My 2024 Year in Review — The Year of Renaissance

If I were asked to describe 2024 in one word, I would say eye-opening, which perfectly explains my choice of title. For those who don’t know, the Renaissance period was a transitional movement in medieval Europe characterised by vigorous artistic and intellectual activity. I feel like I learned or took in a five-year experience in 2024 alone.

Fatherhood and Family
My boy, David, turned one on October 10, 2024, and we celebrated our second wedding anniversary about a week ago. That means over a year of solid fatherhood experience and double that of raising a family.

So, how has fatherhood been for me? Or rather, what has fatherhood taught me? Unlike the year 2024, which I could describe with one word, fatherhood cannot be described with one word. It can only be experienced. So, I will touch on some of the things fatherhood has taught me. “Some” because, again, I cannot possibly document all.

My first lesson of fatherhood was unconditional love—love so strong that you don’t see any fault or inadequacy in the other person. About some months ago, I was scrolling through my phone gallery when I stumbled upon a picture of David that I had posted on my Whatsapp status when he was around two months old, and I began to wonder how I had posted this picture of David looking so skinny. It then occurred to me that I did not see that skinny body at the time. All I saw was my precious baby that I was willing to flaunt and love up on without conditions or expectations. He has since become big, lost some flesh due to teething, and again recovered some, but one thing that has not changed for a minute is my love for him.

Fatherhood has also taught me patience, long-suffering when you have to deprive yourself of sleep, and everything put together 🥹. I am forced to believe babies are programmed to test your patience once they can move around. I learnt that one of the core of fatherhood is taking responsibility. I remember the first time David fell off the bed under my watch. Oh yeah, I’ve lost count now but I probably would not be alive to write this review if my wife had a gun on her that day. Now I can make a joke out of it, but that day I realised that fatherhood doesn't require you to be flawless, but rather, to be responsible, and being responsible comes with some mistakes but please keep them as little as possible, as the size of the child. Away from that near-death threat, it was a blissful 2024 on the home front, and I learnt a lot from my wife, too. Top on the list is to be more expressive.

Aside from these lessons, fatherhood has made me very self-conscious. Having understood that children will do what you do and not what you say, I just have to serve as an excellent example to my boy. And of course, fatherhood has significantly increased my knowledge about everything and anything, even though unconsciously. In my quest to become a better father and better understand the needs of a baby who can’t talk, I found myself reading numerous articles and books. Sadly, now that I think I know enough, I get a spoiler alert that no two kids are the same, so I guess the learning continues, and David says Yes!

Work and the Journey to Becoming Technical

“Scam app. They won’t allow me to withdraw the remaining $2 on my virtual dollar card.”

I had just woken up to a negative review on Google Play Store. When building a product focused on providing a seamless way for Nigerians to make payments across borders, almost everything is stacked against you. From payment processors to aggregators, regulatory agencies, API providers, even the App Store and most importantly, the amazing, sometimes difficult users. These bodies and others not mentioned combine to keep you on your toes.

But I love what I do. I get bored quickly, so maybe I would have been bored to death without the adrenaline rush from operating in a fast-paced, delicate environment. I have always preferred to focus on the growth and strategy aspect of a product, but I had to dwell more on the technical ecosystem of the product in 2024. Thanks to Kay for allowing me (if I am ever to write a memoir, that man deserves a chapter), and no thanks to Eazy 😁, who will never stop using technical terms in our conversation that happens almost every other day before Micheal disrupted our sweet relationship, although in a good way. Then Femi, whose first request will always be to inspect the Network tab, and Faith, who will always prefer to debug a problem during a live session.

So, in a bid to save time and move with more agility, I started opening the Network tab to debug the problems myself if there is an issue, and then to testing APIs to ensure they function as expected and to avoid developers tossing me around on the source of the issues, and reading comments on PRs to checking files changed to confirm that what I requested were the files worked on. I am still not a developer, and I doubt I have the time to be one now, but understanding the technical ecosystem has helped me greatly, and we can ship features as quickly as possible.

Still wondering what happened to the user with the $2 balance? We gave him the option to terminate the card to get his $2, which he declined. And maybe I should do some advocacy; if you ever get a hold of a dollar card or access to a platform that allows cross-border payment, please use it responsibly as we (Nigerians) are or will be affected by your actions or inactions. Don’t fund a card with $500 and attempt to book a flight of $2,700. There is no miracle in payments. And don’t try to sell fx at the same or even more than the buy rate in an attempt to profit from roundtripping. The product owners are not dumb.

Trip to the future and back and more Travels
During the year, I travelled to China on a business trip and was awed by the country's level of development and technological advancement. From the number of self-driving cars on the road to the proportion of electric cars they have in the country, which is easy to notice due to the different registrations for electric cars to the speed rails, tunnels and infrastructure. It felt like a time travel to the future.

Someone else may say, oooh, I have been to China and did not see all these things. Well, China is like a big elephant and your experience is shaped by the part you touch or explore. I visited about six provinces in China, including the capital city of Beijing, and thanks to our hosts who ensured we experienced the glamorous side of China. I doubt there are ungoverned areas anyway. The only time I felt some level of disorder was when we requested to visit a Nigerian restaurant in Guangzhou. I saw the look on our host's face when we mentioned the place we wanted to visit, but he obliged us nonetheless. It was when we got there and ordered the food that I understood the look. To put the situation in context, imagine your friend who has never been to Nigeria comes visiting, and you organize food in some of the best restaurants on the island, but your friend insists on visiting a bukka he has heard about in Okoko. Apologies to my folks from there.

China has been able to put technology to good use for food production, manufacturing and everyday living. Menial tasks that would have required human effort were automated in the places we stayed. I also like China’s approach to building software. I like the fact they innovate quickly and also prefer to build super apps. Their apps often incorporate numerous features to stand out in the highly competitive Chinese tech ecosystem. One thing I would, however, change if given the opportunity is to find a way to make the app less complex, even with the features.

I won’t do justice to those willing to visit China if I fail to mention that they admire black people. We visited a nightclub in Beijing, and I felt like a superstar. People were randomly coming to request a picture and make a toast to us. I initially thought our presence just amused them. However, the admiration was not limited to that event only; I am beyond certain it is not just amusement. I also admire their communal living and the intentional effort to ensure no one is left behind in extreme poverty. And if you haven’t learnt anything about Chinese tradition, learn that you are required to share food or drinks with someone else at your table.

I also made some family trips during the year, and I agree entirely with Saint Augustine’s opinion that the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.

Back to Class because Learning Never Stops
Towards the end of the year, I enrolled for an MBA Essentials program at The London School of Economics and Political Science, and the only regret I have is waiting this long to take the course. It felt like the modules were specifically created for my development. The very first module on Leading with Influence was the perfect appetizer for what has been a fine buffet. Imagine learning about concepts that would have made a significant difference in your growth trajectory if you had learnt about them earlier.

If you know what the possible outcome of every conversation you have with people will be depending on the approach you take, It could give you the power to change your life. All relationships are transactional to some degrees. People are in them because we get something out of them or give something. However, understanding that you get more when you are not receiving can help you make better decisions. Also, I learnt that life should not revolve around trying to make yourself seem super awesome to others. But making others feel good or important is really what makes us special.

One of the activities that we completed was a power audit. We did a power audit during the course of the program to examine the value we give compared to what we receive from our key contacts. Even though I did not do badly, I have since resolved to further developing and continuously improving my skillset to make myself useful to others, contribute to multiple functions and organizations, and of course to meaningful initiatives. Maybe that is one good way for you too to start the new year.

Cheers to an amazing 2025 🥂