Teju Ajani, Managing Director, Nigeria at Apple

Teju is a seasoned global Business leader with over 20 years of technology leadership delivered to Fortune 100 technology companies across North America, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

A personable, consensus-building leader with extensive relationships and trust established across organisations with a strong bias for action, she has extensive expertise in technology and innovation, strategic planning, partnership building and business development, media content strategy and customer marketing.

She has demonstrated ability with business responsive strategies and measurable results with the ability to build trust, collaborate and influence cross-functionally within organizations up to Board level.

Ajani has been recognized severally as a technology and technical sales leader, media and content expert, and as one of the most influential women by various organizations.

She is a strong advocate for women in leadership. She is passionate about technology and its potential as an economic equalizer and ability to open up opportunities for people.

Teju is a frequently featured speaker across technology and media circles.

Teju has always been interested in computers and loved to learn about them. While she focused on Economics as an undergrad, she had taken a few coding classes and was fascinated. She went back to school for an advanced degree and while she was admitted into a traditional MBA program, she got into a school that allowed her to switch, clearly delineated the additional work she would need to do, and supported her when she decided to switch to a Masters in Software Engineering instead. “The one thing I have learnt is that one never stops learning.” She said.

For her, the ability to operate comfortably as a business and technical person made her stand out and gave her flexibility in her career that she has interestingly found to be an advantage.

She has been able to switch between purely technical and business roles that give an unusual breadth and depth and have a perspective on business that most business leaders don’t have or take much longer to develop.

Teju has had roles in developer relations, product management, marketing, account management and with executive oversight that she has been able to leverage wherever she has worked, and more importantly, kept her career interesting for her.

To the women in technology, she advises that you hone your skills, ask for the opportunities you want, put yourself forward for opportunities you think you qualify for even if minimally.

Also, she admonishes them to know their strengths, and be willing to learn, get comfortable being a minority in the room, and get on with the job because it can serve to highlight your skills, and you bring a unique perspective.