The Man, The Myth by Emeka Ehinze
January 25, 2022

The Man, The Myth by Emeka Ehinze

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Emeka Ehinze and I am a product leader based in Lagos Nigeria with a deep passion for building technological products that has taken me into a ride with almost 10 technology companies and industries ranging from retail to payments, logistics, banking, fintech, and blockchain the past 6 years of my life .

What led you to a career in tech?

I had always loved technology. My mum was the one who sparked that curiosity in me as she was a graduate of computer science at Yabatech and thus there were always computer hardware devices such as floppy disks, diskettes, and I forgot to add computer science textbooks were always there for me to read. My dad also played a major role as he bought me my first multimedia phone around early 2000s when the mobile phone was happening in Nigeria … All of these efforts by my parents led me into the awesome world of technology and since then there has been no looking back thus far ….

What does a typical day look like for you?

My typical day entails writing product specifications, replying to emails, updating PRDs, using the product, trying out competitors products, staying abreast of industry news, writing, organising feedback and catalogue, working with revenue data and general data and also reading some information about geopolitics.

Advice to your younger self?

I am 27 but an advice to my younger self would be to always listen to people and have empathy for other opinions.

If you could invite anyone to join the Black Valley community, who and why?

It would be Ben Ritchie and the reason is he helped me become a product leader. This was in 2020 during the covid pandemic. I was a student at PLATO for engineering managers and Ben was my mentor… Ben acted like a father figure and taught me the rudiments of what it took to be a product leader.

Final thoughts?...

Build stuff that scale be it a product or service.

Emeka Ehinze

Product Leader