Theo Okafor Discusses Building Dot Campus and Being a Tech Educator in Today’s “Doing Life With…”

Doing Life With… is a BellaNaija Features series that showcases how people live, work, travel, care for their families and… everything in between. We are documenting the lives of all people and ensuring everyone is well-represented at BN.

Did you miss last week’s conversation with ‘Kunle Adebajo? You can catch up here. 

This week, we’re doing life with Theo Okafor, the founder and Director at Dot Campus, a TechEd platform that provides tech skills to tech enthusiasts. Enjoy!

Hello Theo, how are you doing today?

I am doing well, thank you. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you.

Give us a glimpse into your background and your journey in tech

I had a fun childhood growing up in my village in Anambra state. I studied mechanical engineering at the Federal University of Technology in Owerri and graduated as one of the top three graduates in my class. My first contact with tech was in 2012 when I received a partial scholarship to study Oracle Database Management at AfriHub while I was an undergraduate. At the time, I did not own a laptop, so I learned by taking notes and observing my classmates practice. Fortunately, later that year, I received funds from the MTN Foundation Scholarship which I used to purchase a laptop.

My journey in the tech industry began in 2018 when I joined Andela. It was when my software engineering career took off. After completing a 6-month training phase in Lagos, I was selected for the resident learning facilitator program. Along with a colleague, I was flown to Rwanda to support Andela boot camps and help strengthen the tech ecosystem in their Pan-African hub in Kigali. After working with Andela, I have had the opportunity to work with other companies in Nigeria including a fintech and a software development agency and BBC News. I also worked with companies in Canada and the US through the Toptal Network.

That’s cool

Thank you.

Tell us about Dot Campus

I started DotCampus.co in June 2020, shortly after Andela had stopped operating as a tech talent training and outsourcing company and had pivoted to only talent outsourcing. This move created a significant gap in the Nigerian tech industry that no other company has been able to fill at the same level, scale and effectiveness as Andela. Initially, Dot Campus began informally with a friend and a Twitter contact asking for my mentorship in software engineering. A few more people joined the mentorship and we formed a Telegram Channel called “Dot Campus” and that was how the story began.

What sets Dot Campus apart from other online learning platforms?

I believe that what distinguishes us from other platforms is our specialisation and our approach. Our programs are highly adaptable and suitable for both working-class individuals and students. At Dot Campus, our students have the freedom to pause their learning at any time and resume when they choose to. Our mentorship track is meticulously designed to cater to our learners’ weaknesses and help them upskill quickly to become job-ready. We provide our students with technical skills and also introduce them to a system that closely simulates a typical workplace environment throughout their learning process. We also teach them the necessary soft skills that are required to succeed in their jobs. Our goal is to ensure that our students are well-equipped with the right skills and knowledge for both remote and onsite tech jobs.

 

What were the initial challenges you faced (or are still facing) with Dot Campus and how are you navigating them?

One of the biggest challenges we are facing at Dot Campus is finding and attracting the right learners to join us. It has been discouraging as we struggle to find individuals who have the enthusiasm and ability to learn at the pace we expect from our learners, given that our programmes are self-paced and online. When we started in Telegram, we had a thriving community with learners who knew and supported each other, but this culture has since become diluted, and we have been struggling to restore it. We recently provided a scholarship, sponsored by one of our former mentees, and found that the majority of the learners who joined us through the scholarship are cooperative and are performing well in our program. To encourage more individuals with similar drive to join us, we have decided to continue offering this scholarship periodically. Currently, we are seeking sponsors for this quarter to enable us to offer more scholarships.

Can you share any success stories from Dot Campus students that you are proud of?

One of our former students moved to the Netherlands in March, this year after receiving an invitation from the company that they work for. Currently, one of my former mentees is working with us as a Software Engineer at Dot Campus, and I am extremely impressed with her skills, while concerned that it won’t be long before organisations with stronger financial resources take notice. As I mentioned earlier, one of our former students generously sponsored our scholarship offerings in the first quarter of the year as a way of giving back to our community. Another former student secured a job within five months of their training while still being a university student. I am proud to say that the majority of our students who completed our program are doing very well.

That’s impressive

Thank you. We wish to continue to have more.

What future developments or advancements do you envision for Dot Campus?

We have plans to expand our range of courses soon by adding more programs, such as UI/UX Design, Cyber Security, Product Management, and others. We plan to introduce tutor-led programs and collaborate with tech hubs throughout the country to make learning more accessible to people. We aspire to expand and establish ourselves in other African countries as well.

What’s a typical day in your life?

My weekdays are quite regimented. My alarm usually goes off at 4:30 am. If I managed to get to bed early the previous night, I’d wake up right away and start my day, otherwise, I’d snooze for an extra hour before getting up. I then head to my workstation where I either work on Dot Campus or attend to any unfinished tasks for my MBA studies at the Lagos Business School. My family typically prays around 7 a.m., which is also my wife’s wake-up time. After that, I take care of some household chores and then get back to work. Between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., I’m usually occupied with work-related activities, which include a 75-minute online MBA class. On a good day, I typically end the day reading X (Twitter), Nairaland or Geopolitics news, especially about the Russo-Ukraine War. Afterwards, I play games before going to sleep.

If you’re offered 10 million naira right now, what is the first thing you’d do with it?

10 million is gooood money, haha. At the top of my head, I would use about half to offer more people scholarships to learn with us at Dot Campus. The remaining half would go into funding our monthly webinars and the development of our new learning management system.

⁠What are the little things in your life that give you joy or get you excited?

The things that bring me joy are also the things I am most grateful for. These include the people in my life, such as my wife who has supported me since the start of Dot Campus, my little girl, my parent, siblings, friends, colleagues at Dot Campus and in School, and former mentees.

Describe Theo with three emojis

Thank you for being on Doing Life With…

Thank you for having me.

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Many thanks to Theo Okafor for having this conversation with us and answering all our questions – and swiftly too, we must add.

Do you love this content, have any feedback for us or want to be a BellaNaija Features contributor? We’d love to read from you. Shoot us an email: [email protected]. Join us on Saturday for the next episode!

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