Roseline Ilori is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bridge57 Solutions Limited, she possesses close to two decades of experience in the technology space with vast experience in information systems, telecommunications, product development, mobile and technology product development. Roseline, a business strategist and a technology entrepreneur has implemented diverse business initiatives and products for several organizations, NGOs, and government parastatals using strategic foresights, drive and determination.
Prior to founding Bridge57, Roseline served for five years as the Chief Executive Officer of MTech Communications Plc., the pioneer and leading Mobile Value Added Service Provider in Nigeria, a company that operates in eleven countries in Africa. In the course of this role, the company partnered with several international and local organizations in developing top-notch products and services leveraging on mobile technology and others.
Roseline completed the Stanford University’s programme – Stanford Seed Business Transformation Programme in August 2017. A Certified Cisco Security Professional (CCSP), she is a graduate of Computer Engineering from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, she holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) with Specialization in Marketing and has also attended several trainings and business transformation programmes. She speaks at several events both locally and internationally.
Roseline has trained several entrepreneurs in different sector. She is a business strategist and technology enthusiast who loves speaking and encouraging the young people to be better than they are or ever imagined.
In this interview with Oyinlola Sale, Rosaline Ilori, tells us how she believes so much in the power of technology.
Now tell us what led you into establishing Bridge 57 Solutions?
I have been in the technology space for 18 years now in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa where we have deployed a lot of solutions in the past.
I decided to start Bridge 57 Solutions because I saw that there are more problems to be solved in Nigeria and Africa at large, and where there are problems, there are opportunities as well and I saw it as an opportunity to solve more problems which will lead to more entrepreneurs being born, so that was actually what motivated me to leave paid employment to establish my Business.
The tech space is a male dominated industry, so as a woman that has delved into it, what has been your experience so far?
In the past few years, the growth has been amazing, more and more young women and girls are entering the tech space. Now, for the government, there is a lot they need to do.
Technology is very broad, most often we concentrate on the software engineering but there is still the hardware area, where we have robotics kind of technology. So there are so many other areas where the government needs to look into, so that they can encourage technology entrepreneurs.
The fact is that the environment we are in is not conducive for technology to thrive, so the government needs to work on it and take advantage of it.
As an Innovation professional, how does this make a difference ? Do you think there is a significant growth in technology and innovation space in Nigeria?
For technology we are making progress, I won’t say we are there yet but we are making progress. In terms of innovation we are still far in Nigeria, I was given the opportunity to go through some training on innovation in some international organizations, which made me realize that many people talk about innovation but they don’t really know what it means.
We are still behind in the area of innovation and it is quite wide, because it can be passed to processes and different areas of business models, products and brand.
The fact is that Innovation and technology are two different things.
What problems are you presently solving at Bridge 57 Solutions with technology and innovation?
So at Bridge 57, there are two pillars at Bridge, innovation and technology and in between them is digital transformation. Those are the two pillars our business is been built on.
Let me talk first on innovation and what problems we are solving, so what we try to do is to create a lot of awareness and we just don’t talk about innovation, we do innovation through our Co Creation Workshops, using innovation practice, methodologies and more.
There are so many ways to bring out the solutions to problems in an organization and what we do is to train their employees to be more innovative. For example, about three years ago we created the first audio book platform and all the narrators are here and were locally sourced and we did it across Africa.
What challenges have faced or facing as a woman in technology ? How supportive has the environment being ?
One of the challenges I passed through was in my early days in the industry when I realized that I was the only woman on the floor and there were two toilets that were not labeled on the floor, so I had to take the initiative to label one male and the other female. I became assertive and locked the female toilet because I wanted the men to respect the privacy of women. It’s important as a woman to be able to assert herself and to also stand strong.
Another challenge as a woman is that when you are trying to sell a product, they look at you and the way they respond initially can be discouraging, but as time goes by during the conversation, they realize the woman knows her onions.
In the face of the menace of cyber security issues and data privacy breach, do you have any suggestions on how tech startups can partner govt to curb this?
So, we are doing our own in our own little way but there is still a lot of awareness that has to happen. There is a report by African Development Bank in 2018, where they did a statistics about people that go into business and according to research, people go into business because they don’t have an option. Now for technology entrepreneurs there are a lot of awareness that need to be created for them and education for them to have a purpose to go into a particular business.
Recently CBN’s governor, Emefiele said Fintech companies are disrupting the banking industry in Nigeria. Do you think at the growth rate of fintech there is a possibility of a national overhaul to fintech, seeing that you also include this in your services as a company?
When we talk about disruptions, it will surely happen. In various sectors you find out that there is disruption, look at the transportation sector, for example yellow taxis are not relevant now, with bolt and Uber.
What have been some of your biggest challenges thus far?
The major challenge is that professionals in the industry are leaving Nigeria and it’s affecting the human capital in the industry.
The brain drain is affecting them and after they are trained, they can’t cope in Nigeria and so they decide to relocate abroad to seek greener pastures.
What can the government do to encourage young technology entrepreneurs?
The government needs to take care of the educational system locally. They can also organize mentor-ship programs in partnership with blue chip companies in the technology sector, so that it can expose the young minds to greater opportunities and at the same time it will have a positive impact in Nigeria’s economy.
How does being a woman in technology affect your family life?
I have always carried my family along at every stage in my career, my children presently know that I am being interviewed and that has helped me in the area of pursuing my career and being able to strike a balance as a career woman and a devoted mother and wife.
If you could just project into the future, what do you envision for the future of Bridge57 Solutions in Nigeria?
We don’t see ourselves as a lone ranger, we see ourselves building businesses for entrepreneurs and using technology and as well as solving a lot of problems through innovation.
