Last week, Twitter NG woke up to a tweet by influencer Wale Adetona (@iSlimFit) asking what people were doing or had done at age 23. The hashtag #at23 became a topic across circles and stayed trending for a while. The tweet now has over 700 replies, more than a thousand quotes and likes. While some Twitter users leveraged on the #at23 hashtag to narrate their experience with transitioning life and career at age 23, others told of their valiant strides having not celebrated their 23rd birthday in fact and another group simply expressed gratitude for life regardless of its hiccups at 23.
I took personal interest in the replies of of tech enthusiasts who in their early 20’s, championed a difference in the society by creating apps or starting companies that leverage technology. Some who have been building their tech careers and building startups before crypto became a buzz word were particularly interesting to read. Below are some of the tweets;
Jumping on the at 23 hashtag was also Victor Asemota, founder of SwiftaCorp and respected tech mentee known for his habit of purchasing domain names as well as his involvement in African Information Technology. Hinting on his trial and error experience in the tech field as well as the light at the end of the tunnel, his tweet read; “at 22, I started a business with my friend. At 23, we were bleeding money from inexperience. At 24, we learned our lesson and started building a team, and stopped hiring mercenaries. At 25, I had an MBA and a company with over a dozen employees. At 26, I was chasing girls”.
Tech in Nigeria is as old as it is young. Even then, it is a space where only the strong at heart can navigate, so, seeing people share stories of their early years in Tech is incredibly inspiring. Whether their efforts at 23 have scaled to something big now or that same efforts have failed, that they tried-at all, is beautiful history and we are glad they have been able to document it somehow.
