Demi Oloyede

Demi Oloyede is a Veteran, dynamic entrepreneur and the founder of Limpiar, a cutting-edge cleaning service provider leveraging technology and sustainability to redefine industry standards. With a background in IT management and product development, Demi’s journey began as a first-generation immigrant who worked in cleaning services while putting herself through college. Her experiences and insights have fueled her mission to address challenges in the cleaning industry by building accessible, eco-conscious solutions. Demi is passionate about using entrepreneurship to create meaningful social impact, particularly in underserved communities, and has led Limpiar to become a trusted partner for businesses and homeowners alike.

Summary

Demi Oloyede, a dynamic entrepreneur and veteran, shares her inspiring journey from Lagos, Nigeria, to founding Limpiar, a technology-driven cleaning service that aims to redefine industry standards. Driven by her experiences as an immigrant and her struggles to finance her education through cleaning jobs, Demi highlights the challenges faced by both cleaners and customers in the industry. She emphasizes the importance of using technology to create a seamless connection between service providers and clients, ensuring transparent pricing and quality service delivery. Demi’s grit and determination shine through as she discusses her path to success, including her decision to join the Navy and her vision for making a meaningful social impact. Her passion for education and empowerment is evident as she aims to uplift underserved communities through her work and philanthropic efforts.

Demi Oloyede's inspiring journey from Lagos, Nigeria, to becoming a successful entrepreneur and veteran underscores the transformative power of grit and determination. As the founder of Limpiar, a cutting-edge cleaning service, Demi combines her passion for sustainability with technology to redefine industry standards. In this insightful conversation with host Jothy Rosenberg, Demi shares her experiences navigating various challenges, from her family's expectations of her becoming a doctor to her entrepreneurial ventures that emerged from necessity. Having worked in cleaning services throughout her education, Demi developed a unique understanding of the struggles faced by independent cleaners, leading her to create a managed marketplace that connects customers with reliable cleaning services, all while ensuring transparency and efficiency in pricing and service delivery.

The discussion also delves into Demi's military service in the Navy, highlighting how her desire to give back to a country that has offered her opportunities shaped her decision to enlist. Her upbringing, marked by resilience and a relentless pursuit of her dreams, has equipped her with valuable insights into both the cleaning industry and the broader entrepreneurial landscape. Demi emphasizes the importance of education as a means to combat inequality and asserts that knowledge is a powerful tool that can overcome societal biases. With her sights set on future endeavors, including expanding her nonprofit work aimed at supporting education in West Africa, Demi's story is a testament to the impact one can have when driven by purpose and a vision for change.

Listeners will find themselves motivated by Demi's story of overcoming adversity and her commitment to making a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Her approach to entrepreneurship as a means of social impact resonates deeply, especially in today's world where sustainability and community support are increasingly vital. Through her experiences and aspirations, Demi Oloyede exemplifies the spirit of innovation and resilience, inspiring aspiring entrepreneurs from all walks of life to harness their own potential and pursue their dreams with tenacity and heart.

Takeaways:

• Demi Oloyede's journey from Nigeria to the U.S. illustrates the power of perseverance and grit.
• Her startup, Limpiar, leverages technology to improve the cleaning industry for customers and cleaners.
• Demi's experiences as a cleaner informed her approach to building a more transparent marketplace.
• Education is a key theme in Demi's life, helping her overcome challenges and achieve goals.
• Joining the Navy was a significant step for Demi, reflecting her desire to serve and give back.
• Demi emphasizes the importance of having a vision and purpose to drive success.

Links

Demi's Limpiar startup: https://limpiar.online/

Demi's the TTOE Foundation: https://ttoefoundation.my.canva.site/

Please leave us a review: https://podchaser.com/DesigningSuccessfulStartups

Tech Startup Toolkit (book): https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Startup-Toolkit-launch-strong/dp/1633438422/

Site with all podcasts: https://jothyrosenberg.com/podcast

Jothy’s non-profit: https://whosaysicant.org

Jothy’s TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtOawXAx5A

Chapters

• 00:12 - Joining the Military: A Change of Direction
• 01:45 - Demi's Journey to Entrepreneurship
• 12:04 - The Journey of Entrepreneurship
• 20:54 - Joining the Navy
• 23:58 - Overcoming Challenges in the Military

Hello, I'm Jathi Rosenberg, host of the Designing Successful Startups podcast, where today's guest is Demi Oloyede.

I came back the next day and the Navy recruiter saw me.

He's like, are you still here for this Air Force recruiter?

I was like, yeah, I really want to join the military.

And he's like, you know, if you want to join the military, you should join the Navy and not the Air Force, because the Navy has had the highest number of presidents actually.

And I was like, oh really?

And he's like, yeah, the Navy's actually bigger than the Air Force.

So I was like, okay, now you I'm interested.

Like, tell me more.

And so that's how they lured me in.

Demi Oloyede is a veteran, dynamic entrepreneur and the founder of Limpiar, a cutting edge cleaning service provider leveraging technology and sustainability to redefined industry standards.

With a background in IT management and product development, Demi's journey began as a first generation immigrant who worked in cleaning services while putting herself through college.

Her experiences and insights have fueled her mission to address challenges in the cleaning industry by building an accessible eco conscious solution.

Demi is passionate about using entrepreneurship to create meaningful social impact, particularly in underserved communities, and has led Lympia to become a trusted partner for businesses and homeowners alike.

And here is Demi.

All right.

Well, hello, Demi.

It's nice to see you.

It's nice to see you as well, Jati.

I think your background is really interesting.

So can you tell us where you're originally from and where you live now and a little bit about how you got there?

Of course, definitely.

I would say it's definitely a very interesting, interesting story.

So I'm originally from Lagos, Nigeria.

I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria.

I lived there till I was about 15.

Then I moved to UK.

I lived there for a while and actually did a A levels program.

And then I moved from there and came to the US I lived in New Jersey and I was going to school out there at the time.

My parents wanted me to be a doctor.

Well, my whole family wanted me to be a doctor.

So I was pre med and I realized I wasn't going to be a doctor.

I wanted to study business and be an entrepreneur.

But somehow they had notions that, you know, if a person like me would study business, I would either end up working as a bank teller or as an Uber driver.

There's really nothing wrong with that.

But when you spend a lot of money in education, you want to make sure you know you're getting the best Results.

At the end of the day, I knew I wasn't going to be a doctor, so I ended up leaving and moving out to Texas and then I moved to Oklahoma to go to school, and then now I'm back in Texas.

So it's been a.

It's been a journey.

Okay.

That is.

That is one of the more interesting journeys I've heard.

And, and so you, you.

We're going to dive right into your startup and we'll get into a little bit about how, you know, it came about.

So it's spelled L, I, M P I A R and it's a Spanish word, right?

That's right.

How do you pronounce it?

Limpiar.

Limpia, yes.

Piar.

Okay.

And what does it mean in Spanish?

It just means to clean in Spanish.

Okay.

Okay.

When you say limpr is a sort of a revolutionary way to think about cleaning as a service and that you've used technology to make it this unique, different thing.

Tell us how you're using the technology and how this is so innovative and what it will mean to you and to people.

Definitely.

So Lympia actually operates as a managed marketplace.

So what that means is that we have two customers on opposite ends and we act as a connection.

So we don't just connect, but we manage the entire process of service delivery.

On one end we have our customers, which is basically people looking for cleaning services, and on the other end we have our cleaners who are looking to clean.

As somebody who's worked on both sides, who's been on both sides of the equation, I definitely have understood the issues, disparities when it comes to providing and when it comes to matching and finding, and what our technology does, is, or technology helps facilitate the process of finding a cleaner.

And then everything that happens from, you know, pricing, transparent pricing going into the actual service delivery.

So what time is my cleaner going to show up?

How consistently are they going to come?

How do I know that my cleaner has done a good job?

Right.

And then on the cleaner side, it's, you know, how do I know where the address is?

How do I make sure that after the job is complete, I know how much I'm going to be paid and how do I make sure that I know what I'm doing when I go on that job?

And that's agreed between myself and the person that I'm performing the service for?

So our technology really helps take away the gray areas from the service delivery and just helps provide a seamless experience for both the customers and the cleaners.

The way you got into this was that you were trying to pay for your education.

Right.

And one of the ways that you did that, I think you had a couple of different jobs, but one was cleaning.

Yes.

So you, you got a chance to experience half of the equation.

You were just talking about personal schlepping, all the stuff around, you know, walking uphill in the snow both ways.

Yes, 100%.

Yeah.

So this happened when I was in college.

At the time, the Nigerian economy was very, very unstable.

I couldn't receive any money from Nigeria.

I needed to, you know, pay for food, papers, school supplies and things of that nature.

So I started cleaning and I would initially reach out to my professors, ask them if they needed extra help.

Sometimes I would go to Walmart and stand out cloud and just hand out flyers.

Hey, I clean houses.

Like, you know, book a service with me.

And that's really how I put myself through school.

And just in doing that, I realized that there was a lot of issues just facing independent cleaners and small cleaning businesses alike, where it's like, okay, you know, we want to clean.

Like, people are doing this because, you know, they want to make a living for themselves, but there's so much issues in the system that they're not able to actually do this successfully or do this fruitfully for themselves.

So a couple questions about what you just said.

So your, your entire family was still back in Nigeria, right?

Correct.

And they were.

And so if, even if they wanted to help you, you're saying they couldn't send money?

They could not send money.

No.

So the cbn, which is the Central bank of Nigeria, actually put a hold on money leaving the country.

So people weren't able to send money outside the country.

And to make things worse, the exchange rate, I believe it went up by over 60% actually.

So it was very, very hard.

Even if you wanted to, you couldn't.

And it just made it much harder to even send any money in the first place.

Okay, I see.

And okay, so you were, so this is still why you were in New Jersey, right?

Oh, no, this was after I moved from New Jersey.

Oh, you were in Oklahoma.

I was in Oklahoma.

I was on my own at this point.

Point, yes.

Okay, so you were in Oklahoma and you were, you were, you had, you know, a bunch of different cleaning jobs.

So that's one half the equation.

But how did you get some familiarity with the other side of the equation?

Of course.

So fast forward, when I was in college, you know, I did these cleaning jobs, did some other side jobs as well on the side.

And I was able to pay my tuition, buy myself supplies and things of that nature.

I graduated.

I then got my master's.

And then after that, I bought my first multifamily property unit.

I believe I was about 22 at the time.

It was a huge goal of mine.

And I was like, I really want to buy this.

Because I had seen an investment course, actually I seen us sign up for an investment course.

And I signed up for it and it took.

It was about a two hour session.

And they taught us how to flip houses.

And very, very interested in that process because I would watch design shows.

There's flipped, there's some other shows that show you like, you know, before and after home.

So it was a very interesting process for me.

It was also another way to build wealth and generate some additional income for myself.

So saved up some money, bought this multifamily unit property in Oklahoma, and I couldn't get anybody to come clean.

I did all the renovations by myself, did all the painting, did all the cleaning.

Well, not the cleaning, but did most of the painting, did the edge work outside, did all of them in myself.

But then I needed.

I knew that, you know, if I wanted to turn this over and have.

I needed some level of professional cleaning.

And so I went out and started looking for cleaners.

When I was a cleaner, I would find customers on some apps.

Care.com was an app.

It's primarily for elderly care and childcare, but they do have a model for cleaning services.

So I went on that, found some people, but then it was the whole process of service coordination.

Right?

Hey, what time can you show up?

I need you on Thursday.

Oh, I can't do Thursday.

I can do Saturday.

What time on Saturday?

Maybe they don't respond for six hours.

Now my schedule's changed a little, right?

I don't want Saturday anymore.

Now I want Sunday.

Right?

Or maybe they agree to Sunday.

They come over, they look at the place and they're like, hey, we're going to charge you $300.

Okay, I'll charge $300, but I'll clean on Tuesday.

They don't show up on Tuesday, right?

Or maybe they do show up on Tuesday and they say, hey, it's no longer $300, now it's $700.

So I just ran it through this whole process.

It took me about a month, actually.

And I said, you know what, I'm done with this.

I'm just going to clean this by myself.

So I went on Facebook and I basically said, hey, I'm looking for a cleaner.

I had 60.

More than 60 people respond to me and say, hi, I can clean, I can clean.

But then when you start to engage with them, they go silent, right?

Or you start to engage with them, they don't price accurately or their prices urged.

You don't know you're getting the best prices, Right?

So I said, if I'm facing this, I'm sure some other people are having issues with this.

Right?

I even went with friends recommendations, like some of my friends recommended people their schedules were probably for.

They couldn't come when I needed them to come.

I was like, I will pay you extra.

But they.

They just.

It just didn't work out.

So I did some market validation myself.

I said, when I was a cleaner, I had trouble finding customers, and now that I'm a customer, I have trouble finding cleaners.

Like, what's the.

What's going on here?

So did that investigation and I realized that, you know, there's a lot of issues with price transparency, SLA's expectations on both sides.

Right.

It's not one person's fault.

People just want to clean and people just want to have clean spaces.

I was like, you know, how can I solve this problem?

And that was lmpr.

At the time, I was still ideating.

So I was like doing these interviews with cleaners and these interviews with other people who had interacted with other cleaning services in some sorts and still trying to come up with the idea of what the platform would look like, what the technology would look like, and what it would.

Eventually, at the beginning of what you were just talking about, you went through two things really fast that I think are a little bit surprising.

You said, well, I got my master's and then I bought a multifamily home.

What was your master's in?

Okay, first thing, of course, my master's was in information technology.

It was an MBA Technology.

Okay, so that's where you learn about the technology that you're starting to talk about right now.

Did you actually write code?

Did you write programs?

So I didn't.

I wrote programs for class, but I didn't write any full system software.

So we did have some team programs.

Well, we did have some teamwork that we had to do group work where we had to write simple code for, like, more simple algorithms for traffic lights or simple algorithms.

Or, you know, there's this other Apple program, I think it's called Fly Bird, and that was one of the things that we used to practice as well.

So you would ride an Accord and that would actually make the bird fly or make the bird jump through the different poles that they had there.

So, yeah, that's, that's really how I interacted with the, with the world.

I also did some SQL as well.

So now what you've, you know, obviously you're not going to try to write, you know, you're running a company, so you're not going to spend time writing the code, but you're, you're, My guess is just tell me if I'm wrong, that you're defining what it, what it needs to be built and then you're working with a team and I assume the team is remote somewhere.

So where is your, your team that is developing the, the software?

Of course.

So my team is in Lagos, Nigeria.

Oh, imagine that.

What a coincidence.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, so you're going back to your, to your roots to get the work done.

I am.

Is it people, Is it people you already knew or not?

Yeah, it's actually people I already knew.

One of them I actually knew from high school, which is very, very weird.

And it's such a joy, like working with them because I feel like we have a really good, like, work synergy, which is like, you know, I've known you for a long time now, so.

It'S just like, so that is great.

You've got, you've built up trust and then.

Because the worst thing about trying to work with a remote team is if you don't know them and therefore you don't really, you know, have any reason to trust them yet.

It's, it's, it's a little bit scary.

It's a little, little challenging.

But with people that you trust and they're not going to want to let you down.

But of course, I'm sure it's less expensive.

Expensive than a team in Texas.

It's very much so.

It's way less expensive than a team in Texas.

In fact, when I first started, when I was looking into building the technology, I got some quotes and I remember this technology company out here in Texas had actually charged me.

Well, they had quoted me about $110,000 to build my MVP.

And that's just the MVP, not the full product suite.

And I'm like, honey, I'm not like, I don't have a lot of money, so I can't really, I can't do this.

But my MVP ended up actually costing me about $6,000.

Which way?

Way, way less.

Well, with he giving you like an extra, extra special discount because you're friends.

No, they weren't.

Just, you know, I feel like for me, it was more so, hey, I'm taking a chance on you and you're taking a chance on me.

And it's just like, you know, I'm giving you this opportunity and we're both giving each other these.

This opportunity.

Right.

If I had gone with this bigger company and paid, what, 120k for this product, you know, I would probably still have the same product, but then I felt like I would have that level of assurance that it was going to be done how I wanted to be done or not.

You know, I've just heard a lot of horror stories about these type of things.

Right.

Whereas, you know, I'm working with a team of, you know, I haven't seen any products that they built, but I know that they can do it and I trust that they can do it.

Because at the end of the day, you know, I'm working with people that I know are going to be very talented and I'm giving them the opportunity to show themselves.

And I feel like they really took that seriously and they're like, you know, we're going to do the best that we can do for you.

And they really went above and beyond the mp.

That's great.

Hi.

The podcast you are listening to is a companion to my recent book, Tech Startup Toolkit, how to Launch Strong and Exit Big.

This is the book I wish I'd had as I was founding and running eight startups over 35 years.

It's like a memoir of my entrepreneurial journey.

I tell the unvarnished truth about what went right and especially about what went wrong.

I hope you like it.

It's a true labor of love.

Now back to the show.

You know, the other thing that you said was, oh, yeah, and I bought this.

Bought this piece of property.

Yeah.

I mean, that just requires saving an incredible amount of money.

Is that all from your cleaning, your independent cleaning job?

So that was from a mix of my cleaning and also the full time job that I had in college.

So I started cleaning in college because I was an international student and I couldn't actually work a regular job, so I would have to do cleaning jobs or any other jobs that didn't require me to have Social Security or anything of that matter, which is what I did.

And sometime in between getting my.

In between finishing my bachelor's degree, I got my work authorization and that's when I was finally able to work.

I was very, very frugal.

Like, I had friends who would tell me, demi, like, you're so frugal for yourself.

Like, I had the same pair of pants for like four years.

Like, I wouldn't throw it.

I was like, no, it's good.

If it doesn't have holes, it's good.

Like they could literally predict, like, if I was going somewhere, they're like, yeah, Demi's probably wearing either this sweatshirt or this sweatshirt.

It's like, yes, you know, I am, because those sweatshirts are good.

And I don't really need to spend extra to buy any more zwei shirts.

So I saved a lot.

I had, you know, had a budget.

I knew how much I was spending on food.

I knew how much I was spending on clothes.

I wasn't even buying any clothes, right?

So I knew how much I was spending on things and I was saving a lot.

I even had a roommate.

Even when I didn't need to, I could afford to live by myself, but I had a roommate.

So I could actually save some money while I was still in college and I was to get in this job.

So, yeah, I did save a lot of money.

Also, the course I took helped me understand the landscape for mortgage lending as well, because I understood, you know, I could take out a loan of this amount.

I needed to have a down payment around a certain amount and just be able to work through that.

So that was pretty much what I did.

But the nice thing about, you know, multi family apartment, my guess is just, again, I'm just guessing that the rent from the people that live there covers your mortgage payment.

That's correct.

Yeah, it does.

So you're, you're actually, you, you had to sink some money in, but now it's not a drain on your, on your personal finances 100%.

And it honestly pays for itself.

And yeah, it's, it's, it's not a dream at all.

Have you had nice tenants or.

I've had some at first.

My first tenants were so terrible.

For lack of a better word, they were so terrible.

And I think for me, I didn't vet them.

I, I was just excited to have tenants.

I was like, oh my God, people want to live in my apartment.

Like, I am excited.

Like, everybody can come.

And I just had the really, really terrible.

Like, my first three tenants were so terrible.

And I learned my lesson really quick and I said, hey, like, I get.

No, I can't just let everybody in.

Like, I need to have some standards around this.

My tenants are getting much better right now because I'm betting better.

But at first, to be honest with you, the first person that applied got the apartment.

Like they got automatically.

So, yeah, tell us when in the.

In the sequence of events, did you.

You joined the Navy?

I.

Yes, I joined the Navy.

Were you still in Oklahoma when you did that?

I was still in Oklahoma when I did that, yes.

So that's a really obvious thing to do when you're in Oklahoma because there's so much ocean.

There's so much ocean in Oklahoma.

So I joined the Navy, actually, after buying those properties.

So it was about when I was 22.

That's when I joined the Navy.

I'm 25 now.

So I joined the Navy because it's something that I always wanted to do.

I didn't want to join the Navy, actually.

I wanted to join the military.

My grandfather was in the military back in Nigeria, and I knew that I wanted to be in the military as well, and I wanted to be in the Air Force because planes and just, like, do some really nice things.

And I actually had an Air Force recruiter.

I was always like, I was.

I'm very.

When I want something, I'm very, like, pushy.

Like, I'll go out and get it.

Like, I'm very headstrong about it.

And I literally had to track this recruiter down.

Like, I would call him, I would follow him.

Like, I would literally do everything.

And he ghosted me.

Like, he just stopped responding to my emails.

He wouldn't.

Like, I think he blocked my number because at a point, the number wasn't going.

And I was just really worried.

I'm like, I hope he's okay, if anything.

So one day I went to the Air Force office, and I just sat there.

Like, I just sat in the lobby, and I was just sitting there, and they're like, oh, who are you looking for?

I was like, I'm looking for this recruiter.

And there's like, okay, you know, nobody from the Air Force was there.

So I did that.

He didn't show up that day.

It was there for, like, three hours.

I came back the next day, and the Navy recruiter saw me.

He's like, are you still here for this Air Force recruiter?

It's like, yeah, I really want to join the military.

And he's like, you know, if you want to join the military, you should join the Navy and not the Air Force, because the Navy has had the highest number of presidents, actually.

I was like, oh, really?

And he's like, yeah, the Navy is actually bigger than the Air Force.

I was like, okay, now you.

I'm interested.

Like, tell me more.

And so that's how they lured me in.

And he basically took me into his office.

And he, you know, talked about the Navy to me extensively.

And I was like, I can't swim like I do.

And he's just like, oh, you don't need to know how to swim to join the Navy.

It's fine.

We'll teach you how to swim.

Beware.

If you're going to join the Navy, please know how to swim at least a little, because it's going to be hell in boot camp if you don't know how to swim.

Like, I probably had to take my swim test like five times before I passed.

But that's how he got me in.

We spoke about it.

He literally showed up to my house three days later and brought me all the papers.

And he's like, we want you in the Navy.

And at that point I was like, okay, if you want me in the Navy, I guess I'm going to join the Navy.

And that was the whole process for me.

And for me, it was more so giving back, right?

It was, I want to join not because of, you know, my family has a history or legacy of military service that helped propel me, but then it was also, hey, I want to give back to this country that has done so much for me, right?

It's just like being a little girl in Nigeria.

Like, I knew I wanted to go somewhere else.

Like, I knew I wanted to realize my dreams, right?

But coming to the US I feel like all the opportunities and all the adversity that I even faced, right, it just opened doors to so many other opportunities.

And then the best way that I could pay that back to the country and to the system was by joining the military.

So you did boot camp.

Have you, have you had to go out to, you know, to sea?

I have actually, yes.

So I did boot camp and then I went out to Virginia.

I went out to Hawaii as well and also did Southeast Asia.

So now are you in the reserves or.

I am in the reserves, yes.

So when you're in the reserves, you can actually elect to take full service.

So you can elect to deploy, which is what I did.

And then you're still in the reserves, but then at the time you're full time active.

But when you're in the reserves, you have more of a decision, more of a choice over how your career spans out.

So you deployed for what, two years?

No, I actually deployed for nine months.

Nine months.

And now you have a certain commitment, like some weekends and.

Correct, I'm there every weekend actually.

So I go to Virginia once a quarter and jiro for two weekends that month.

Two weekends in a month, once a quarter, and then every other.

Every other quarter I'm in Fort Worth.

Every other month I meet in Fort Worth.

What does Fort Worth have to do with the Navy?

So there's a Navy Air Force base out there.

So that's why I would drill on those weekends that I'm not drilling in Virginia.

So you're a person of color, you're a woman, you're an immigrant.

You could get pushback or discrimination on any one of those three things.

How much of that has.

Have you experienced?

Of course I would say that, you know, I've definitely experienced that.

I've experienced pushback from being a woman, from being an immigrant.

Like in college, I experienced a lot of pushback because I was an immigrant, because of my accent, right.

Like, I had a really strong Nigerian accent.

So, though everybody would be like, oh, we don't know what you're saying.

Can you repeat.

I would have to repeat myself, like, four or five times to be heard.

And even at that, they still wouldn't hear me.

And, you know, I've received a lot of pushback from just being who I am, but I really don't let that deter me.

And I see that as a superpower for myself.

And if anything, I see.

And this is one of the reasons why I push for education, actually, because I feel like a lot of times education balances inequalities in the system, right?

When you know what you're doing and you know what you're talking about, people cannot.

I mean, they can hate on you all they want, or they can discriminate against you, but knowledge is always power.

And as long as you know, you know, and nobody can take that away from you.

And, you know, if they don't let you into their room, then you start your own room and you grow your own room.

Like, that's.

That's what I always say.

And I'm so thankful to my dad for instilling that in me.

And it's something that I try to pay forward as well.

And just make sure that, you know, I'm pushing people to get the right education and pushing people to the educator just to gather knowledge of some sorts.

Right.

I find that when you're valuable, it's really hard for people to push you aside because they start to not notice the other things.

Right?

Hey, we need somebody who can do this.

They don't notice that you're a black person person or you're a woman.

Right.

They just need somebody who's able to feel a particular skill that they need.

So that value most times supersedes what you look like or what you talk like or, you know, how you carry yourself.

So I think you've mostly answered my.

Already answered my last question, which is about grit.

I mean, it's obvious to anybody that's been listening or watching that you've got grit.

I mean, you won't take no for an answer.

You.

You're.

You're a very tough individual.

That's clear.

Do you think that the grit comes from just all the migrating, first to the UK and then to the US but it has to go deeper than that, because you had to have grit to even, you know, leave your country at the age of 15 and.

And how your parents supported that, because you've got.

What I see is someone who is really tougher than even the average entrepreneur.

I mean, everyone who's a startup founder has grit, but not everybody who's got grit could pick up and leave their country at the age of 15.

So you've got something even extra.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think that comes from having a purpose, really.

I feel like it just comes from having a purpose and having a desire.

And I feel like that's the ultimate it for him.

That's the ultimate, like, propeller for grit, right?

When I was younger, actually, my dad had these Time magazines, and he would collect, like, National Geographics, and I would look at the magazines and I would see people, places.

I would see, you know, on the COVID of the magazines, there was actually another Forbes one where I would see Forbes covers.

And I was like, who are these amazing people?

I was like, daddy, why.

Why aren't you a billionaire?

Like, why aren't you on the COVID of.

For, like, what's.

What's going on?

And a common theme that I realized is a lot of these people were in America.

And I thought, you know, if I just go to the US Like, I could definitely be like this.

Like, I could have all my dreams actualized and realized.

And I did not account for the other processes and the other things that it would take to get to that point.

But I have a certain vision for myself and a certain idea of who I want to be and where I want to.

And that is really what keeps me pushing and keeps me going.

And even when people tell me, no, you can't do this, I'm like, okay.

Like, my mom literally used to be the person who would tell me, demi, I think you should slow down.

I think you can't do this.

Like, when I joined the Navy, she was so scared, right?

Because we, we didn't swim when we were younger.

She had a cousin who passed away, who drowned actually.

And she was so scared about this.

And I was like, mommy, I'm good.

Like, I'm gonna push myself.

I don't care.

Like, I'm gonna swim, it's fine.

Like, that's the, that's the, you know, that's not a big issue for me.

And when I passed my swimming test and when I passed boot camp, she was like, I'm not gonna doubt you anymore.

Like, anything you say he could do, like, you're gonna do it.

And I was like, thank you.

Because anything I say I could do, I can do it.

And it just comes in like that vision and like belief in yourself.

And I feel like, you know, as individuals, like we doubt ourselves.

But then it's ultimately, you know, if you have that vision, you can attach your self worth and value to that vision and that's always going to propel you.

At least that's, that's what propels me.

I'm going to ask actually one more question.

So you said you're 25 now, right?

Correct.

Describe to us where you're going to be in 15 years when you're 40.

Oh, when I'm 40.

Okay.

You know, I haven't actually mapped out the full thing.

I have mapped out what the ultimate goal is, but not the full scale of things.

But I do know that when I'm 40, I want to have built VR successfully.

I want to probably have sold the company or be doing something like more advisory for the company on the side, at least not be running operations full time.

I want to have another journey.

Another idea that I have in mind is just having a huge sustainable form back on, back in West Africa and be running that on the side.

I do have a charity right now called the TTOE foundation and it's named after my dad.

It's an educational foundation.

And what we do is we send educational supplies.

So we have a drive in January and we send educational supplies to kids and schools in West Africa.

So uniforms, books, computers and things that they need for school and want to grow that as well and make sure that, you know, we can now have kids who have gone through that program and are better as a result of that.

That's another thing that I want and I just really want to look back at my life and feel fulfilled because of the impact that I've had on the world and the impact that I've had on people.

So I want to be able to sit down.

Probably I have kids, maybe not.

Either way, I'll be happy.

I want to sit down and talk to whoever is around me and say, you know, just look back and reminisce at all the things that I've done and just feel happy and fulfilled within myself.

And I'll be 40 at the time, so then I'll be looking.

You know, they say Life begins at 40, so I'll be looking to start the next, the next beginning of my life.

Well, can you make sure you send me the URL for your nonprofit so I can put it in the show notes so people who are interested can, can explore that and maybe help out?

Of course I would.

I would make sure I send that to you.

That's fantastic.

Everything you just said, this 30 some minutes that we've been talking is going to be very inspirational to a lot of people, immigrants, any entrepreneur, women, founders.

I mean, I just think there's a lot of groups that can really benefit from hearing your amazing amount of drive.

I'm just very impressed.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

J.

That means, that means a lot to me.

And impact is really my biggest thing.

Like everything I do, I want to make sure it's impactful to somebody in a specific way.

So that's my, one of my big value drivers.

Well, I'm sure that you're going to go far by the time you're 40 and then you're going to start something, you know, new.

That's a wrap.

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This is Jothy Rosenberg saying TTFM Tata for now.