Opemipo Aikomo
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Paystack

I lead design at Paystack. We build economic infrastructure on the internet for African businesses.

It started as a contract in 2015 to rebuild the first version of Checkout, an app for accepting payments in the browser. The following year, I joined Shola and Ezra in San Francisco for Y Combinator.

I’ve worked as a frontend engineer, brand, web and product designer at Paystack. Occassionally, I've moonlighted as a product or engineering manager. Now I lead the 18-person design team.

Paystack is by far one of most important experiences of my life. The company values are a model for my personal life, the people are kind but critical, the work is meaningful and I'm constantly learning.

In 2020, the company was acquired by Stripe.

paystack.com

Delivery Science

In early 2014, I joined Lanre Oyedotun at Chronos as a web designer.

Months later, he teamed up with Chuka Ofili and Ezra Olubi to build a logistics software company called Delivery Science.

At DS, we were encouraged to learn everything. Version control. Backend Development. Microservices. Monitoring. Everything.

We were often working on multiple projects at a time and there was always room to pick up something new. This was very formative for me, and I got a well-rounded education in software development.

Ezra and I left DS for Paystack at the end of 2015. Other friends - Seike Ibojo, Loknan Nanyaks and Shope Johnson - also joined later.

The company - which no longer runs - was later renamed to Field Insight.

Helloworld

In 2014, Timi Ajiboye and I started working together as Helloworld. We made digital products for clients and small experiments of our own.

Helloworld was also a collective. On larger projects, we enlisted friends like Onyekachi Mbaike, Lolu Bodunwa, Segun Famisa and Efe Money.

Timi now runs a handful of startups while I work at Paystack. We no longer take contracts, but we still build side projects together.

helloworld.ng
timiajiboye.com

Devcenter

In 2013, I started a database of Nigerian designers called Curation. It didn’t go too far, but I connected with Akin Falomo as a result. Later, we founded Devcenter with Seun Awoyele and Kolawole Balogun.

At first the project was a website for sharing side projects, but slowly it evolved into a community. I worked on it for about two years, and made a lot of developer and designer friends during this period.

Under Akin’s direction, Devcenter is now a community of 18,000+ software developers, designers and technology professionals. They also offer a developer support service called Gigson.

devcenter.co

Backstory

  • I picked up graphic design as a hobby in 2009, my first year of uni. My friends referred me for a job, and for the next three years I made posters, pamphlets and other print items for student organisations.
  • I started learning web design during an internship in 2012 and subsequently interned for a few months with Chris Ogunlowo (Kwirkly) where I got exposed to advertising and copywriting.
  • Through Kwirkly, I got a consulting gig making websites for businesses with Mamuzo Emielu (Webxpress). This also lasted for a few months and I got much better at web design on the job.
  • Later in 2013, I also worked with Dika Oha (Cart NG). My role was to design and customise Wordpress themes for eCommerce. Here, I learnt a lot about CSS, PHP and product management.
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