By Miftaudeen Raji

The transformative power of Data Science techniques and Artificial Intelligence extends beyond borders, permeating industries vital to global prosperity. From safeguarding financial transactions through fraud detection to revolutionizing healthcare with early cancer detection, these technologies have reshaped our world. In tandem, agriculture benefits from predictive analytics, enhancing crop yield predictions and fostering sustainable practices.

Aadam Olalekan Bodunrin, a University of Ibadan-trained Agricultural Economist turned Data Scientist, is wielding the tools of data science and analytics to propel industries into new frontiers. His visionary approach influences sectors such as financial technology and e-commerce. As we delve into Bodunrin’s journey, we uncover how his expertise shapes industries and enriches lives worldwide.

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Early Career – Grit, Hard work and Vision:
On the cusp of graduating from his Bachelor’s degree program and undergoing the National Youth Service Corp, Aadam served as the Corper Liasion Officer for Ikono Local Government in Akwa Ibom. He was instrumental in helping his fellow Corp members organise several community development programs centred on health and the environment, focusing on sustainability. Overseeing community development programs made him realise the impact and value that digital media can have in enriching people’s lives.

Circa 2018, Nigeria’s digital media landscape was fast-growing; Digify Africa, in collaboration with Facebook, launched “Digify Pro” – the first-of-its-kind Digital marketing program to train Nigerian graduates in Digital Marketing.

Aadam was part of the program’s first cohort and delved into social media management, Advertising and learning other 21st-century skills. He took his learning from this program to QVT Media as a Graduate media Trainee and was able to work with organisations such as Akin Fadeyi Foundation and Ampz Sports.

With his understanding of the Digital media landscape, he collaborated with colleagues to kickstart “Web of Business Owners” – a community-based platform that helps small and medium-scale businesses effectively use digital media platforms to improve their bottom line. Over 200 businesses have benefitted from this endeavour.

When answering what led him to the world of Data Science and Analytics, he chuckled and said, “I stumbled on the infamous Data Science is the sexiest job of the 21st century”. That article changed his approach to a burgeoning career and his dream of being a Data Scientist was gradually coming to fruition after he was selected as a Data Science fellow with the Information and Data Analytics Foundation (iDAF).

Diverse Experience – Working with National and International Organisations:
The Data Science fellowship with iDAF was fulfilling and enriching; it broadened his scope and the level of impact he can achieve in his community. During the program, he was part of the team that built a COVID-19 tracking dashboard and led a project that used natural language processing (NLP) to automate the extraction of entities to record business transactions securely.

In layman’s terms, they built a model that helped small and medium-scale business owners store their daily transactions on their mobile devices.

His proudest moment came when he worked as a Power BI Analyst with Survey54, now Safiyo, a United Kingdom-based company. Safiyo uses data to help brands in the African continent measure food, drink (Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic), and traditional media consumption.

The project was pan-African, an international gig that combined his two loves—Data Science and Digital Media, and he is glad they were able to help tons of African-oriented businesses make data-driven decisions.

“There is a lot of application of Data Science to E-commerce in Nigeria. The likes of Konga and Jumia already utilize recommender systems to suggest items for customers to buy”. I can tell he was glad to have worked with Omnibiz and helped the organisation understand its customers’ buying patterns.

Before deciding to further his education – a Master’s degree in Data Science at East Carolina University, he worked with Kippa – a Financial technology company, as its first Data Analyst hire. Apart from his regular work, he collaborated with his colleagues to create an MSME report for Nigeria – a feat first achieved by a financial technology company in Nigeria. “I am always happy whenever anyone reaches out to ask how we were able to create the report and present a holistic look at small and medium scale business across all industries in Nigeria”.

Working in different industries, from Digital Media to a brief stint at Information technology consulting, E-commerce and Financial Technology, he has used data-driven decisions to grow several businesses and enrich his community.

Future Endeavors:
“As I look at the culmination of my Masters Degree in Data Science, I will be looking forward to taking my skills, wealth of experience across different Industries to the health Sector”. His stint at Ancestry further propelled him to use his knowledge and solve some of the biggest problems in global Health.

In addition, his research and collaboration with the global burden of Diseses network on Cardiovascular Diseases, Nervous Disorders and age-sex-specific mortality & life expectancy which can all be found via his research gate profile will help national and International government institutions to make effective health-related policies.

There are two major problems he is looking to significantly contribute to in the next years – glaucoma and Memory loss. On memory loss, he recently submitted a topic titled “Application of Machine Learning and Computer Vision to aid Memory Enhancement” to the Pycon Nigeria 2024 conference and will take on this issue with a team of amazing Data professionals.

You can reach out to Aadam via LinkedIn and Research Gate