Meet Moronfoluwa Akintola, 2021 Africode Mentor of the Year!
Moronfoluwa is a Software Engineer based in Lagos, Nigeria and a tenured Africode community member. He is a former Google Africa Developer Scholar and Google Developer Student Clubs Lead who brought together groups of university students to create peer-to-peer learning environments and build solutions for local businesses and their communities. Moronfoluwa joined Africode as a Mentee and has evolved into a Mentor who helped his mentee to not just build confidence in his technical and soft skills but to also launch a widely-read tech blog.
About Moronfoluwa:
I am from Ibadan (a city in southwest Nigeria) but currently work as a Software developer with Webcoupers in Lagos. Outside work, I spend my free time reading about history and places, also watching documentaries and playing video games.
How long have you been in the tech space at the professional level and how did you get in it?
In high school, I was introduced to web development with Adobe Dreamweaver as part of the Computer studies curriculum - then I knew it was where my passion had always been. Years later, I was admitted to Osun State University, Osogbo to study Computer Science hoping to get more hands-on experience in software development. Then, I went back to where my passion has always been, which was 'coding'. I started learning how to code using thenewboston youtube videos to learn web development. I later met a colleague (now friend) with a similar interest who introduced me to Freecodecamp.
I participated in HNG (Hotels NG) Internships, a 3-month remote internship where we were introduced to software engineering concepts. I also got accepted into the Google Africa Developer Scholarship, (ALCwithGoogle) where I was introduced to Udacity’s online curriculum. In 2018, I was among sixty students selected from Sub-Saharan Africa as a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead (a community group for college and university students interested in a peer-to-peer learning environment and build solutions for local businesses and their community) where I worked with other core team members to support the learning and growth of over 50 students in areas of web and mobile. I also collaborated as a Coordinator for Africa Code Week (an organisation that instills digital literacy and coding skills in the young generation across Africa) in Osogbo, Osun State. During this period I introduced high school students to HTML5 and Scratch Programming.
How did you find out about Africode and why did you choose to become a mentor?
I found out about Africode after stumbling on Halima’s (Africode Team Lead) LinkedIn account. I applied as a mentee in a previous year’s mentorship program and was assigned to Oluwafemi Medale as my mentor. During my time as a Mentee, my conversations with my Mentor enlightened and guided me. I chose to be a Mentor so that I can support other enthusiasts just starting their journey in tech and also to give back to the community.
What did you enjoy about being an Africode mentor this year / What are the makings of a good mentor?
Being a Mentor always made me reflect on when I started. I struggled to understand the basics but thankfully I had Mentors who could guide me. It has been a rewarding experience. Mentorship helps me to constantly improve myself.
How did your experience in tech allow you to be a good resource for your mentees?
I shared the struggles I encountered when I started my career and the approach I used to resolve them so that they can learn from my experience.
What are your academic or professional ambitions?
To apply digital solutions to challenging problems in small and large scale businesses and industries.
What is something in the African tech space that currently interests you?
Currently, my interest lies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its innovations for emerging markets – particularly in Africa. AI will fill infrastructure and human expertise gaps across industries. Machine Learning techniques like image and pattern recognition to natural language processing would help transform industries.
If you’d like to connect with Moronfoluwa, you can find him on LinkedIn.
Africode thanks Moronfoluwa and all of 2021 mentors for their dedication and support in helping us grow the African tech community and build up future technologists!
Congrats again to Moronfoluwa!