I Channelled My Displeasure into Building a Scalable Product — Damilola Olokesusi
#SCAIWD2022: An interview with the co-founder and CEO of Shuttlers
Every year, in March, women are celebrated worldwide across different fields and industries. The theme for this year’s IWD is #BreakTheBias. As we all know, the tech industry is largely male-dominated and we at She Code Africa constantly work to enlighten, encourage, celebrate, and empower women in tech to #BreakTheBias. To commemorate the 2022 IWD event and recognise and appreciate women-led tech firms, we interviewed female (co-)founders in tech. For the first episode, we spoke to Damilola Olokesusi, the co-founder of Shuttlers.
Damilola Olokesusi is Co-Founder and CEO of Shuttlers, a company at the intersection of transport and tech, which currently enables workers and organisations to enjoy the ease of transit in Lagos and Abuja.
Please note that some parts of the interview have been paraphrased for readability sake and pleasantries have been skipped.
SCA: How did you get into tech?
Damilola: I studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Lagos, and my first contact with anything tech-related was during some of my courses that had to do with MATLAB. However, the most significant event that spurred my interest happened in 2009. I attended an edition of The Platform event, where we had experts speak to us about tech. That experience spiked my interest in tech, and I got motivated to begin my journey.
I dived into Backend Development for a while. In 2012, I came up with a fashion-tech product idea. It wasn’t successful because I didn’t have a good business model, and let’s just say it was a learning phase. In 2015, we started converting our Shuttlers idea to a product, and here we are.
SCA: How did Shuttlers happen, though? What inspired you to go into transport?
Damilola: I grew up in Ibadan before coming to school in Lagos. We had these buses available from Yaba and Bariga to UNILAG and back; they are called campus shuttles. Throughout my stay in school and even post-school, I didn’t experience a city with good transport. In fact, transporting to and fro places was tiring.
I found out that some companies provide staff buses to take staff members to and fro certain bus stops, and I thought that was cool. Later, I travelled out of the country, and I enjoyed smart and comfortable transport systems. I had to do something, so I started thinking about the Shuttlers idea. The name “Shuttlers” was inspired by UNILAG campus shuttles.
SCA: I think many of us, especially Lagos residents, can relate to the stress of transport. I’m curious, though; you could have gone into pure logistics. What made you include the tech aspect?
Damilola: I think my engineering background had to do with it. At first, I managed about three vehicles and tried getting more buses. However, looking at innovations like Airbnb and Uber made me realise that you do not always need infrastructure to solve a problem; you can just be the link. And with tech, it’s efficient.
SCA: How did that go? I mean, being a woman in tech and logistics, two male-dominated fields.
Damilola: To be honest, I didn’t think it was so male-dominated till I started looking for partners. It took a lot; most of these people underestimated me because I was a woman. It was initially discouraging, but then, after a while, it became the opposite. The entire situation fuelled my passion, and I channelled my displeasure into motivating myself to build a scalable product.
SCA: Did you at any point join a tech community?
Damilola: Yes, I belonged and still belong to some communities.
SCA: Do you think that has contributed to your growth in any way?
Damilola: Yes, in fact. When I started this journey, I had limited material resources, so I had to leverage human resources. Nobody is an island. We need help along the way, and communities help us do just that. I built on networks and received help while also giving back and helping others.
SCA: Spot on, Damilola! What is your proudest moment as a tech founder?
Damilola: They’re a couple, actually, but I’ll just mention one or two. The first thing I am proud of is that we’re creating something that no one has ever done, and it’s female-led. It feels like magic. We are creating magic.
Also, while doing this, we’re impacting lives. We have partners who have built fleets of cars and grown significantly since we started. I look at some team members, and I am indeed speechless sometimes. They have improved so much and are fantastic at what they do. It doesn’t end there; I love that we are creating a ripple effect. We are impacting lives to impact others, and that’s the highlight for me.
SCA: You’re doing incredibly, Damilola. Well done. What’s your IWD message?
Damilola: Generally, women tend to be perfectionists. We have our perfect picture in mind, and we just want to pursue it. My IWD message is this: Just start. Don’t be so afraid of failure that it holds you back from pursuing your goals. You can do it. Even if your goal is as huge as creating a global company, you can do it. Focus on growth and progress, expand that vision, and engineer to scale.
Interview by Olamide 'Pearl' Makinde and Hafsah Emekoma
