Oluwadamilola Raji is a Release Train Engineer (RTE), agile coach and Scrum Master. She is the founder and CEO of NabelTech Consulting, a leading tech consulting and training company in the United Kingdom offering a wide range of services that help individuals and organizations to develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities required to push the boundaries of innovation and possibilities in today’s fast-paced dynamic world.

In this interview, she speaks on her experience as an immigrant, the birth of, and driving passion behind NabelTech Consulting.

How did it all start?

I relocated to the UK seven years ago after graduating from LeadCity University, Ibadan, Oyo State. Before leaving Nigeria, I was a makeup artist.

However, it was difficult for me in the new location to consistently attract customers due to constant rain and cold weather. I realised that out of 12 months in a year, eight were winter. Four months were actually when there was summer. And the makeup market was not something that was sustainable year-round.

Then I thought there was a need to up my game by looking for a stable source of income. So I later got a low paying job as an healthcare assistant and worked in different hospitals and care homes.

What is it like working as healthcare assistant?

Most Africans that relocated abroad usually put themselves in a fix working either as caregivers or adding additional certifications to become nurses.

It was a no-brainer for me to consider choosing a similar path. I was able to get a job with NHS professionals as a care support worker. Because of the nature of my job, I was working mainly in hospitals. My mindset then was to do two years as a care support worker, I would then transition into being a nurse. I was thinking I would get a degree in nursing not minding I already have a B. Sc before coming to the UK.

I enjoyed the job for some good reasons. I learnt from my mum who would say “Whatever your hands find to do, do it well”. Also, I am naturally a caring person. I love to take care of people and make them feel better. When I was a healthcare worker, I enjoyed it. Going to different hospitals, I made loads of friends caring for children and people in care homes at the end of life; people who are very sick and know they will pass on soon.

Even though some of my patients were not going to get better, the opportunity to give them good quality care at that point of their lives was something I was passionate about. Sincerely, that was the reason why I told myself since I enjoyed what I do, why didn’t I go for nursing.

So at the beginning, I was doing odd jobs to support the meager income of my immediate family.

However, I never got tired of looking for solutions that would allow me to enjoy excellent work-life balance and financial freedom. When I became a support worker, I was pregnant and also had my first child. And I was usually on night shifts. When I gave birth to the second baby, I would leave my four month old baby with my health friend and go to work.

There were nights when my baby would cry and cry. And the wages were not something that could sustain me for a long period of time. I wanted something I could do and make me be there for my kids and family and not getting worried about money as well.

Are those the thoughts that gave birth to NabelTech Consulting?

Yes. I had worked for a while before launching my company. From the pains of my experience, a passion was ignited that led me to start NabelTech Consulting in 2017.

The reason was creating a company to fill the gap that makes black people underrepresented in the field of technology. I need to stress that the students NabelTech trains don’t even need to learn how to code or have a computer science degree.

Nabeltech was born from the dream to bring more black people into the tech space and help them become financially stable with excellent work life balance.

What specific services does NabelTech offer?

The services we offer for now include consultancy services, helping immigrants to transition into tech and solutions like helping organisations to build websites and software applications. We also offer training in scrum, business analysis, software testing, and cloud computing. All these are non-technical roles in tech.

For Nigerians and black immigrants that want to make a career transition into tech, I give them the assurance that there are numerous roles they can fit into. I want to also advise them to believe in themselves, develop the right mindset and ask questions from those already doing what they want to do.