A Dream Deserves To Be Achievable
It’s not every day you hear a story of one who moved from being a hustler to owning a tech startup. What are the odds really? Anyone able to achieve this stride deserves to be celebrated. This is the story of Daniel Omosele who defied the odds and transitioned from running a small gas business that delivered cooking gas to homes to a Cofounder of Revo Energy Africa (a clean energy tech startup addressing the issues of cooking with dirty fuels) through the Semicolon Africa 1-Year Techpreneurship program.
Initially pursuing a degree in Computer Science at Osun State College of Technology, Daniel always had a curiosity for Tech, but life had other plans. He had to drop out of school after a year due to a lack of funding. In a bid to fend for himself, Daniel took on jobs as a Factory Worker, a Sales Personnel, a Boutique staff, in Cyber Cafes and Business Centres, and in a Gas Plant Company. While at the Gas Plant, he got an opportunity to own his own retail gas shop.
As a naturally-born businessman, he sought to beat the competitive gas market by delivering directly to homes and later expanded his services to repairs of cooking accessories like gas cookers. In doing all of these, he encountered customers who had trust issues and complained that their gas wasn’t reaching their average usage period. In addition, the common issue with people never knowing when their gas was about to finish (except carrying or shaking it to see if it was lighter) was also a problem he sought to solve. Determined to find a solution, he became consumed with researching and finding new ways to create a meter that would measure the level of gas people had, coupled with the ability to track when his customers needed a refill without them contacting him.
His first attempt at this was building a platform or website, but the basic WordPress skills that he had garnered were not enough to get what he wanted. Determined to get it done, he got connected to an Indian developer who gave him the final slam of discouragement when he was charged millions of naira. He felt utterly discouraged but he continued nevertheless. One thing was clear — he needed Tech to enable his idea.
The journey to making his idea a reality began when he encountered Semicolon Africa. According to Daniel “My first encounter with Semicolon was what I would call a ‘Divine Intervention.’’ While doing his regular delivery and repairs to the homes of clients, he was referred by a client to render his services to Sam Immanuel, CEO, Semicolon Africa. As a Tech Evangelist, Sam struck up a conversation about Tech with Daniel and told him about the Semicolon 1-year techpreneurship program and the possibilities that could be born if he gave himself a chance to become empowered with tech skills. That moment felt perfect. Daniel was all about implementing Tech into the gas sector and like a fitting shape, Semicolon had a platform to help with such issues. With its Learnspace partnership, it offered learning with a unique payment structure that leaves no worries. It felt fated and it clicked in Daniel’s mind.
With plans underway to get married, Daniel’s way of surviving through the full-time program was to leave a trusted apprentice to run the business while he was away, but that story turned sour a month after he joined Semicolon — with his trusted apprentice opening his own shop down the street! Left with no choice, he closed his shop and gave his full attention to learning.
Today, Daniel has become tech-enabled through the 1-year techpreneurship program. Daniel is now part of the over 20 people building their startups with the Semicolon Ventures Studio, and Revo Energy Africa is becoming a reality.
