Interview With Mr Sayo: Life As A Tech Entrepreneur in Finland

Let’s start from the beginning. Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a relatively middle-class family. I did my primary and secondary education there before moving to Ile-Ife to study at Obafemi Awolowo University.

You didn’t start in tech. How did that transition happen?

Tech personality, Oluwasayo Oladeji who is better known as Mr Sayo

I initially gained admission to study Chemical Engineering. I liked chemistry a lot in secondary school and was quite good at it; I was even the laboratory prefect. Like many students, I assumed chemical engineering was basically advanced chemistry. That was a big misunderstanding.

When I got to university, I realized chemical engineering was much more about engineering than chemistry, and I just didn’t enjoy it. By my third year, I knew I had to change course. I switched to Computer Engineering at the 400 level and had to repeat an academic year, but it was absolutely worth it.

Where did your interest in computers come from?

Mr Sayo

It started very early. I loved games as a child, but more than playing them, I was curious about how they were built, how pressing a button makes a character jump.

In secondary school, my biology teacher was learning Java. At the time, Symbian phones were popular, and I learned that games on those phones were built with Java. He introduced me to a local training center, and immediately after secondary school, I enrolled there. That’s when I started programming, Q-BASIC, Java, networking (CCNA), and Microsoft Access.

Before that, I had also done an intensive desktop publishing training in Lagos. I learned touch typing, Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe PageMaker, and CorelDRAW. I was so obsessed that I doubled my enrollment hours. My parents paid twice the fees.

You were that serious about it?

Very serious. My parents actually stopped me from taking my laptop to university in my first year because I wouldn’t study, I’d just be programming.

Did you always plan to leave Nigeria?

Not at all. I was very reluctant to leave. I had stayed briefly in Switzerland and enjoyed it, but I was extremely homesick. I even had a countdown widget on my phone showing how many days until I returned to Nigeria.

Back home, I was running a software consulting company with friends. Things were going well until the 2015 recession, when business slowed significantly. We eventually decided to look for jobs abroad. We were already senior engineers, so finding jobs wasn’t difficult.

I wanted to move to Germany, but Finland happened to be the first offer I got. It wasn’t about Finland—I just liked the company and their products.

How did Finland turn out for you?

Mr Sayo at the shore of the sea

Honestly, it’s been a good journey. I’ve built a beautiful family here, made great friends, and worked with very positive, capable people. I’ve learned a lot.

Outside of work, I’ve travelled across Finland, biked between cities, walked on frozen lakes, drilled through ice for water, seen auroras, and enjoyed winter cottages in complete solitude. Those experiences stay with you.

Do you still miss Nigeria?

Not anymore. Moving to London at some point really changed that. I realized I could get Nigerian food, culture, and community whenever I wanted. My family visits often, and I can always travel.

I think political events back home also changed something emotionally for me.

Entrepreneurship seems central to your story.

It really is. I’ve always tried to solve problems and turn them into businesses.

My first real venture was in university, training people in Java programming. I prepared the materials, found venues, printed flyers, and marketed it myself. That was the first time I made real money from my programming skills.

Later, we joined the Nokia Growth Academy in Lagos. Like most founders, we tried many ideas over time. That naïve optimism, you see a problem and just start hacking, never left me.

What kind of products have you built?

In Nigeria, we built systems used for electricity payments, prepaid token vending, POS transactions, customer and asset management. If you’ve used electricity or POS services in Lagos in the past few years, there’s a good chance you’ve touched something I worked on.

One product we built was Teller Point. We also built early versions of several start-ups' apps. Good times.

Now, for the first time, I’m building full-time with co-founders here in Finland, and I’m really enjoying the focus.

Mr Sayo: Life As A Tech Entrepreneur in Finland

What do you enjoy most about being a tech entrepreneur?

Creating something that didn’t exist. I think of it as a superpower.

When people play instruments and create music, I’m fascinated. Programming feels the same way to me. You put things together, and suddenly something useful exists.

One of the biggest users of an app we built in 2012 was my dad. That really hit me—you can change someone’s daily routine with something you built.

Even during difficult times, programming is my escape. It’s just me and the compiler. Everything else fades away.

What advice do you have for people who want to enter tech?

It’s never too late. Tech has one of the lowest entry barriers.

When I started, we had no internet access. We coded offline using textbooks and CD-ROMs, with Notepad, no syntax highlighting, and no package managers. Today, you have YouTube, AI tools, ChatGPT, and powerful editors. There’s really no excuse.

Most people exclude themselves too early. They assume they’re not smart enough. Just start. Consistency matters more than brilliance.

If you show up every day, you’re already ahead of 80% of people.

What about advice for immigrants?

Put yourself out there. Nobody is going to discover you if you stay hidden.

Build things. Publish your work. Write. Meet people. Don’t limit yourself to immigrant circles; diversity brings opportunity.

As an immigrant, you’re not at the top of the food chain, so you have to go the extra mile. Be excellent. Be dependable. If you put your name on something, the quality has to be there.

You often say, “Grab that coffee.” What does that mean?

It means having insane audacity.

Send the cold email. Ask for that coffee. Say yes to the lunch. Something could come out of it. Maybe nothing does. But now you’ve met one more person.

Some of the most important things I’ve learned came from casual conversations over lunch or coffee.

Any final words?

Open your mind. Experience the world. Try new things. Don’t over-optimize life.

And most importantly, just start.

LinkedIn Account: Sayo.. O.