Not every story in tech begins with a clear roadmap or perfect timing.
For Osas Igbinijesu, her journey began with uncertainty, self-doubt, and a nagging question that many late starters quietly wrestle with:
“Is it too late for me to break into tech?”
“I didn’t come from a computer science background,” she says. “There were moments I felt completely out of place like the industry was moving too fast and I had missed the train.”
But what she didn’t realize then was that her strength wasn’t in coding but it was in building, understanding people, and bringing structure and growth to chaos. And that strength would carry her through some of the most dynamic startup spaces in Nigeria.
Learning the Hard Way and Then Growing
Osas entered the tech space half a decade ago where she was thrown into the high-pressure world of growth and operations. From there, she worked at two early-stage ventures both of which later folded.
“At the time, it felt like failure,” she admits. “But looking back, those experiences were bootcamps. I learned what not to do. I learned how fragile startup ecosystems are in places like Nigeria and how much unseen work goes into building products that actually survive.”
She carried those lessons into her next role a first of its kind food tech in the world empowering bakers across Nigeria and connecting loved ones back home from anywhere at the click of a button where she led its expansion from 1 to 26 states and supporting platform growth across the African diaspora.
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Driving Change in Education from the Inside
Currently, Osas Osamudiamen Igbinijesu is working on Schole Labs, a product-focused education platform supporting African schools in overcoming operational inefficiencies with a focus on state-level impact and long-term education reform.
“Everyone talks about access to education,” she explains. “But we ignore the broken systems behind the scenes. Timetabling, fees, communication they’re all held together by spreadsheets and stress. That’s what we’re trying to fix.”
Building Others, While Building Herself
But it’s her work with Morpheus Academy that has deeply reshaped her purpose. Since joining as a mentor, Osas has helped train and guide over 300 students across Africa and in the diaspora in business development, go-to-market strategy, and financial modelling.
She doesn’t just teach, she listens. She shares her own doubts, her mistakes, and her lessons helping students feel less alone in their journeys.
“So many of them think they’re late, or that they don’t belong,” she says. “I know that feeling. I tell them you’re not behind. You’re just building in your own direction.”
Her mentorship has helped students secure jobs, internships, and launch small businesses, some of whom now mentor others in turn.
No Spotlight, Just Impact
Osas doesn’t consider herself a traditional tech leader.
“I’m not the face on the startup banner. I am the one helping get the product to market, smoothing the systems.”
And yet, her influence is undeniable whether in shaping scalable growth in startups or nurturing a new wave of tech talent across Africa and beyond.
When asked if she still doubts herself, she laughs. “Of course I do. But doubt doesn’t stop me from showing up.”
