Meeting Title: Brainforge Team Member Introduction Date: 2026-03-19 Meeting participants: Brylle Girang, Demilade Agboola
WEBVTT
1 00:00:40.550 ⇒ 00:00:41.690 Demilade Agboola: Alright, bro.
2 00:00:44.610 ⇒ 00:00:45.519 Brylle Girang: Hey, Demi!
3 00:00:46.570 ⇒ 00:00:47.620 Brylle Girang: Good morning!
4 00:00:48.670 ⇒ 00:00:52.489 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, I mean, for me, it’s already evening, it’s like 5.30.
5 00:00:52.840 ⇒ 00:00:59.270 Brylle Girang: It’s… yeah. Sorry, this was a meeting that has been pushed off for…
6 00:00:59.730 ⇒ 00:01:15.519 Brylle Girang: multiple times now. So, this is informal. I just wanted to get a chance to, like, actually converse as people, as humans. I just wanted to get to know you better, since I’m pretty sure that we’re going to be working together for a really long time here.
7 00:01:16.060 ⇒ 00:01:17.529 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.
8 00:01:18.010 ⇒ 00:01:27.550 Brylle Girang: So how… I’m going to start this with, like, my curiosity. How did you get into Brainforge? And don’t tell me that Utom messaged you out of the blue.
9 00:01:29.430 ⇒ 00:01:33.740 Demilade Agboola: No, actually, it’s a bit more different. For me, it was…
10 00:01:33.900 ⇒ 00:01:37.209 Demilade Agboola: One of my former managers in my previous company.
11 00:01:37.470 ⇒ 00:01:50.309 Demilade Agboola: Who Utem had messaged, because he was trying to get some engineers on the team, and so he created a group chat. I just woke up on a random Saturday, and I saw I was in a group chat with Utam and…
12 00:01:50.790 ⇒ 00:01:53.489 Demilade Agboola: My former manager, and we just had a conversation.
13 00:01:53.640 ⇒ 00:01:58.349 Demilade Agboola: And… that was it, like, Utam had a call with me the following Tuesday.
14 00:01:59.240 ⇒ 00:02:03.569 Demilade Agboola: He was like, yo, I really want you on the team. I had a call with…
15 00:02:04.190 ⇒ 00:02:06.740 Demilade Agboola: Robert, on, like, the Thursday.
16 00:02:07.380 ⇒ 00:02:13.889 Demilade Agboola: Robert also liked me, and by, like, the following week, I already had, like, a contract, and we’re talking about start dates and all of that, so…
17 00:02:14.070 ⇒ 00:02:16.810 Demilade Agboola: It was really quick, it was really fast, but…
18 00:02:17.070 ⇒ 00:02:23.090 Demilade Agboola: yeah, it was just… it just randomly happened, you know? But all in all, it was pretty good.
19 00:02:23.210 ⇒ 00:02:24.920 Demilade Agboola: How did you get into being fortunate?
20 00:02:25.490 ⇒ 00:02:34.730 Brylle Girang: I am… I am hired through an agency, so bring forward, reach out to Growth Assistant. Growth Assistant is, like, my… my employer, I would say.
21 00:02:34.960 ⇒ 00:02:40.349 Brylle Girang: Okay. I’m… Utam is directly, like, paying Growth Assistant, Girl Assistant pays me.
22 00:02:40.520 ⇒ 00:02:43.170 Brylle Girang: Uta was primarily searching for
23 00:02:43.330 ⇒ 00:02:53.369 Brylle Girang: A project management coordinator at first, and then, you know, how fast things are changing here, so it evolved into more, like, delivery leadership.
24 00:02:53.600 ⇒ 00:02:54.070 Brylle Girang: We can do…
25 00:02:54.070 ⇒ 00:02:54.740 Demilade Agboola: answer?
26 00:02:55.090 ⇒ 00:02:56.149 Demilade Agboola: Fair enough, fair enough.
27 00:02:56.150 ⇒ 00:02:57.200 Brylle Girang: So, I…
28 00:02:58.120 ⇒ 00:02:59.400 Demilade Agboola: Where you based out of?
29 00:03:00.340 ⇒ 00:03:02.350 Brylle Girang: Philippines, from the pH.
30 00:03:02.590 ⇒ 00:03:03.080 Brylle Girang: Yeah.
31 00:03:03.080 ⇒ 00:03:03.870 Demilade Agboola: Okay, okay.
32 00:03:03.870 ⇒ 00:03:05.120 Brylle Girang: And you are from?
33 00:03:05.850 ⇒ 00:03:09.100 Demilade Agboola: I’m from Nigeria, but I live in Malta.
34 00:03:10.060 ⇒ 00:03:10.890 Brylle Girang: I’ll tap.
35 00:03:11.310 ⇒ 00:03:14.130 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, so it’s a country off the coast of Italy.
36 00:03:15.310 ⇒ 00:03:16.160 Brylle Girang: Whoa.
37 00:03:16.340 ⇒ 00:03:17.380 Demilade Agboola: Yeah.
38 00:03:17.920 ⇒ 00:03:19.270 Demilade Agboola: It’s pretty cool.
39 00:03:20.560 ⇒ 00:03:22.300 Brylle Girang: How is that spelled again?
40 00:03:22.950 ⇒ 00:03:24.430 Demilade Agboola: M-A-L-T-A.
41 00:03:25.220 ⇒ 00:03:28.839 Brylle Girang: Gotcha. How did you, like, how did you get there?
42 00:03:33.700 ⇒ 00:03:43.519 Demilade Agboola: So I, I mean, I was gonna make a joke as I flew here, but, I moved here on a digital nomad visa.
43 00:03:43.910 ⇒ 00:03:45.080 Demilade Agboola: So…
44 00:03:45.930 ⇒ 00:03:52.799 Demilade Agboola: Malta is one of those countries, there are a couple of countries across Europe, where if you earn above a certain amount and you work remotely, you can move.
45 00:03:53.270 ⇒ 00:03:59.060 Demilade Agboola: And live in those countries. So I lived in Nigeria up until 2023.
46 00:03:59.190 ⇒ 00:04:09.599 Demilade Agboola: So I was there. And by 20… so I started working remotely in 2021. That was my first job. I got it with a US company based in New York back then.
47 00:04:10.720 ⇒ 00:04:19.249 Demilade Agboola: I started traveling a bit, so I’d went… I’d gone to, like, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa.
48 00:04:19.860 ⇒ 00:04:30.399 Demilade Agboola: And I want to travel a bit more, and I wanted to go to Europe specifically, and just travel and see, like, you know, Italy, Portugal, like, all of that stuff.
49 00:04:31.180 ⇒ 00:04:41.419 Demilade Agboola: And I discovered that, like, there are countries that would do, like, digital nomad visas that would allow you to live in, like, there, and you can… because they’re… like, Malta is a Schengen country.
50 00:04:41.550 ⇒ 00:04:45.950 Demilade Agboola: It allows you to also travel to these countries, like, visa-free.
51 00:04:46.390 ⇒ 00:04:51.790 Demilade Agboola: So I was like, alright, cool. And then I just applied for it.
52 00:04:52.000 ⇒ 00:04:58.990 Demilade Agboola: it’s also, like, Malta is largely… English is one of the official languages, there are two official languages, Maltese and English.
53 00:04:59.220 ⇒ 00:05:08.330 Demilade Agboola: So, I figured it would be easier to integrate than, you know, a country like Spain, or any other country that had their own language and have to learn the language.
54 00:05:08.760 ⇒ 00:05:14.980 Demilade Agboola: And also, especially coming from Nigeria, where it’s, like, close to the equator, it’s hot,
55 00:05:15.170 ⇒ 00:05:26.919 Demilade Agboola: if I move to, like, Central Europe with proper winters, I feel it would be a bit too harsh. But Mosa doesn’t have, like, proper, proper winters. It just gets really cold, there’s no snow, things like that.
56 00:05:27.250 ⇒ 00:05:33.089 Demilade Agboola: So yeah, I applied, moved to Malta in 2023, and I’ve been here for the past 3 years.
57 00:05:34.700 ⇒ 00:05:38.950 Brylle Girang: That is amazing. Is that, like, a dream come true for you?
58 00:05:40.790 ⇒ 00:05:46.469 Demilade Agboola: You know, here’s the funny thing. Not really. Like, I kind of think of life in a…
59 00:05:47.900 ⇒ 00:05:49.459 Demilade Agboola: I’m trying to, like…
60 00:05:49.860 ⇒ 00:05:57.900 Demilade Agboola: just enjoy and go through life phase by phase. So, I’ve come to learn that, like, things for me are not really…
61 00:05:58.140 ⇒ 00:06:02.560 Demilade Agboola: like, dreams come true. I don’t have these, like, big dreams of, like… it’s just
62 00:06:02.970 ⇒ 00:06:11.550 Demilade Agboola: I enjoy certain things, I enjoy the moment, and I just move on, like, mentally. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing, but, like, mentally, I just move on, and I’m like, okay, so what’s the next thing? What do I want to do in life?
63 00:06:11.550 ⇒ 00:06:12.340 Brylle Girang: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
64 00:06:12.340 ⇒ 00:06:19.719 Demilade Agboola: So, I don’t necessarily dwell in certain things. So, for me now, like, people come and visit, like, my sister came for Christmas.
65 00:06:19.850 ⇒ 00:06:24.890 Demilade Agboola: With her family, and sometimes people ask, like, oh, what’s there to do in Malta? And I’m just like.
66 00:06:24.990 ⇒ 00:06:39.939 Demilade Agboola: I don’t know, it’s like home to me. It’s one of those things, like, I don’t know, like, it’s just… it’s there, but, like, I also, I’m trying to learn to, like, again, maybe, I guess to, like, appreciate things more, and, like, also be more present, but, like, yeah, it’s nice, it’s pretty cool.
67 00:06:39.940 ⇒ 00:06:46.209 Demilade Agboola: The people that I’ve met, I met really cool people, love, interesting people on different journeys and paths and stories.
68 00:06:46.210 ⇒ 00:06:48.470 Demilade Agboola: I’ve met other nomads who are just, like.
69 00:06:48.470 ⇒ 00:06:54.910 Demilade Agboola: traveling around the world. They are actually, like… because I don’t… I stay here a lot. There are people who go around, like, so much.
70 00:06:54.960 ⇒ 00:07:11.250 Demilade Agboola: I’ve met people who speak multiple languages, I’ve played football with so many people, tennis with so many people, like, you know, like, it’s fun, it’s cool, you get to meet a lot of people and get people’s stories, people from Australia, people from…
71 00:07:11.290 ⇒ 00:07:28.390 Demilade Agboola: you know, Colombia, people from, like, you know, all of that. And even when I travel to other countries, it’s fun, too, to be able to go there. With my residency, I’ve been able to go to Cyprus, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg,
72 00:07:29.540 ⇒ 00:07:41.540 Demilade Agboola: probably stuff I’ve… Belgium… I’ve gone to watch two Formula 1 Pris, so I don’t know if you follow Formula One, but I’ve gone to Hungary to watch a Grand Prix, I’ve gone to Belgium to watch a Grand Prix.
73 00:07:41.920 ⇒ 00:07:44.750 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, just…
74 00:07:44.870 ⇒ 00:07:51.100 Demilade Agboola: But I guess… so it’s not… I won’t say… I don’t know if it’s the dream life, but it’s pretty cool, to be honest.
75 00:07:51.780 ⇒ 00:08:00.090 Brylle Girang: I’m telling you, that’s the dream life of most people that I know, so that’s quite amazing. So it sounds like you’re, like, pretty outgoing.
76 00:08:00.840 ⇒ 00:08:11.959 Demilade Agboola: No, no, I’m… I’m definitely… my girlfriend, my girlfriend keeps telling me to… like, sometimes she’s just like, have you gone out today? And I’m like, oh, shit, I haven’t, actually. So…
77 00:08:11.960 ⇒ 00:08:13.220 Brylle Girang: Alright.
78 00:08:13.910 ⇒ 00:08:23.070 Demilade Agboola: I’m someone who, if I’m home, there’s food, there’s water, light, internet, like, the basic things in the house.
79 00:08:23.360 ⇒ 00:08:32.730 Demilade Agboola: Yeah. There’s nothing that makes me want to go out of the house. And I think that can be kind of problematic, to be honest, because that’s… there are days where I’m…
80 00:08:33.039 ⇒ 00:08:34.430 Demilade Agboola: We’ll be home for, like.
81 00:08:34.809 ⇒ 00:08:39.399 Demilade Agboola: days or a week as a stretch, which is kind of why I started playing sports more often.
82 00:08:39.549 ⇒ 00:08:46.420 Demilade Agboola: Because it kind of forces you, you either have to have a match, you have training, you have something that’s just making you go out of your house intentionally.
83 00:08:46.560 ⇒ 00:08:57.940 Demilade Agboola: Yeah. But honestly, no, not really. I really like being in my house alone, and I have, like, I live in a two-bedroom apartment, so sometimes it’s literally just me alone.
84 00:08:58.220 ⇒ 00:09:03.570 Demilade Agboola: In my house, just by myself, you know, so… Yeah.
85 00:09:03.950 ⇒ 00:09:04.720 Brylle Girang: Okay.
86 00:09:04.720 ⇒ 00:09:05.189 Demilade Agboola: That’s pretty interesting.
87 00:09:05.680 ⇒ 00:09:08.840 Brylle Girang: If you don’t… Sorry?
88 00:09:09.070 ⇒ 00:09:10.809 Demilade Agboola: So what about you? Do you like going out?
89 00:09:11.590 ⇒ 00:09:15.320 Brylle Girang: I do like going out, yeah, I love… I love traveling, I think…
90 00:09:15.550 ⇒ 00:09:21.419 Brylle Girang: It’s, it’s actually funny, because in the country, the Philippines.
91 00:09:22.320 ⇒ 00:09:41.319 Brylle Girang: It’s bad. It’s really bad, like… This is not… this is… I wouldn’t wish for someone to, like, be born and live in the Philippines for long term, so it’s that bad. And, what the funny part… the funny part is, since it’s that bad.
92 00:09:41.480 ⇒ 00:09:43.090 Brylle Girang: people here.
93 00:09:43.270 ⇒ 00:09:49.070 Brylle Girang: Have wild, wild dreams of, like, living abroad, actually immigrating.
94 00:09:49.200 ⇒ 00:09:53.620 Brylle Girang: Going out… going out of the cities, etc. So…
95 00:09:53.890 ⇒ 00:10:02.080 Brylle Girang: I would say I love traveling, and like most people here in the country, we love traveling because we just want to
96 00:10:02.340 ⇒ 00:10:10.150 Brylle Girang: like, escape the reality, right? So, I’m not getting political, but I just wanted to…
97 00:10:10.150 ⇒ 00:10:16.430 Demilade Agboola: like, I know, like, that’s what I said, the dream, when you asked me about the dream.
98 00:10:16.720 ⇒ 00:10:21.550 Demilade Agboola: I was like, hmm, because on the other hand, like, if you talk to, like.
99 00:10:21.550 ⇒ 00:10:38.709 Demilade Agboola: the regular Nigerian and everything, they’ll tell you, like, I’m leaving the dream, because, like, they also… a lot of people want to be able to travel and experience things, and so for some people, just the fact that you’re outside the country feels like you’ve made it, even if you’re, like, not necessarily doing the best job outside the country, bless you.
100 00:10:38.970 ⇒ 00:10:51.969 Demilade Agboola: Even if you’re not necessarily doing the best job outside the country or anything, you’re just outside the country, that’s like, oh, you must be… you must be doing well, whereas there are people who are outside the country who are not doing well, or who are not, like, you know, living their best lives, so…
101 00:10:52.800 ⇒ 00:10:54.940 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, it’s one of those things,
102 00:10:56.370 ⇒ 00:11:03.640 Demilade Agboola: Yes, it is one of those things. If you were to, like, what countries, are there any countries you’d like to travel to, or, like, like to see?
103 00:11:04.090 ⇒ 00:11:08.529 Brylle Girang: Yeah, we just, we just went on a vacation to Taiwan. Sorry.
104 00:11:09.650 ⇒ 00:11:11.600 Brylle Girang: I have allergies right now, so…
105 00:11:11.600 ⇒ 00:11:13.090 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, I can tell, I can tell.
106 00:11:13.090 ⇒ 00:11:21.330 Brylle Girang: We went to a vacation to Taiwan, so it’s a Southeast Asian country. I don’t know if you’ve been there, but it’s really amazing.
107 00:11:21.330 ⇒ 00:11:22.000 Demilade Agboola: I haven’t.
108 00:11:22.000 ⇒ 00:11:22.410 Brylle Girang: Lastly.
109 00:11:22.980 ⇒ 00:11:24.190 Demilade Agboola: That’s December.
110 00:11:25.020 ⇒ 00:11:29.840 Brylle Girang: Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s amazing. Like, Southeast Asia, Jessup?
111 00:11:30.550 ⇒ 00:11:31.759 Brylle Girang: Oh my gosh.
112 00:11:33.210 ⇒ 00:11:39.750 Brylle Girang: So, Southeast Asia has, like, this… this hospitality culture, and… Hi, Prep.
113 00:11:41.480 ⇒ 00:11:42.500 Brylle Girang: Oh my god.
114 00:11:43.950 ⇒ 00:11:46.989 Brylle Girang: Give me a moment. Just a moment.
115 00:12:12.250 ⇒ 00:12:25.050 Brylle Girang: Okay, yeah, so as I was saying, we went to a vacation to Taiwan just last year, and then we’re planning to go to Japan. Mostly the Southeast Asian countries, because it’s the easiest
116 00:12:25.480 ⇒ 00:12:30.849 Brylle Girang: these are the easiest ways to go to, but I would say…
117 00:12:31.600 ⇒ 00:12:36.829 Brylle Girang: if I’m looking at Europe, something that I would want to go into future would be…
118 00:12:38.890 ⇒ 00:12:40.779 Brylle Girang: Is Finland in Europe?
119 00:12:41.240 ⇒ 00:12:42.540 Demilade Agboola: Yes, Philand is in Europe.
120 00:12:42.950 ⇒ 00:12:44.120 Brylle Girang: Let me add to that.
121 00:12:44.330 ⇒ 00:12:50.820 Demilade Agboola: I haven’t done a lot of Scandinavian countries, and I should actually do that. So, like, the Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland.
122 00:12:50.820 ⇒ 00:12:51.700 Brylle Girang: Exactly.
123 00:12:51.700 ⇒ 00:12:54.070 Demilade Agboola: It would be nice to do some kind of leaving countries.
124 00:12:54.520 ⇒ 00:12:57.679 Brylle Girang: Yeah, mainly, I would love to see, like, the northern lights,
125 00:12:57.900 ⇒ 00:13:07.390 Brylle Girang: So, that’s the dream. That’s my dream for me. So, yeah, how do you call this? But if you have… have you… have you visited the Philippines?
126 00:13:07.690 ⇒ 00:13:16.859 Demilade Agboola: No, I haven’t done Asia. Like, I keep saying I should. Like, I haven’t done any Asian country, and I really want to do, like, at least a couple of them.
127 00:13:17.010 ⇒ 00:13:30.880 Demilade Agboola: I have, like, the Philippines look like I’ve seen some pictures and some things where… places people go, looks really good. I’ve seen some, like, Thailand, I’ve seen some really nice places. I’ve seen Hong Kong, I’ve seen China.
128 00:13:31.010 ⇒ 00:13:36.380 Demilade Agboola: I have seen… Taiwan, since Japan… I’ve seen a number of places, I’m just like.
129 00:13:36.570 ⇒ 00:13:36.900 Brylle Girang: Yeah.
130 00:13:36.900 ⇒ 00:13:42.500 Demilade Agboola: There’s so many places to go to, I usually, like, I think I like places that…
131 00:13:42.610 ⇒ 00:13:45.139 Demilade Agboola: the… you know, one of the things I’m…
132 00:13:46.130 ⇒ 00:13:52.590 Demilade Agboola: One of the things I have, sometimes when I go to certain countries, is it feels fake. I don’t know how to explain, but like…
133 00:13:52.840 ⇒ 00:13:53.970 Brylle Girang: Oh, okay.
134 00:13:53.970 ⇒ 00:14:00.829 Demilade Agboola: Like, just this bubble that they kind of want you to experience and go back to your country. It feels very… fake.
135 00:14:01.070 ⇒ 00:14:06.080 Demilade Agboola: I feel like some of my best trips have been when I had someone who
136 00:14:06.390 ⇒ 00:14:08.380 Demilade Agboola: Took me beyond just, like.
137 00:14:08.630 ⇒ 00:14:12.519 Demilade Agboola: Like, for instance, when I went to Portugal, I had a friend who I used to work with.
138 00:14:12.670 ⇒ 00:14:13.640 Demilade Agboola: who was Brazilian.
139 00:14:13.640 ⇒ 00:14:14.120 Brylle Girang: Yeah.
140 00:14:14.380 ⇒ 00:14:24.059 Demilade Agboola: speak Portuguese, and he lived in Portugal. And that’s one of my best trips ever, because it was beyond just the regular, like, you know, going around, sightseeing. You know, he took me to, like.
141 00:14:24.060 ⇒ 00:14:34.850 Demilade Agboola: spots he’s been to. He took… he was speaking the language and helping me get by certain places, and get deals in the markets, and all that stuff. Like, it felt more, like.
142 00:14:35.110 ⇒ 00:14:38.740 Demilade Agboola: an actual experience of that, rather than just…
143 00:14:39.630 ⇒ 00:14:48.770 Demilade Agboola: You just go to the malls, or you just walk around, take pictures by the sea, or, like, the regular stuff, like, you would do as a tourist that could be a bit, you know…
144 00:14:49.060 ⇒ 00:14:59.099 Demilade Agboola: Abstracts from, like, what it feels like to live in that place, and eat the meals and, you know, go around to the right… to the, you know, places that they would go to and all that.
145 00:15:00.620 ⇒ 00:15:10.089 Brylle Girang: That makes sense, so you don’t want to, like, feel like a tourist, you want to feel like you’re actually living there, right? That makes sense.
146 00:15:10.390 ⇒ 00:15:23.339 Brylle Girang: you should try the Philippines. I don’t know if you like, like, the beaches and the islands, but the Philippines is an archipelago. There’s, like, a total of 7,000 islands in just the country.
147 00:15:23.510 ⇒ 00:15:28.660 Brylle Girang: And these islands have… have their own culture that you should try out.
148 00:15:29.650 ⇒ 00:15:30.140 Demilade Agboola: Hmm.
149 00:15:30.140 ⇒ 00:15:32.480 Brylle Girang: I feel like I have lived in the Philippines for…
150 00:15:32.870 ⇒ 00:15:45.219 Brylle Girang: for 23 years, and I haven’t even got to the, like, half of the islands, and it’s amazing, I’m telling you. And I don’t think that you’re going to, like, feel that
151 00:15:45.500 ⇒ 00:15:48.249 Brylle Girang: There’s a bubble here that…
152 00:15:48.250 ⇒ 00:15:48.720 Demilade Agboola: Yeah.
153 00:15:48.720 ⇒ 00:15:53.109 Brylle Girang: Some people are just trying to maintain to have a good tourist
154 00:15:53.370 ⇒ 00:15:56.649 Brylle Girang: how do you call this? A good tourism…
155 00:15:58.030 ⇒ 00:16:03.039 Brylle Girang: optics? I don’t think you’re going to experience that here.
156 00:16:03.420 ⇒ 00:16:06.530 Brylle Girang: But realistically, I think that you’re going to see that
157 00:16:07.000 ⇒ 00:16:13.739 Brylle Girang: The reality here is really what you’re going to see when you search about the Philippines.
158 00:16:14.450 ⇒ 00:16:15.770 Demilade Agboola: Fair enough, yeah, I mean…
159 00:16:15.770 ⇒ 00:16:16.710 Brylle Girang: Amazing.
160 00:16:16.880 ⇒ 00:16:22.160 Demilade Agboola: I don’t know if it was that, like, because, like, Malta is not a Chicago, but it’s just, like, 3 islands, you know, it’s nothing… it’s nothing crazy.
161 00:16:22.160 ⇒ 00:16:23.180 Brylle Girang: Oh, yeah.
162 00:16:23.910 ⇒ 00:16:28.829 Demilade Agboola: 7,000 islands is crazy. That’s a lot… that’s a lot of islands.
163 00:16:29.440 ⇒ 00:16:34.140 Brylle Girang: You know what, let me fact-check myself. How many islands are in the beach?
164 00:16:34.340 ⇒ 00:16:39.970 Brylle Girang: Yeah, 7,641, so that’s accurate. Yeah, there’s a lot.
165 00:16:40.510 ⇒ 00:16:43.780 Brylle Girang: So, if you don’t mind, if you don’t mind me asking, like.
166 00:16:43.780 ⇒ 00:16:44.360 Demilade Agboola: Yeah.
167 00:16:44.360 ⇒ 00:16:48.400 Brylle Girang: What, what made you… not stay in Nigeria.
168 00:16:49.110 ⇒ 00:17:00.049 Brylle Girang: I don’t know if I phrased that question correctly, but the main question why you’re asking this is because in my previous company, we were really working closely with Kenya.
169 00:17:00.520 ⇒ 00:17:09.050 Brylle Girang: And we were trying to, like, immerse ourselves in the Kenyan culture. We were not trying to appropriate, but rather try to understand.
170 00:17:09.220 ⇒ 00:17:12.829 Brylle Girang: How can your works… what the people in Kenya feels?
171 00:17:13.410 ⇒ 00:17:23.640 Brylle Girang: And one major factor that struck out to me was that the opportunity, especially when it comes to the youth within Kenya, is really bad.
172 00:17:24.520 ⇒ 00:17:24.829 Demilade Agboola: Okay.
173 00:17:24.839 ⇒ 00:17:30.989 Brylle Girang: And that forces people to, like, search for other opportunities outside the country.
174 00:17:31.289 ⇒ 00:17:32.289 Demilade Agboola: So… Yep.
175 00:17:32.909 ⇒ 00:17:39.249 Brylle Girang: That brings me back to my question, like, what made you decide not to, like, stay in Nigeria?
176 00:17:40.750 ⇒ 00:17:46.520 Demilade Agboola: I mean, to me, to be honest, for me, it was literally just that, and that plus my girlfriend lives in the US.
177 00:17:46.790 ⇒ 00:17:55.410 Demilade Agboola: So, for me, it was much easier to also get, like, a US visa from, like, as a resident of Malta than, like, back home in Nigeria.
178 00:17:57.170 ⇒ 00:18:03.759 Demilade Agboola: But honestly, like, that was it, like, I was just wanting to explore. Because again, like I said, I’ve been working remotely for…
179 00:18:03.770 ⇒ 00:18:04.770 Brylle Girang: Like… Yeah.
180 00:18:05.120 ⇒ 00:18:06.280 Demilade Agboola: 5 years now?
181 00:18:08.370 ⇒ 00:18:24.289 Demilade Agboola: I got a job, so initially I got a job when I was… when I started work, I got a job in a Nigerian company. I was there for, like, 2 years. Then I got a job in my, like, data culture, which is based in New York. I was there for, like, 2 years. Then I got a job with,
182 00:18:24.530 ⇒ 00:18:27.079 Demilade Agboola: a company based in Saudi Arabia.
183 00:18:27.610 ⇒ 00:18:34.290 Demilade Agboola: Where I worked as their DVT guy for, like, another 2 years, and now I’m working in Brainforge. So, for the most part.
184 00:18:35.980 ⇒ 00:18:44.859 Demilade Agboola: in terms of, like, having to leave the country, like, Brentford doesn’t care where I work, you know? The Saudi company didn’t care where I worked, data culture didn’t care where I worked.
185 00:18:45.050 ⇒ 00:18:48.779 Demilade Agboola: So I didn’t necessarily have to leave for those reasons,
186 00:18:49.080 ⇒ 00:18:50.899 Demilade Agboola: I just was like, you know…
187 00:18:51.280 ⇒ 00:19:03.970 Demilade Agboola: this is what I want to experience, this is what I want to try out, and, like, moving to a different country, or this country in particular, will move me closer to those experiences, versus, like,
188 00:19:05.420 ⇒ 00:19:08.599 Demilade Agboola: Like, being back in Nigeria. So that was it for me.
189 00:19:08.790 ⇒ 00:19:15.750 Demilade Agboola: But yeah, I do, even in Europe, some people move for, like, job opportunities and stuff,
190 00:19:15.880 ⇒ 00:19:24.190 Demilade Agboola: Which, you know, does happen quite a bit. Again, like I said, because I work remotely, and I’ve worked with a bunch of companies that way.
191 00:19:25.980 ⇒ 00:19:33.419 Demilade Agboola: I haven’t necessarily been in that position where I need to move for a job or anything of that nature, you know, because…
192 00:19:33.640 ⇒ 00:19:34.210 Brylle Girang: Yeah.
193 00:19:34.210 ⇒ 00:19:36.630 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, so I just… I just work for mine, work from…
194 00:19:37.060 ⇒ 00:19:45.849 Demilade Agboola: And part of it, to be fair, part of the reason why I actually got this job in particular, and why I was keen to move to Brainforge, is because…
195 00:19:45.960 ⇒ 00:19:50.720 Demilade Agboola: I could, like, when I’m in the US, I just will tell the team, hey, I’m in the US now.
196 00:19:50.850 ⇒ 00:19:53.749 Demilade Agboola: And I will match… I will just work US hours.
197 00:19:54.280 ⇒ 00:20:06.149 Demilade Agboola: Right? But if I was… when I was in my Saudi company, I kind of had to still work the same hours, even when I was in the US, so I was waking up at, like, 12am, 1AM, just to work, and that was taking a toll on me.
198 00:20:06.350 ⇒ 00:20:14.429 Demilade Agboola: Because, like, it was brutal, because I’m sleeping, like, some… and the crazy part is I would… because my girlfriend was, like, I would go see my girlfriend, so…
199 00:20:14.990 ⇒ 00:20:18.909 Demilade Agboola: she will come… and she was doing her… so she was working and doing her master’s.
200 00:20:19.090 ⇒ 00:20:22.759 Demilade Agboola: So, effectively, she would have come home until, like, 8.
201 00:20:23.060 ⇒ 00:20:23.920 Demilade Agboola: PM?
202 00:20:24.100 ⇒ 00:20:27.679 Demilade Agboola: We will hang out till, like, 10PM or 11pm when she had to sleep.
203 00:20:27.800 ⇒ 00:20:34.980 Demilade Agboola: And then I would have to wake up at, like, 1AM to work. So it was one of those things where, like, my body was… it was taking a toll on… on me.
204 00:20:34.980 ⇒ 00:20:35.310 Brylle Girang: Yes.
205 00:20:35.310 ⇒ 00:20:44.309 Demilade Agboola: Alright, cool, cool, cool. And so now, when, like, I’m in the US with this job, it’s much easier, because I just will sleep at, like, 11 and wake up at 6, 7.
206 00:20:44.410 ⇒ 00:20:48.200 Demilade Agboola: We start, like, the day from the… .
207 00:20:51.470 ⇒ 00:20:55.880 Brylle Girang: Okay, okay, that’s amazing. I’m really happy for you, man.
208 00:20:56.050 ⇒ 00:21:01.789 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, I mean… I mean, yeah, it’s, it’s one of those things where…
209 00:21:03.170 ⇒ 00:21:10.139 Demilade Agboola: I find it fascinating, because… so I started electrical electronics engineering back in uni, and I, like, my job has literally.
210 00:21:10.140 ⇒ 00:21:10.990 Brylle Girang: Okay.
211 00:21:10.990 ⇒ 00:21:17.989 Demilade Agboola: knocked the situation with that, so it’s… it’s one of those things where… You kind of just…
212 00:21:17.990 ⇒ 00:21:19.019 Brylle Girang: That’s cool.
213 00:21:19.080 ⇒ 00:21:19.780 Demilade Agboola: Nevertheless.
214 00:21:19.940 ⇒ 00:21:22.389 Brylle Girang: I also studied electronics engineering in college.
215 00:21:22.390 ⇒ 00:21:23.100 Demilade Agboola: Arabian.
216 00:21:23.100 ⇒ 00:21:29.690 Brylle Girang: That’s cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I agree, I don’t… I don’t… I don’t use half of the stuff that I learned.
217 00:21:29.690 ⇒ 00:21:35.819 Demilade Agboola: So… Trust me, it seems to be a pattern. Like, even back, like, back…
218 00:21:35.920 ⇒ 00:21:39.249 Demilade Agboola: Cause we still have, like, I still have my…
219 00:21:39.480 ⇒ 00:21:42.220 Demilade Agboola: Group chat with my uni classmates.
220 00:21:42.910 ⇒ 00:21:48.840 Demilade Agboola: And I think, genuinely, out of a class of maybe 30-something people, like 38, 39 people.
221 00:21:49.260 ⇒ 00:21:56.860 Demilade Agboola: I think only one or two people are still doing anything electrical engineering related. You know, we have.
222 00:21:56.860 ⇒ 00:21:57.530 Brylle Girang: Oh, wow.
223 00:21:57.530 ⇒ 00:22:01.009 Demilade Agboola: We have people in cybersecurity, we have people who need, like…
224 00:22:01.130 ⇒ 00:22:06.319 Demilade Agboola: Front-end engineers, we have, photographers, we have,
225 00:22:06.740 ⇒ 00:22:10.539 Demilade Agboola: Like, me, data, like, just people just doing anything and everything.
226 00:22:10.660 ⇒ 00:22:17.129 Demilade Agboola: But there are only, like, maybe 2 or maybe three people who are still doing anything electrical engineering related, so…
227 00:22:18.480 ⇒ 00:22:20.219 Demilade Agboola: That’s fascinating. It’s very interesting.
228 00:22:20.220 ⇒ 00:22:21.870 Brylle Girang: Yeah, yeah, crazy.
229 00:22:22.390 ⇒ 00:22:23.050 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, but…
230 00:22:23.050 ⇒ 00:22:27.789 Brylle Girang: It was really nice meeting you, man. It was really nice getting the chance to talk to you.
231 00:22:28.140 ⇒ 00:22:32.739 Demilade Agboola: Yeah, it’s great talking to you, Alice. It’s nice to know you beyond just, like, the meetings and stuff.
232 00:22:33.420 ⇒ 00:22:41.839 Brylle Girang: Exactly, exactly. So, yeah, Demi, so if you need anything, especially when it comes to, like, the stuff that Utemis mainly
233 00:22:42.360 ⇒ 00:22:55.960 Brylle Girang: revolving on, please let me know. I think my biggest hope here is to try and really help the team get to, like, OTEM standards as much as possible, so that’s where I’m really trying to help.
234 00:22:56.820 ⇒ 00:22:58.310 Demilade Agboola: Alright, sounds good, sounds good.
235 00:22:59.270 ⇒ 00:23:01.000 Brylle Girang: Alright. Nice meeting you, man!
236 00:23:01.000 ⇒ 00:23:02.360 Demilade Agboola: Nice mentioning yourself.
237 00:23:02.510 ⇒ 00:23:03.260 Demilade Agboola: Bye.
238 00:23:03.970 ⇒ 00:23:04.590 Brylle Girang: Thank you.