Speaking

For organizations taking digital transformation seriously.

Keynotes, panels, workshops, accelerator programs and convenings on applied AI strategy, productization, closing the digital gap, and the policy questions emerging around digital transformation, tech entrepreneurship and AI.

Speaking is part of how the practice works, not a separate activity. The advisory work I do is built on a specific intellectual position about AI — what it is good for, where it fails, and which questions it cannot yet answer. That position is most useful when it is in a room with the people making decisions.

Over a decade, I have given keynotes, sat on panels, taught workshops, and led convenings for academic conferences, for industry conferences, for regulators and federal government ministries, for founder cohorts and executive programs, and for national broadcast media. The thread across all of it is the same: how can we use digital technologies to make our lives, businesses and communities better?

I take engagements where the audience is genuinely deciding something or are having critical discussions — what to build, what to govern, what to fund, what to teach.

The Topics

What I speak about, and who it is for.

Five thematic clusters drawn from the practice and the research. Each can be tailored as a keynote, a workshop, a panel contribution, or a fireside conversation.

— Topic One

Trustworthy AI in high-stakes domains

The decision-makers in health, finance, regulated information, and public-trust domains face a particular problem: most AI strategy advice is written for industries where being wrong is cheap. In domains where mistakes are expensive, the calculation is different. I speak on what trustworthy AI actually looks like when the deployment environment cannot tolerate the typical failure modes — and on the architectural, governance, and policy choices that follow from taking that constraint seriously.

Best for leadership audiences in regulated industries, public-sector convenings, and policy forums.

Representative talks
  • The AI questions where being wrong is expensive
  • What trustworthy AI actually means in regulated industries
— Topic Two

Technology Entrepreneurship

The realities of building and scaling technology businesses — from validating a product idea and finding product-market fit, to navigating regulatory environments, securing funding, and building teams. Drawing on over a decade of founding and advising technology ventures across the UK, Nigeria, and the US, including building iBez Consulting and the Handy-Jacks platform.

Best for founder cohorts, accelerator programs, startup weekends, and entrepreneurship summits.

Representative talks
  • From idea to deployment: what it actually takes to ship a technology product
  • Building tech ventures in emerging markets
  • The productization gap: why most startups stall between prototype and product
— Topic Three

Productization for founders

The discipline most often missing from technical founders and applied-research teams is not the technology — it is the practice of turning a working prototype into a deployable, governable product. I have spent more than a decade teaching this discipline to founders across the UK, Nigeria, and the United States. Engagements range from single keynotes to multi-week founder cohorts and structured executive education programs.

Best for startup accelerators, founder communities, executive education programs, and corporate innovation teams.

Representative talks
  • From prototype to product: the discipline most founders are missing
  • What I learned shipping seventy products in fifteen years
  • Productization as risk management
— Topic Four

AI policy for today's markets

AI policy debates are being shaped almost entirely by American and European institutions. The implications for emerging-market deployment — different infrastructure, different talent pipelines, different regulatory traditions, different cultural norms around health and information — are largely absent from the conversation. I speak on what AI governance frameworks actually need to look like when they are designed for places that the current frameworks were not.

Best for regulators, federal ministries, multilateral convenings, and emerging-market policy forums.

Representative talks
  • AI governance for places it was not designed for
  • What equitable AI deployment actually requires
  • Trust, infrastructure, and the cost of one-size-fits-all policy
— Topic Five

Digital Transformation and Digitization

What digital transformation actually means in practice — beyond the buzzwords. I speak on the strategic, operational, and cultural realities of moving organisations from legacy processes to digital-first systems, covering everything from infrastructure decisions and data readiness to change management and the human side of technology adoption. Drawing on two decades of implementing systems across banking, government, healthcare, and education.

Best for executive leadership, government ministries, chambers of commerce, and organisational transformation forums.

Representative talks
  • Digital transformation beyond the buzzword: what it actually takes
  • Digitization in emerging markets: infrastructure, talent, and trust
  • Building digital-first organisations from legacy systems
Featured Engagements

Three rooms, three audiences.

Selected engagements that show the range — an industry-conference panel, a corporate training program, and a national broadcast appearance.

Selected Venues

Across three registers, three continents.

Speaking work runs across academic conferences, industry forums, and broadcast media. The list below is curated rather than exhaustive — the full record is on the CV.

Academic Conferences

  • AMIA Annual Symposium San Francisco · 2024
  • IEEE International Conference on Digital Health Helsinki · 2025
  • IEEE PerCom · CARD Workshop Washington, DC · 2025
  • ACM SaT-CPS Workshop 2024
  • IEEE BigData 2024
  • IEEE WISC PhD Forum 2024
  • Rutgers University · Invited Lecture 2024

Industry Conferences & Panels

  • Africa NXT Lagos (formerly Social Media Week) · 2014–2022
  • W.TEC (Women's Technology Empowerment Centre) Lagos · 2014–2022
  • Founder Institute Multiple cohorts · 2014–present
  • Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry Ongoing partner · through 2026
  • Federal Ministry panels Lagos and Abuja
  • Africa Law Festival Nairobi, Kenya
  • Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit Lagos

Broadcast Media

  • Channels TV · Rubbin' Minds and Tech Trends National broadcast
  • Voice of America · Tech54 and Our Voices 634 International
  • CNBC Africa Continental broadcast
  • WFM 91.7 (Women Radio) Multi-episode contributor
  • Ebony Life TV
  • PlusTV (Lagos)
  • Speed FM (Benin City)
Formats

How the work actually fits your room.

Each topic adapts to one of four standard formats. Custom formats are possible for substantial engagements — speak to me about what would work in your context.

Keynote

30 – 45 minutes · Q&A optional

The standard plenary or anchor talk. A single substantive argument, designed to leave an audience with something they did not have before — a frame, a position, or a specific intellectual tool. Best for opening or closing a conference day.

Panel contribution

45 – 90 minutes · Multi-speaker

A panel seat where I bring the strategist-and-researcher perspective to a multi-voice conversation. I prepare around the named topic but speak from the practice. Best for industry conferences and policy forums where the conversation benefits from triangulation across voices.

Workshop or masterclass

Half-day to multi-day · Cohort-based

Structured working sessions for founders, executives, or cross-functional teams. Topics adapt — productization is the most common, AI strategy and governance are increasingly common. Workshops include facilitated exercises, not just presentation, and are designed to leave the room with output the participants can act on.

Fireside chat

30 – 60 minutes · Two-voice

A moderated conversation rather than a one-way talk. Best when the room wants depth on a specific question, when a topic is contested, or when an audience benefits from watching a thoughtful interlocutor draw out the argument. Works particularly well for invited-talk formats and on-camera interviews.

Location

Virtual worldwide · In-person available

Languages

English

Lead time

6 weeks preferred · can discuss other timelines on a case-by-case basis

Inviting Me to Speak

If your room fits the work, let's talk.

Use the contact form on the About page to send a speaking invitation — include the venue, audience, format, and date if known. I read everything and respond personally to the invitations that fit the practice.

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