Juggling Techpreneurship and Fatherhood

Only at 34, Nigeria’s 21st Century techpreneur, Kennedy Adetayo, is consciously juggling fatherhood and career in this time of global pandemic, vaccination, and social media chaos. As a Lead Strategist for ThaRev D&M, he shares with Rebecca Ejifoma nuggets for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise to thrive and how young techpreneurs can juxtapose work, health and family life successfully

Over the years, the internet has been swamped and choked with the number of women who perfectly juggle motherhood and career. Although these women continue to receive the six million dollars applause, not many have applauded the unflinching and resilient commitments of some men, whose quintessential performances at home and in their offices deserve some global accolades.

Undoubtedly in Nigeria, men head departments at various organisations, steer the affairs of the homes, and cater to the needs of both nuclear and extended families effectively. One of such men, who has continued to man both spaces of his life is Kennedy Adetayo. He is a husband, father of three, blogger, and new media enthusiast. With a background in Computer Science, Agriculture and Business Management, his experience affords him insight into multiple industries.

Bold. Confident. Gentle. Intelligent. And gleefully outspoken. These words are Adetayo’s true reflection as we had a virtual conference on his life in the tech space. AT first, he talked about the many feathers adorning his cap. He has over 10 years wealth of experience in advert agencies, fintech, and banking among others. Then he prides himself as the Marketing Manager, sub-Saharan Africa for Exness Group, and Lead Strategist for Tharev D&M, a micro-agency that caters to the strategy and media needs of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs). Their products and services include Ourfoodie, PadUp and the Lawlar stores.

ThaRev D&M, he chipped in, was birthed from the needs of the SMEs that surrounded Adetayo while he was working in an Ad agency. He recounted, “I noticed the big companies can afford a robust budget for content creation, marketing, ads, and packaging among others leaving the SMEs to worry for themselves.”

Today, ThaRev satisfies Nigerians and other perspectives in D&M (Design and Marketing) from product photography, conceptualisation, logo, web design to experiential and online marketing through to training among others.

Counting his achievements, the techpreneur expressed, “I’ve successfully worked with over 50 SMEs to date. It has not been easy as you have to factor in costing and efficiency each time hence birthing a hybrid of services to efficiently cater to everyone.”

And because everyone wants to create and run a small business from home, boost sales, get more online presence, and more Adetayo is bridging that gap by offering a unique solution for them. “Since the pandemic, ThaRev D&M has seen a spike in interests and services, retaining its position as a conglomerate of services SMEs want.

“Let’s take Ourfoodie for example. It focuses not just on the food vendors, food brands, restaurants or chefs but also on the foodie themselves looking for food inspiration and where to eat. It has amassed over 300,000 followers on all social media platforms as a result.”

Defying the chaotic pandemic, the computer scientist said ThaRev D&M has evolved and pivoted to online service. “This happened even before the pandemic as we realised a rising number of online adopters and the need to find a solution to the rising problems that come with these adoptions. From payment to process through to delivery is all done virtually.”

Operating from its multiple workstations in Ikeja and Lekki areas of Lagos State with the team spread across to a workstation close to their homes, the Business Management expert is not taking chances. He is forging ahead with his goal to be a global techexpert.

Sharing how he successfully navigates life as a techpreneur and family man, Adetayo believes in two vital components, balance and support. “I come from a closely-knit family that supports each others’ decisions and growth no matter the direction. This has helped shape my journey as a techpreneur. I must say it was easy for me to combine my family with my career, thanks to this support. They let me stay up a little later and use the generator set when I had to work at night and installed dial-up internet in the home when I was growing up.”

Going down memory lane, the tech boss reminisced about how his father bought him his first PC in 2002 and enrolled him in programming classes “When it wasn’t a big deal back then. I believe young techies should lean on the family as much as it allows as you need every help before that seed fund, that breakthrough or that Hackathon as success these days is measured on a different scale”.

For Adetayo, as a handful of people keep competing for the same trophy, everyone needs as many positive people in their leagues as possible to keep pushing and believing in themselves.