Quick Fire 🔥 with Omolara Dada

Omolara Dada is a senior product marketing manager at Busha, a digital asset exchange based in Nigeria. In her role, she is responsible for developing the business-to-business marketing function from the ground up, which involves building a bridge between complex financial infrastructure and the people who need it explained clearly to take action.

With over six years of experience in African fintech, Dada has worked on go-to-market strategy, product positioning, and growth across both B2B and consumer-facing financial products.

Beyond her day job, Dada is also a career coach and content creator, building a platform for mid and senior professionals across Nigeria and beyond. She focuses on topics such as salary negotiation, career visibility, and navigating corporate life, and has amassed an audience of over 14,000 professionals on Instagram and LinkedIn.

When asked to explain her job to a five-year-old, Dada likened it to making something cool but ensuring that people know about it, understand why it's useful, and want to use it. Her primary task is to help people find out about the cool things her company does, clarify why it's useful, and encourage them to use it.

One of the most challenging aspects of her work in fintech in Nigeria is building trust and earning the confidence of businesses. The environment is unpredictable, and people have been burned before, so establishing credibility, consistency, and reliability is crucial. This makes her work even more meaningful because when a business trusts her, she knows she has earned it.

As Dada transitioned from traditional fintech to digital asset finance (crypto), she noticed both similarities and complications. The similarities between the two sectors lie in their core purpose of moving money and building trust. However, the complications arise from education and regulation. With digital assets, Dada often needs to explain the category itself before she can explain her product, as people might not understand what a stablecoin is.

Moreover, the crypto space moves fast, with rules still forming and a high level of skepticism and noise to cut through.

When Dada started Busha's B2B marketing function from scratch, she had to figure out who they were talking to, what problem they solve for their customers, and how to communicate it effectively. Once she clarified this, she could focus on other aspects of marketing, such as content, channels, and campaigns.

A common mistake Dada sees early-stage professionals make when negotiating salary is accepting the first offer without asking for flexibility or a counteroffer. She emphasizes that most employers have room in their initial offers, and early-stage professionals should feel comfortable negotiating to earn more over their careers. Lastly, when asked about her skills, Dada expressed interest in improving her data analytics abilities, while she finds the detailed, administrative side of her job intriguing but not exciting.