Entrepreneur Coming from Nigeria Highlights the Power of Passion and Commitment

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, Founder and CEO of Canada's Podcast,
[00:09] SPEAKER_02: Community Today from Toronto, and the Yinka at the Jojo is the founder of Weave Sync,
[00:16] SPEAKER_02: based in Toronto, Canada. Her passion to create Weave Sync is rooted in her passion for travel
[00:23] SPEAKER_02: and the challenges she faced as an immigrant navigating to a new country.
[00:27] SPEAKER_02: Although she started with a background in finance and economics and worked in roles at the TSE
[00:33] SPEAKER_02: and as a business analyst in the SaaS company, it was only when she moved into product management
[00:39] SPEAKER_02: that she truly felt energized. This role aligned perfectly with her love for problem solving
[00:46] SPEAKER_02: and innovation, starting the stage with the creation of Weave Sync.
[00:52] SPEAKER_02: So, Yinka, welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: What I want you to do before we get going is tell everyone a little bit about yourself,
[01:04] SPEAKER_02: what you do and how you got here. They've got some context, if you like.
[01:12] SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much Phil, and thank you so much for having me on this podcast.
[01:15] SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it. Yeah, I'm Madhya Yinka, Nigeria, and I was born and bred in Nigeria.
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: Before I relocated to Canada three years ago, I, to be honest, my journey started as a financial analyst
[01:31] SPEAKER_01: where I even had my master's in the UK as a financial investment manager.
[01:38] SPEAKER_01: And then, because I relocated, I transitioned to business analysis
[01:44] SPEAKER_01: because I preferred to facilitate and I wanted to transition into tech.
[01:48] SPEAKER_01: And most importantly, I've always wanted to translate to be an entrepreneur
[01:53] SPEAKER_01: because I was raised in an out sort of entrepreneur.
[01:57] SPEAKER_01: Pignus?
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: If I had for a long time, I was even like working with my father on these estate projects
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: where I was a project manager.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: And so because of that, I've always knew that my life is going to be in the entrepreneur line
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: and even though I missed my room, where I'm at a few times, I'm very grateful that summer I've found my way back
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: and now, in the line, I hope to be in and working as a product manager and founder for what we think.
[02:35] SPEAKER_01: And yeah, this great as my journey so far.
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, and I'm a product manager, yeah.
[02:41] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but you're also a founder.
[02:44] SPEAKER_02: I think that's me, which is why you're here basically.
[02:48] SPEAKER_02: It's interesting, you know, say you grew up in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial family.
[02:56] SPEAKER_02: You know, do you think, does that mean that entrepreneurs are sort of a little bit of a culture of their own?
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: Are they his entrepreneurship inherited or is it something you grow into kind of?
[03:15] SPEAKER_01: It's just I saw, so I saw my uncle building his own oil company from the ground
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: or like, who was serving, but because my father came from a family of not so well established people
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: and I saw my father struggling to office family and all those things.
[03:36] SPEAKER_01: And I saw my uncle building his own company from the ground without like, it has, it's the company that is really established.
[03:45] SPEAKER_01: And then saw my father building his own company in real estate.
[03:50] SPEAKER_01: And I see my mom being a business, having a business, boutiques all over the region in Nigeria.
[04:01] SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate their journey.
[04:03] SPEAKER_01: And it's not like it's something that was in every day.
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: I just saw what they are doing.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: I saw how they are in patent and how it's changed them.
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: Like there's this transformation where you have something you were really passionate about, something that you are really committed to,
[04:18] SPEAKER_01: something and it transforms you into this kind of person where you're not like you're like an horror under you building something, you have to learn to,
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: and then you have this exposure.
[04:32] SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I'm a spring world.
[04:35] SPEAKER_01: I can say in my journey so far as an entrepreneur, I started as a product manager because I'm a product manager at first,
[04:43] SPEAKER_01: but so far because I needed to transform my company or my startup after taking the job,
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: the role as a product designer, taking up the role as a marketer, something storytelling, I've had to learn all these things,
[04:58] SPEAKER_01: I can be on top of my game.
[05:00] SPEAKER_01: And I even did a little bit of, I have to be technical, I have to be, because I'm in the tech industry, I have to learn coding, all these language.
[05:09] SPEAKER_01: Something I wouldn't have done if I was just focused more like in the 95 corporate world.
[05:15] SPEAKER_01: And this is what I noticed when it's my uncle, my brother, my dad, my mom, and different people in Nigeria.
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: And I would say Nigeria has this entrepreneurial spirit because the government doesn't really help you.
[05:31] SPEAKER_01: So you finish, you go to school, do the best because you can, and then you go out there and then you're unemployed because employment is really terrible.
[05:44] SPEAKER_01: And you find that a lot of people, after they start out on their own, it'll be in the active business, like numerous of my friends back home,
[05:54] SPEAKER_01: either having their homes, business where they have airlines or their interior decoration, or their makeup artists, like everyone has 18 in Nigeria,
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: because if you're, let's wait to look for, get a job in the corporate world, it might take a long time.
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: So I guess the agreement also influences a lot of Nigeria's to want to start on their own, yeah.
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good point. Tell us a little bit about your passion, recent.
[06:28] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So, yeah, mishp syncs of what happened in Indonesia was to be honest.
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: I was like I said, I was going to be in the entrepreneur road.
[06:40] SPEAKER_01: And I started, and because I wasn't from the finance, but I went away to start this financial, I was going to go into the fight fintech.
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: But something happened that grew that so I did a lot of traveling.
[06:52] SPEAKER_01: And during my time traveling to this world, I had, I came across so many troubles for solo travelers.
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: I came across the fight that is, you know, even though the world is as developed as the issue of using numerous applications, just so you can plan your trip,
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: or the fact that there's language issues like getting lost in more trouble because then I could not speak French,
[07:19] SPEAKER_01: or the fact that you have to step back before because you want to go to another country, you have to step back to some, by syncs.
[07:28] SPEAKER_01: These are things that I think because technology is going to, it plays where things should be easier.
[07:35] SPEAKER_01: And so when I saw this, all this problem, I feel like we've seen can, so that was what started with seeing this passion,
[07:46] SPEAKER_01: just to up sort of, sort of travelers.
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: And the father sort of traveling actually is going like from last year, the market size was around 4, 70 billion, US billion.
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: And it's going into the CGR is like the same thing.
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people are traveling for personal development, which was what I did as well.
[08:08] SPEAKER_01: And because of this market, I were trying to, so I tried to focus on all kinds of travelers to enjoy the trip,
[08:18] SPEAKER_01: and making travel much easier, and much more convenient, and to even inspire people to travel more.
[08:25] SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like traveling is the big part of a personal development.
[08:30] SPEAKER_01: There's this exposure, this thing's understanding where people, where you see people doing all that things, you get exposed,
[08:38] SPEAKER_01: you try money ideas, you are much more free and then you, I mean, it just does its wellness.
[08:45] Speaker UNKNOWN: Yeah.
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast is your gateway to success in the world of entrepreneurship.
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: Start listening today. Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[08:56] SPEAKER_02: Where are you at in terms of challenges now?
[09:00] SPEAKER_02: You know, what's in terms of the business?
[09:03] SPEAKER_02: I mean, what do you see as your biggest challenge in the future?
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: For whipsing, I would say it's going to be market saturation and competition.
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: Number one, because the tech, in the tech world technology,
[09:17] SPEAKER_01: technology is really fast.
[09:21] SPEAKER_01: So you either leverage on technology, existing technology, or you're trying to build.
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: You find out, for instance, now, when OpenAI came up with their language assistance feature,
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: it renders a lot of tech, a lot of the startup, the HAST, the specific use case,
[09:45] SPEAKER_01: almost at a job, because if you're trying to build one use case in your startup,
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: you'll find out you'll be reluctant because it big companies,
[09:55] SPEAKER_01: and do you know this thing, or imagine Apple with their new or their new features,
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: like the calculating features or the, with the start-up large features,
[10:08] SPEAKER_01: and there's some small tech startup like that, trying to build, build their own business model on those use cases.
[10:18] SPEAKER_01: They are now rendered almost useless, they have to struggle.
[10:23] SPEAKER_01: So that's the problem with tech right now, it's so competitive.
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: Now, apart from that, the travel market is really even more competitive.
[10:36] SPEAKER_01: You find out that what you're doing a lot of, a lot of other travel companies are doing the same.
[10:45] SPEAKER_01: But the thing is that what we're trying to do is that right now,
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: we're trying to provide this unique way, first of all, we're trying to niche,
[10:56] SPEAKER_01: narrow down our market segmentation, and do something for a really niche group.
[11:02] SPEAKER_01: Also, we are leveraging, like I said, a lot of things are other travel companies are not leveraging,
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: like language assistance, and safety tools, a lot of travel companies are not focusing on that.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: This is the major concerns for social travelers.
[11:18] SPEAKER_01: So I think we just have to understand the market and try to niche and provide something
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: that people can actually love and adopt. So that's the goal for now.
[11:34] SPEAKER_02: So what are you most excited about in the business today?
[11:38] SPEAKER_01: In our whiff sync or B9, to present?
[11:42] SPEAKER_02: In whiff sync.
[11:46] SPEAKER_01: I was talking to a group of people in collision, I detect or conference.
[11:56] SPEAKER_01: One of the things I love most about whiff sync is the fact that the way we have used to see or for in the past form.
[12:09] SPEAKER_01: So we are not going, so we are not in such a way that if you want to travel to any country now,
[12:16] SPEAKER_01: you can easily come and risk and such for the country.
[12:22] SPEAKER_01: You could see what others are doing because there is this recommendation of feature where people tell you what they think about the travel,
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: whether in terms of budgetting, in terms of recommendation, in terms of the cultural inside or safety of that particular trip.
[12:41] SPEAKER_01: And you can use that recommendation or tips to guide your own home trip.
[12:49] SPEAKER_01: Because even when this came out, the fact that even Google, sometimes Google does not provide some specific information that traveler needs in their travel.
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: And this is where whiff sync is also trying to provide information, specific information for travelers.
[13:10] SPEAKER_01: And amongst all the amazing things which think is doing, this is my favorite part in whiff sync.
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: I think I'm also very passionate about travel because I'm a traveler myself.
[13:22] SPEAKER_01: Even the whole team, we have an initiative where from next year, when we will have some very features,
[13:30] SPEAKER_01: everyone is going to travel with whiff sync and the command of trip with whiff sync, come back and see,
[13:38] SPEAKER_01: this is what our whiff sync is. This is how we can go better.
[13:42] SPEAKER_01: This is how it's actually in travel. Maybe we are all there some features there in the afternoon.
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: So I would say, I think we are doing something right because everyone, the culture of the company is good and passion.
[13:57] SPEAKER_03: So interesting.
[14:02] SPEAKER_03: You know, what do you think your biggest challenges as an entrepreneur?
[14:11] SPEAKER_02: How do you get to that success?
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: Well, my biggest challenge right now is being an introvert.
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: And it's taking a lot of time for me to build on myself because I'm going against that instinct.
[14:36] SPEAKER_01: And this is an outfit that I've created a long years where I'm just an old buddy.
[14:43] SPEAKER_01: I rather just stay behind scenes for some reason that's our big dream for now because I'm like the face of the world of the company.
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: So I have to challenge this instinct and it has been the biggest challenge so far.
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I have to go against a lot of mistakes.
[15:00] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, but I'm just, I've just been working on it.
[15:05] SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, in terms of being, you know, a newcomer in the sense to kind of breaking through and being an entrepreneur, you're not the only one.
[15:18] SPEAKER_02: Is there something that you could say to others that are going down that path?
[15:27] SPEAKER_02: Some piece of advice that might help them because it's tough.
[15:35] SPEAKER_01: In terms of being an entrepreneur.
[15:38] SPEAKER_02: In terms of, you know, being, being new, being an immigrant, being, you know, being an entrepreneur breaking through.
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: Is there something there that you that you found out that has helped you get through a show like?
[15:58] SPEAKER_01: Right now, I would, my answer is on a spread because I would say it's a delusion.
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I feel like I've run a delusion for the past months.
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: But honestly, what I would tell other founders is the fact that if you have a solution and you feel like you can create an impact.
[16:28] SPEAKER_01: And the people that these people, the most successful founders have noticed are not the smartest people actually.
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: And people that are resilient that don't treat because it's a very, is there so much uncertainty in this road.
[16:42] SPEAKER_01: There's so much, it's so much stress.
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: But what I would, I would know, I haven't regretted my journey so far because like I said,
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: as a living, so numerous number of opportunities I never thought I would get.
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: And the fact that I've learned so much, like I've learned so much, I feel like I'm a new person compared to last year.
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's just been a short journey.
[17:07] SPEAKER_01: I think it's just to understand the new Yoha and what do you want to do as a person, like what do you want to do?
[17:18] SPEAKER_01: Do some people don't want to be an entrepreneur? That's fine.
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: You can always, but I hope it, I would suggest people to always have a side project because why on that side footage, you don't know what where that journey would take you.
[17:34] SPEAKER_01: Even if it's just taking a side project of knitting, because then you start learning out to make something much more beautiful, you start learning out to, you start learning so much.
[17:47] SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I've had to, like I said, I've had to learn so much on the journey.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: Like in a day, I have some people come to think about popular designing and I have to give you a lot of whole new,
[18:00] SPEAKER_01: do a lot of flow for riffsync and it's been an amazing journey.
[18:05] SPEAKER_01: So I would say that even if you don't want to be an entrepreneur, I would tell people that you should always have a side project.
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: Stay ahead of the game with our expert tips and strategies that will help your business thrive in a digital era.
[18:17] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[18:21] SPEAKER_02: What about mentorship? Is there some, I mean, how important is mentorship being to you in this journey so far?
[18:30] SPEAKER_01: Not so much. I have, kind of a mentors I have and my friends to be honest, they inspire me.
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: I have a friend, we are not really close right now, but we also, she also came from India.
[18:45] SPEAKER_01: She's now the CEO of a project, of a, what's it called?
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: Of maple hair, maple eyes, private jets company that, yeah, and she came, she inspires me a lot.
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: My, most of my friends and my friends are my friends, so because if I need some, if I feel like I'm stuck, I see their journey, I talk to them, we always have children.
[19:12] SPEAKER_01: I suppose that's how they, I mean, because I don't know, I don't understand the, I've been a mentor, I've never had a mentor, or I would say maybe my father is someone I look up to as well.
[19:27] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[19:30] SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's where you learned it.
[19:32] SPEAKER_02: You saw them being entrepreneurs.
[19:36] SPEAKER_02: You know, just let's have a bit of fun, you are mourning a midnight person.
[19:41] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'd buy some, I hate money.
[19:48] SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I'm not very friendly in the morning.
[19:52] SPEAKER_02: And if you had to pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why would you choose that word?
[20:01] Speaker UNKNOWN: A word.
[20:03] SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I would use a word to describe myself.
[20:06] SPEAKER_02: Well, as phrase, whatever, you know, it's not to be one word.
[20:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I suppose I would always, amongst everything, I would always consider myself to be very intentional, because I know I'm very intentional.
[20:22] SPEAKER_01: I kind of, I wanted to leave, leave kind of nature and the way I, even though like I said, you make plans, get the real,
[20:34] SPEAKER_01: but I feel like because of my intention, I was like, how I, you know, put some plans in place as brought me here.
[20:43] SPEAKER_01: Intentional and if I don't, I'm resilient as well, like, my god, with a lot of this, my journey, if I start breaking down so much backstory,
[20:52] SPEAKER_01: I would have a quick, long time ago, but I'm very resilient and, and intentional and curious, a very curious as well.
[21:02] SPEAKER_02: What's the biggest challenge in your future as an entrepreneur?
[21:06] SPEAKER_01: My biggest friend, I don't know, I guess the answer they had being, I mean, an international.
[21:20] SPEAKER_01: I think we did talk about me being an anchor at.
[21:24] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you said an interpreter, but I mean, I would say what's the biggest challenge in the future as an entrepreneur, in your journey to succeed in business.
[21:38] SPEAKER_03: Oh, business.
[21:41] SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
[21:43] SPEAKER_03: I can know.
[21:45] SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's right.
[21:46] SPEAKER_03: Sorry, it's okay.
[21:48] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[21:50] SPEAKER_02: What's keeping you up at night in the business?
[21:54] SPEAKER_01: Right now.
[21:55] SPEAKER_01: Is it is a tech part of the company?
[21:59] SPEAKER_01: Is it back in?
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: We had so many tech issues and that's because our platform is a tech, we were supposed to launch.
[22:09] SPEAKER_01: Two weeks ago, and we were able to launch.
[22:11] SPEAKER_01: So this is what is keeping me up at night and how we have to like relocate our database and all of those things.
[22:19] SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's what is keeping me up right now?
[22:22] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[22:24] SPEAKER_02: You know, I think we're pretty close to covering most of the things.
[22:31] SPEAKER_02: How can people get a hold of you online? Say they listen to this and say, hmm, I want to know more.
[22:36] SPEAKER_02: How can they get a hold of you?
[22:39] SPEAKER_01: Well, I have a platform linked in Adenica, Adenica on LinkedIn.
[22:48] SPEAKER_01: And you can always reach, we've seen our website or we've seen support email, which is our support at we've seen dot CA.
[23:00] SPEAKER_01: It's kind of on this picture there.
[23:02] SPEAKER_02: Okay, Adenica, thank you very much for coming on the Canada's podcast.
[23:06] SPEAKER_02: It's been super meeting you.
[23:07] SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your fill.
[23:09] SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
[23:10] SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate what Canada's podcast is doing.
[23:13] SPEAKER_01: I've learned so much with the audit postcards for us.
[23:17] SPEAKER_02: Okay, thank you very much.
[23:19] SPEAKER_02: That's kind of cool, a very different type of approach to things.
[23:25] SPEAKER_02: So I'm filled with this and thanks you all for listening to Canada's podcast.
[23:29] SPEAKER_02: Where you meet the entrepreneurs that really do drive Canada's economy.
[23:35] SPEAKER_03: See you again soon.