Selected Work
Every project is a decision-making story.
The work I choose reflects the kinds of problems I enjoy solving: navigating uncertainty, bringing structure to complexity, and helping teams move from ideas to meaningful outcomes.
While not every engagement can be shared publicly, the stories below offer a glimpse into how I approach product leadership, strategy and organisational change.
Only the work I can comfortably share.
Quality matters more than quantity. Each story below focuses on the thinking behind the work — the context, the questions we sat with, the decisions we made together, and what stayed behind after the engagement ended.
Continental Fintech
Rewiring a Series-B product org so shipping stopped feeling heroic.
In brief
Engineering had scaled faster than product. Every release was negotiated in Slack, priorities re-shuffled weekly, and senior operators were losing sleep — not conviction.
The Context
A Series-B fintech serving three markets, 42 people across product and engineering, and a board that wanted quarterly proof — not another roadmap deck.
The Thinking
The bottleneck wasn't talent. It was the operating model. Roadmaps had become a comfort blanket for a company that hadn't yet learned to make bets. Fixing the plan wouldn't help; fixing how the plan gets made would.
The Approach
Diagnosed the operating model in six weeks. Replaced quarterly roadmaps with a bet-based planning cadence, paired product with engineering leadership, and installed a single source of truth for priorities.
Execution
Two full planning cycles run alongside the team. Rituals rewritten, decision rights redrawn, and the first three bets shipped end-to-end — including the postmortems the org had been avoiding.
Impact
Shipping cadence tripled. Cycle time fell 42%. Two former direct reports of mine now run product there — the operating model outlived the engagement.
"The work that lasts is the work the team can still run after you've left. Everything else is choreography."
— Managing Director, Continental Fintech
Federal Ministry
Consolidating twelve legacy services into one credible national front door.
In brief
Twelve legacy services, four vendors, no shared design language — and a political mandate to consolidate everything into one civic front door inside a year.
The Context
A federal ministry serving 200M+ citizens, with more institutional memory than the org chart admitted and less delivery muscle than the mandate required.
The Thinking
A citizen-first service can't be procured. It has to be practised. The ministry didn't need a vendor; it needed a small in-house crew that could ship one vertical slice at a time — and outlive the political cycle that funded it.
The Approach
Ran a service-design diagnosis across every touchpoint. Built a small in-house crew. Installed a weekly delivery cadence. Shipped the new service in vertical slices — each one usable in production.
Execution
Nine hires made against a written bar. Twelve services mapped, four sunset, eight rebuilt. A design system, delivery playbook and vendor management model handed over as living documents.
Impact
Twelve services consolidated into one, 91% task success at launch, and a permanent civic-tech team the ministry now runs without us.
"The real deliverable was the team. Everything they shipped afterwards was proof that the model held."
— Permanent Secretary
Pan-African Bank
A brand system built for the customers the bank hadn't earned yet.
In brief
A tier-one bank with heritage, distribution and scale — and a brand the next generation of customers no longer had a reason to choose.
The Context
Six markets, twenty-thousand staff, a marketing engine built for another era, and a leadership team quietly aware that the next decade wouldn't reward incumbency.
The Thinking
You cannot rebrand your way into a new generation. You have to earn the right to be re-considered — through the product surfaces, tone and rituals that customers actually meet.
The Approach
Re-authored the narrative from the market side in. Rebuilt the identity system, product surfaces, verbal tone and launch playbook. Trained the internal team to run it after we left.
Execution
Nine months of parallel workstreams: brand narrative, identity, product UI kit, verbal system, launch calendar and internal onboarding — shipped alongside a rebuilt in-house design org.
Impact
Unaided awareness up 38 points in the target segment, a new customer cohort growing 4× the base, and an in-house design org that owns the system.
"A brand is what your market says when you leave the meeting. This one now says something the bank is proud of."
— Chief Marketing Officer
University Consortium
An innovation campus designed to outlast its founding cohort.
In brief
Three universities, one government partner and a shared conviction that the continent needed an innovation campus that was more than a real-estate play.
The Context
Two capital cities, a five-year horizon and a governance table with as many opinions as members. The failure mode wasn't ambition — it was patience.
The Thinking
A campus is not a building. It is a curriculum, a venture path, a governance model and a founder pipeline held together by a thesis the board can defend in public.
The Approach
Wrote the five-year thesis. Designed the operating model, curriculum, venture path and partnership structure. Advised through year one of build.
Execution
Twelve months of governance work, three partner ventures incubated, and a founder pipeline recruited from four countries — all before the buildings opened.
Impact
A five-year roadmap the board defends, three partner ventures already launched, and a founder pipeline the region didn't have twelve months earlier.
"The measure of an institution is what it can still do without the people who built it. That's the bar we set — and the bar it now clears."
— Board Chair
Media Platform
Reinventing the reading experience for African audiences.
In brief
A respected media brand with a beloved masthead — and a product experience that had not kept pace with how its readers actually consume the internet.
The Context
Three markets, a newsroom under pressure, and a subscription business that had to start paying for the journalism it carried.
The Thinking
Readers don't leave good writing. They leave friction. The turnaround wasn't editorial — it was the six invisible seams between a headline and a habit.
The Approach
Ran reader research across three markets. Rebuilt the reading, subscription and Sunday-longform experiences. Shipped in six-week cycles alongside the in-house team.
Execution
Eight months, four ship cycles, one new subscription funnel, one Sunday product, and a research practice the newsroom still runs monthly.
Impact
Session length up 2.4×, Sunday retention at 60%, and a subscriptions funnel that finally paid for the journalism it was carrying.
"Newsrooms don't need saving. They need product partners who respect what the writing is trying to do."
— Editor-in-Chief
Healthtech Startup
A 0→1 launch that made a new health category credible.
In brief
A pre-launch health company with world-class clinical thinking, a small founding team, and no product, brand or GTM story yet in the market.
The Context
Four founders, three markets to enter, one narrow window before a well-funded incumbent moved into the same space.
The Thinking
0→1 isn't about picking the right feature. It is about compressing narrative, product and hiring into a single decision the founders can live behind for five years.
The Approach
Ran a compressed 0→1: naming, narrative, identity, MVP scope, launch plan, hiring bar. Stayed on as advisor through the seed round.
Execution
Sixteen weeks, one launch across three markets, one seed round closed on the narrative we shipped together, and a first cohort of customers inside the first six weeks.
Impact
Launched into three markets, closed a $6.5M seed round on the narrative, and now serves as a category reference for peer companies.
"The right 0→1 partner leaves you with a company you can still recognise in year five. That was always the brief."
— Founding CEO
Queen's University
Reimagining leadership education through immersive simulation.
In brief
The existing leadership curriculum leaned on case studies and lectures — formats that struggled to prepare executives for the ambiguity, tempo and trade-offs of real leadership.
The Context
A top-tier business school, a faculty with deep expertise, and a cohort of executive learners who wanted a rehearsal environment for the decisions they'd have to make on Monday morning.
The Thinking
Leadership is a practice, not a topic. If the classroom couldn't simulate the pressure of a real decision, no volume of theory would close the gap. The product had to make the trade-offs visible — and let learners feel the consequences of them.
The Approach
Led the product strategy and delivery of a digital leadership simulation that puts learners inside the realities of leading organisations under uncertainty. Combined product thinking, experiential learning and systems design.
Execution
Curriculum architecture, simulation design, product build and faculty enablement — shipped alongside faculty in cycles that let each cohort refine the environment for the next.
Impact
A leadership simulation now embedded in the executive curriculum, faculty who own the platform, and a measurable shift in how learners rate the practicality of what they take back to work.
"The classroom finally gives learners the one thing the reading list never could — the feeling of having made the decision."
— Faculty Lead, Executive Education
Providence Care
Making a complex care system easier for the people inside it.
In brief
Frontline clinicians were working around the tools instead of through them. Every workaround was a small tax on the quality of care — and on the morale of the people delivering it.
The Context
A multi-site healthcare organisation with layered workflows, regulated constraints, and a leadership team unwilling to trade patient outcomes for a tidier tech stack.
The Thinking
Healthcare digital work fails when it treats clinicians as end-users of a system built for administrators. The unlock was to design from the clinician's day outward — and let the technology decisions follow the practice.
The Approach
Ran a service-and-technology diagnosis across the highest-friction workflows. Prioritised the interventions that shortened the clinician's day without compromising governance. Delivered in short, observable cycles.
Execution
Workflow mapping, staff shadowing, prioritisation with clinical leadership, and a phased delivery plan owned jointly with the internal team.
Impact
Reduced administrative overhead in the priority workflows, better hand-offs between shifts, and a clearer operating picture for leadership.
"Successful digital transformation in healthcare depends just as much on people, communication and process as it does on technology."
— Programme Sponsor
Rogers
Delivering enterprise-scale product change without breaking the room.
In brief
A large-scale product programme with tightly coupled dependencies, competing priorities, and stakeholder groups whose incentives didn't naturally line up.
The Context
A national telecommunications business with enterprise-grade constraints — customer commitments, regulatory obligations and the operational realities of a system that already worked at scale.
The Thinking
At this scale, the winning move is rarely a bigger plan. It's a smaller unit of shipping — one the whole room can trust and defend. The programme had to earn credibility one visible outcome at a time.
The Approach
Structured the programme around short, defensible slices. Established the operating cadence, decision rights and reporting rhythm that let leadership see progress without micromanaging delivery.
Execution
Cross-functional delivery, stakeholder alignment across product, engineering and business owners, and a reporting layer built for honesty rather than theatre.
Impact
Programme delivered on the commitments that mattered, with an operating cadence the organisation kept using after the engagement closed.
"Enterprise delivery is a discipline of trust. Every honest status update buys a little more room to ship the next one."
— Programme Director
Rather than showcasing deliverables, a way of working.
- 01
Listen before advising.
Every engagement begins with understanding the context rather than assuming the solution.
- 02
Simplify complexity.
Good strategy makes difficult decisions easier to understand.
- 03
Build shared understanding.
Progress happens faster when everyone is working toward the same picture of success.
- 04
Leave stronger capability behind.
The goal isn't simply to complete a project. It's to help organisations think and operate more effectively long after the engagement ends.
Good case studies don't celebrate success. They explain the thinking behind it.
Categories rather than logos.
A restrained view of the sectors and environments the work has moved through.
01
Public Sector
Digital transformation, governance and organisational improvement.
02
Healthcare
Technology initiatives supporting operational effectiveness.
03
Higher Education
Experiential learning, digital education and product innovation.
04
Telecommunications
Enterprise delivery, customer experience and large-scale product environments.
05
Venture Building
Founding and growing products, platforms and businesses.
06
Financial Services
Product strategy and organisational design for banks, fintechs and payments platforms.
Endorsements that answer a different question.
Placeholders held in place until genuine testimonials are collected. Nothing here is fabricated — each note names the theme it will one day speak to.
"Akinmade consistently brought clarity to complex challenges and helped align diverse stakeholders around practical decisions."
— Future client testimonial
"He has a rare ability to connect strategy, execution and user experience without losing sight of the bigger picture."
— Future colleague testimonial
"Working with Akinmade felt less like hiring a consultant and more like gaining a trusted thought partner."
— Future client testimonial
Final invitation
Every organisation has a different challenge.
Whether you're exploring a new product, improving an existing business or navigating organisational change, I'd be glad to discuss where thoughtful strategy can make the greatest difference.