About

I've worked across a range of industries. I started my career at a real estate developer, building pro-forma models and structuring investment partnerships. I then joined an innovation consulting firm, where I helped corporate clients design products and services. I also worked as a senior project manager for a legal design and AI-driven legal compliance firm. I'm the founder of DABA, a DNVB skincare brand focused on people with melanin-rich skin.

I'm an alumnus of Sciences Po Paris, where I earned a Bachelor's in Social Sciences and Asian Studies (Economics concentration), including a Mandarin exchange year at Fudan University in Shanghai, as well as a Master's in International Management and Sustainability. I'm also an alumnus of African Leadership Academy, Johannesburg.

• Senior Project Manager, Amurabi & FairPatterns
• Innovation Consultant, frog (formerly Possible Future)
• Investment Analyst, Middle East & Africa, Materia Inc.
• Summer Intern, Lidya Finance
• Summer Intern, African Leadership University
• Co-founder, DABA
• Founder, Deni Clothing Company
• Founder, YALF (networking platform for young Africans)
• Founder, GrayMacaw (language school)

I speak Yoruba and English (native), French (bilingual), and Mandarin Chinese (I was much better a few years ago than I am right now).

• My name means ‘God is worthy to be praised.’ In Yoruba culture, names carry meaning, and children are named for the circumstances of their birth. My parents were grateful to have me. People call me different names depending on when they met me: childhood friends call me Tope; friends from high school outside Nigeria call me Baba. For some reason, I prefer the full thing, Babatope. Names are powerful, and I love mine.
• I was born and raised, mostly, in Ibadan, Nigeria. Today it’s a sleepy town, but a few decades ago it was an intellectual capital of sorts. Prof. Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe started their academic journeys there. Sade Adu was born in Ibadan, where her dad worked at the university. Tope, a cofounder of Helios Partners, was also raised in Ibadan.
• I enjoy meeting new people and becoming friends with them. Moving schools often has made me comfortable building new relationships from scratch. As David Rubenstein says, ‘I like figuring out what makes people tick.’
• I enjoy learning new things, particularly about personal finance. I like helping people get their financial lives in shape.
• I also enjoy analysing politics. I spend way too much time following what politicians do, from the coasts of Mombasa to the beaches of Cape Verde—or, if you prefer, from Cairo to Cape Town.
• I enjoy writing. Take a look at the thoughts and ideas I share.
• Buildings: I love studying buildings and the environments they sit in. My favorite city is Singapore, and I’m madly in love with the Milan Cathedral, though I’ve never been inside—too lazy to join the long queues.
• I believe in the Nicene Creed, and Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior. Weber, and my friend Leo, say this makes me a workaholic. I’m not sure, but I try to do everything as if I’m doing it for God.