to push you out of your chair and sit on it. When that day comes, I’ld love to see how they rise to challenge of rebuilding this complex nation in their own image. In the meantime I pray; that our youth learn the truth about how our nation was built by a self-perpetuating cycle of blood money and violence it must heal from; that our youth grow in love for each other because we can’t afford to inherit our parent’s tribal enemies; that our youth have honest conversations about who we are and who we need to be to attain those lofty heights we blame prior generations for falling off. And in the end, we make a commitment to rebuilding Nigeria as one, undivided nation where peace, prosperity and justice reigns.

Happy Independence Day, young Nigeria.

It is time to Lead.

Christian has also worked on Lovecraft Country (HBO), Sylvie’s Love (Amazon), and the award-winning Selma, featuring David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey (lensed by Bradford Young), among many others.

His Journey

His career as a Lighting Designer has spanned more than three decades covering the range from major motion pictures, broadcast television, commercials, live theater, dance, music videos and special events. Directors include Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, Hype Williams, Andrew Dosunmu. Talent has included 1st Lady Michelle Obama, Pres. Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Nick Cannon, and Kevin Hart.

LCD! provides production training in partnership with private producers, governments, embassies, schools, festivals, television stations, and community development organizations, freelancers, producers and industry equipment manufacturers. LCD! has established a strong presence in the two film making capitals in the African continent, Nigeria and South Africa, and has also worked in Zimbabwe, Senegal and Rwanda.

On this episode, we’ll learn more about Christian’s passion for teaching, sharing and producing quality visuals, and how he’s become one of the go-to persons for connecting African production worlds.

Tune in here to watch live this Saturday at 10am EST! Set your reminder and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss a thing!

Wunmi knew she wanted to be an artist while in grade school because she loved to dance. “I was basically the child everyone ignored until music came on and then no one ignored me at that point,” she says. Even though she had a zeal for dance, it was not something she was allowed to pursue as a young adult. Going to school at the age of 15, her father chose all of her classes for her and purposefully left out any arts subjects. During this time, Wunmi struggled to pass her classes, and would freeze up in exams, terrified of failure.

She fondly recalls watching her best friend produce art and even consider going to an art college. At the time, Wunmi was unaware that art schools were options available to her. One of her teachers suggested that she take art seriously, and she applied to London College of Fashion. Not only did she excel in her fashion studies, she found that her failing grades in other classes like math and english began to improve and she was able to pass. 

Wunmi’s dance career took off while a fashion student. Discovered on the London night scene, she joined Soul II Soul as a dancer, traveled to New York City with them in ‘89 and performed in Harlem at the Palladium. After finishing undergrad, Wunmi found herself at a crossroads: she could either continue dancing or pursue a career in fashion. Roy Ayers, a mentor to Wunmi, convinced her to stay true to herself, whichever path she chose. “He said, ‘I have the presence of life that no money can buy’ and as long as I do not prostitute my soul, whatever it is that I choose to do…I would keep reaping from it.” As someone who did not know exactly what she wanted to do at the time, this was a huge help in deciding her next steps.

Wunmi’s luxury African fashion line, Wow Wow, was birthed not long after she left Soul II Soul. She first designed costumes for a choreographer friend’s performances as a barter for her rent. That friend was Ron Brown. She went on to design for him for 25 years, “his whole repertoire.” As Ron Brown recommended Wunmi to other choreographers, she became the first designer to craft costumes for two choreographers in one season for Alvin Ailey, whose company she would design for for a total of six seasons. 

As a walking billboard for what was then known as Wunmigirl, she would receive constant requests from dancers to dress them. Wunmi’s fans and customers inspired her to name the line Wow Wow, reflect how they reacted to her pieces, and how she felt when she made something new. The acronym Wow Wow, expanding into “Want it, Own it, Wear it, Wunmi Olaiya Wear,” aptly captures the breathtaking nature of her pieces, and the silhouettes of her muses.

Learn more of Wunmi’s story in the full episode below or listen to it on Apple podcasts.

Lanre Aina is Co-founder of Content Garage, a video production company that focuses on building high-quality and low-cost video content for small businesses and large brands across Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last three years of leading Content Garage, he has worked on over 30 digital commercials for some of the top brands in Nigeria. For example, Samsung, MTN, Google, Facebook, Nestle, Wikipedia, Access Bank and Diageo – helping these businesses actualize new ways of engaging with their customers through compelling digital storytelling. 

Before Content Garage, Lanre worked at Google as a Brand Activation Lead, where he supported both the Nigeria and Kenya markets helping large brands to develop effective digital strategies and integrated experiential marketing using online video. In his earlier days at Google, he worked as a Business Development Analyst, where he ran point supporting Google’s online publisher community as well as launching and growing YouTube’s content partnerships in Nigeria. 

Today, he is focusing his attention on sports-media, using his experience at Google and Content Garage to build an African-focused sports entertainment venture, ATHLST. 

Lanre is also passionate about social enterprise. He served as a founding member of Harambeans, the leading network of market-creating African entrepreneurs founded by Okendo Lewis-Gayle. In his spare time, he volunteers his skills supporting peer mentorship and youth-focused career advisory programs in Lagos. 

He is a graduate of Computer Engineering, with an advanced degree in Telecoms Systems Management from Northeastern University, Boston. Lanre is happily married to his best friend, Tele, and they live in Lagos with their two sons, Akinolu and Tamilore.

Black Genius is now recorded live every 2nd Saturday at 10am EST. Set your reminder and watch live here tomorrow!

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