Joel Ogunsola: The Year We Did Not Die – A Tale of Resilience and Inspiration
In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, success stories often overshadow the struggles and failures that pave the way to triumph. However, every now and then, a remarkable individual emerges, whose journey through adversity becomes a beacon of hope for others. Joel Ogunsola, the founder of Tech4Dev and CEO of Prunedge, is one such individual. In the year 2023, which he referred to as “the year we did not die,” Joel faced a series of business challenges that tested his mettle. His story serves as a powerful source of inspiration for entrepreneurs navigating their own challenging paths.
He took to his social media platforms to share his Stormy Seas of 2023:
Joel wrote;
The Year we did not die.
2023 was my lowest in life… sure this comes as a surprise to many (not people very close to me though) as I kept a rather positive and optimistic outlook (internally and externally) all through this year. A number of my friends asked if I was okay as it has been over 16 months I made any post on social media – to be honest the many challenges I faced called for decorum (or so I thought and believed).
I entered into 2022 with positives and negatives, on the one hand, Prunedge had huge receivables being owed to us by clients (This is not so much of a positive but it meant we had potentially accessible funds), we had a potential M & A conversation which we were leading on which I particularly loved just because of the nature of the transaction and we had an old organizational partner of ours who joined a US PE firm and was looking to back us through our initial fundraise at Prunedge (the only investor we pitched to and we have been bootstrapped for 7 years) – valuations done and we were up for due diligence. Nothing could go wrong we believed – worst case scenario, our 300%+ year on year revenue growth rate (2019 through 2022) will be just enough to support the organization through most of our operational expense at the time (for an almost 200 people team)!
2023 shattered almost all that I knew, believed or aspired for! Everything that could potentially go wrong went wrong. Receivables remain largely unrecovered, M & A fell through and the investors pulled out on the major note of macro economic instability due to Fx volatility (POV they were a U.S. PE firm looking to invest in Africa with our deal being their potentially first deal – boy we were all excited)!
At this point, I am sure a lot of people cannot relate as most people only seem to know about the work my wife and I do at Tech4Dev. I co-founded and have served as CEO at various times to Prunedge since 2015 till date (Prunedge is an enterprise technology solutions company with significant enterprise IP portfolio and experience developing custom solutions across various verticals).
As Prunedge has been bootstrapped since inception, we have had to rely on debt financing options to grow and scale the business, however 2023 tested ever truth I thought I knew, while fundamentally we believe we did all the right things, all other variables were not in our favor or in favor of our business model. I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life when it comes to our team members – we initially had to implement a pay cut to stay afloat and eventually people cuts when the PE deal was eventually off the table. I am people invested (the human capital development blood in me), so this absolutely tore me apart emotionally.
Bankruptcy was a word I never dreaded (for those who know me), I however never thought I would have to consider it as often as I did over the last 6 months.
The year has been a very long and trying one and would be key to give all utmost gratitude to God first who against all odds saw me through the year, to our family who stuck closer to us than anyone else (even though most did not understand what we were going through or the extent of our pains – they made sure we were not alone), to our friends who constantly extended us a lifeline (moral and financial) through the year, you guys are my MVPs – I wish I could name every single one of you (because you are indeed not a lot), to my colleagues (ex and current) at Prunedge who have stuck with us all through the year, We could not have asked for a better support structure!
To my friend @lanre who has stuck closer than a brother – Oshey Ore! Can’t wait to see what the future holds for us…
While the year was a stormy one, I had my few moments of hope and a couple of highlights across board from Tech4Dev launching it’s Women Techsters fellowship across 22 African countries, to opening its first office in North America (DC) to the kickstarting of operations of Prunedge Sierra Leone (more details to come in the new year of the amazing work the team there is doing), to the development of 4 new products (to be launched in 2024) to Tech4Dev launching its jobs accelerator – Taltrix.
To reposition the work that we do and ensure that we are able to stabilize and turn a profit (at Prunedge) and scale sustainably (at Tech4Dev), we are making critical leadership transitions in the new year – excited about this and can’t wait to support the next generation of leaders steer the ship of what we have built till date.
While I thought I could write extensively about the year 2023, I find myself lost of words to describe in full details how tumultuous the year has been… all in all I am exceptionally grateful to God for his grace and mercy!
With a myriad of problems still existing to resolve and we will boldly solve them , I am super excited about 2024, the opportunity to do hard things and the freedom to continue to dream – dreams are free, I will always say.
All of these would be impossible without my ever present wife and business partner @Oladiwura – you rock! God keep you for me till the very end.
As I board my 140th+ flight this year to head home from work, May we all see and meet in peace in 2024. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me!
In the Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos’s words – “They buried us, but they didn’t know we were seeds”.
Joel Ogunsola’s journey in 2023 was marked by countless setbacks and sleepless nights. Yet, he refused to succumb to despair. Instead, he embraced resilience as his guiding principle.
We are indeed inspired by Joel’s story, thank you for sharing your experience that serves as a powerful source of inspiration for entrepreneurs navigating their own challenging paths. You are indeed a star!
