Daniel Bamidele is the founder and executive director of Grow with Path, a talent management start-up based in Nigeria, committed to providing resources and opportunities that facilitate the speedy growth of talents in Africa.
Grow with Path is on a mission to solve the unemployment problem in Nigeria gradually and, by extension Africa by creating, providing and constantly optimizing opportunities for talents across Africa.
It also offers curriculum vitae (CV) and LinkedIn Optimization, helping Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) position themselves for opportunities and market share and also working to provide a pipeline for employers to access quality talents.
The talent management start-up convenes the career accelerator program: The Grow with Path Career Accelerator is a 10-week online career and leadership development program for young professionals committed to driving meaningful change within themselves, their careers, and their communities.
It connects research-backed concepts to practice, allowing you to turn knowledge into impact. The insightful curriculum delivered online via connective virtual platforms encourages the application of career and leadership frameworks to real-world challenges in real time.
Bamidele notes that his organisation has project that is currently being developed, like the Bundle Bootcamps for creative talents and creators. Sandbox a virtual internship platform that will enable young professionals to intern in the companies of their choice and many more.
On what inspired his business, Bamidele says that during the pandemic, he got the opportunity to interact with many talents and discovered that there was a huge unemployment problem in Africa, which his business can play a part in reducing the reach of this problem.
“I am excited when I get good report messages/ calls from our clients or beneficiaries. I have gotten a lot of mind-blowing testimonials and my team and I are always encouraged not to give up.
Also I have seen that this organization has potential; also because there is a market in need of our solutions, this inspires me to keep going “says Bamidele.
“It was a difficult problem because companies were laying off more staff due to the pandemic, schools were on strike etc. So, I started to ask myself, “what can I do to help talents build their dream careers and excel at it regardless of the situation in the country? It has been an exciting journey since then, it has afforded my team and I the opportunity to explore and learn on the job.”
The founder says Grow with Path started operations on May 1, 2020, and has experienced tremendous growth in the quality and quantity of talents and engagements since then.
“I started Grow with Path with less than N5,000 in my bank account. I mean, I was still a student. However, my company chose to run our activities using the lean model, meaning we had to find ways to execute on a low budget, but definitely, as we started to service customers, we started to put more money into the business,” he says.
Bamidele also says that he got funds from his personal funds. “If we are running a big project, possibly family and friends,” he says. However, we are open to partnerships with organizations locally and globally. We see possibilities but need more resources to scale this to attain a wider reach.
On how he grew his business, Bamidele says, “As a talent management start-up, building relationships is a major ingredient for success; my team and I have built quality relationships that have helped us in the effective execution of our projects.
“Thankfully, I have a great support system; my team has been a great source of help and support, and so many others, which has positively affected the organization. A relationship is a tool, just as money is a tool.
“As a start-up founder, I always desire to learn, unlearn and relearn. This will happen a lot in the journey, and the business cannot grow outside the strength of the owner/team, so you must always go for personal development. Build yourself, read more, engage with quality people.”
Since its inception, the founder says his business is growing faster than he envisioned. “I am definitely looking forward to seeing the next phase of growth,” Bamidele says.
On FX issues, Bamidele says it has been a struggle for him not to talk of business owners; it is a tight spot. “But it is important that as business owners, you are prepared for anything that may come up,” he says to other business owners.
Bamidele says that access to funding, finding a skilled team and managing big projects has been challenging since inception. He says to deal with the challenges, “We have many big projects in mind that require a lot of funding, but we are taking it step by step.
“Also, I have a quality and amazing team that work with me at Path. I learnt to communicate my ideas to my team in a way that positions themselves in your vision. So far, we have made progress, and I have a good number of skilled professionals on my team.
Bamidele says he plans to build until his business sees tangible results as thousands of talents smash their career goals. There is so much we have planned for the future. We look forward to working and building with over 500,000 talents across Africa through our programs and projects.
He advises entrepreneurs and upcoming entrepreneurs to have the audacity, tenacity, and patience and be great communicators to prosper in their journey.
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