Afua Osei

"I didn't plan to be an entrepreneur"

"Anyone can be an innovator"

"You don't have to look a certain way. It's not just for one type of person. Anybody can play a role, and there is so much work to be done."

"so many opportunities and potentials in Africa to innovate and help improve people's lives."

"Dealing with polices and governments can be hard. Also, distributions: How can I get a product that I made in Lagos out here to Austin?"

"Every single challenge and opportunity also presents a space for an innovator and entrepreneur to solve that problem"

"It is important for technology leaders to take the lead and be innovative in the way we communicate to government, because they [government staff] are learning as much as we are"

"They don't plan to slow down"

"the ladies who want to build million-dollar companies, lead corporate organizations and crush it as leaders."

"Absolutely not! My life plan was not to be an entrepreneur; my life plan was definitely not to live in Nigeria."

"I originally thought that I was going to work in public policy or work in Government. That’s what I studied in school, that’s what I worked in after university and I thought that that was the direction I wanted to head in."

"Go and do the work! It doesn’t matter how sweet your marketing is, how fancy your offices are, how shiny your degrees look on paper if you can’t sit and do the work and deliver something that people actually need and value and care about, then it’s a waste."

"You are not going to have much traction or much impact in this world."

"I think every single transition and every time you move to a new level requires you to step up and really build your skills."

"As a young entrepreneur, we don’t get much exposure to quality leadership to learn and build from."

"I think some people are blessed to have great managers and bosses and I definitely was able to get that."

"I didn’t have many chances or opportunities to build that skill myself."

"I definitely found it challenging when I was first starting out to just figure out how do I motivate people that aren’t like me."

"How do I create a structure where people are feeling encouraged to do the work? How do I manage people who aren’t performing and really push them to do better?"