On Health, Travel, Love, and Winning as a Product Manager
It has been few days since I last wrote to you and honestly, I would have loved to show up in your inbox every single day. But life has its own schedule and for now, once a month is what we are working with. So let us make every letter count.
If you read the last one, you already know what Germane means to me. If you did not, go back and check it out. It will make everything that follows land a little better.
A Small but Meaningful Milestone
In my last newsletter I talked about travelling through different states in Nigeria. That conversation stuck with me long after I sent it. It prompted me to actually sit down and make a list of every state I have visited across the country.
The count surprised me. Over ten states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I know what some of you are thinking. That is not exactly flying to ten countries. And to that I have one question: why are you running?
I will absolutely share the international adventures when that season comes. For now I am grateful for every road I have taken on home soil. And if you do not have an international passport yet, please go and get one. That is not a suggestion. That is a mailer’s sincere advice to a mailee.
On Health: A Conversation Worth Having
I want to talk about something that most Nigerians dismiss far too quickly: health insurance.
Last year I decided to stop being the person who only thinks about health when something goes wrong. I did my research, looked at the options available, and started using Reliance HMO. And I genuinely have not looked back.
Here is what got me: for as little as three thousand five hundred naira a month, you get access to doctors, free medication, and free delivery of that medication straight to your door. The full list of benefits is honestly too long to cover here without putting you to sleep, but the value is real and tangible.
I know how we Nigerians tend to think about insurance. That it is just another way for someone to take our money and disappear. I had those thoughts too. But when something works, it deserves to be said out loud. Their customer service alone has been one of the better experiences I have had with any service provider in recent memory.
No one paid me to say any of this. Good things simply deserve to be shared.
And yes, as a proud AA on the genotype scale, mosquitoes remain my most consistent health threat. But at least now I have backup.
Travels: Benin Is Next
You already know about Ibadan and Abeokuta from the last letter. Those trips were everything I hoped they would be and more.
Next on the list is Benin City. I will be attending the JCI Southwest Conference there and I cannot wait.
Speaking of JCI, I do not think I have properly introduced myself in this context. I am a member of Junior Chamber International and currently serve as the Director of Media and Publicity in my local organization. JCI is the kind of community that genuinely opens doors, for travel, for networking, for personal development, and for contributing to something larger than yourself. If you can find a chapter near you, become an active member. You will not regret it.
Whether the Benin trip actually happens will be a story for the next letter. Stay tuned.
On Love: A Few Honest Words
Life, love, and death. Three things none of us will escape while we are here in this cosmos.
And yet somehow, in this era, people seem to fear love more than they fear either of the other two.
I was watching The Witcher recently and found myself thinking about how even the most hardened characters, the ones who appear completely closed off, always have someone or something they love fiercely. Nobody is truly beyond it.
Whatever position you find yourself in when it comes to love, let integrity lead you. Integrity about how you actually feel. Integrity about what you genuinely want. Integrity about how seriously you are willing to pursue it.
And when it is time to be quiet, be quiet. Do not be foolish with matters of the heart and do not allow yourself to be made a fool of either.
That is all I will say about that for now.
Product Management: Team Feed ship Takes the Top Spot
Now for the update I have been most excited to share.
I recently graduated from an intensive four week plus training program organized by the UK Nigeria Tech Hub and DesignU. This is one of the most memorable and formative experiences I have had on my product management journey, sitting right alongside the Side Hustle Internship in terms of impact.
Let me be honest with you: becoming a product manager is not a casual undertaking. It requires deep commitment, consistent effort, and the willingness to be challenged in ways you did not always anticipate.
At the end of the program our cohort was divided into teams and each team worked on a real product project. We presented those projects and the best teams were selected. My team, Team Feed ship, made the top ten.
The top ten then presented again and the final three were selected from that group.
On graduation day, Team Feed ship was announced as the overall best team in the entire program.
I will let that sit there for a moment.
If you follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn you may have already seen me share a little about Feed ship. There is more to come on that front.
My next move is a product management course I recently picked up on Udemy. The learning never stops and I would not want it to.
Music for Your Ears
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Cowrywise office, which was an experience in itself. While we were there some music was playing in the background that genuinely caught my attention and stayed with me.
I want to share a few artists that have been doing it for me lately. Check them out and come back and tell me what you think.
Gerd, Calum Scott, Sam Smith, and James Arthur.
Four artists. Four very different sounds. All of them worth your time.
I take music selection seriously. I actually listen to my own mood before I choose what to play. I want the music to match where I am in that moment. Whether that is weird or not I will leave for you to decide.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end. That means something to me every single time.
One day or day one. The choice, as always, is entirely yours.
Talk soon, friend.
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