Quick Fire 🔥 with Kolawole Bekes
Kolawole Bekes is a Database Administrator, Database Reliability Engineer, and DevOps Engineer with over a decade of experience spanning multiple industries. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Abuja. Following his relocation to the United States in 2015 and subsequently to Canada in 2017, he has built a career working with organisations such as Microsoft, AppDirect, WorkJam, Sunwing Airlines, Agio, and Big Fish Games.
He is also the founder and chief executive officer of WakaMi, an on-demand errand service platform focused on delivering reliable and efficient errand solutions to Nigerians both locally and in the diaspora.
- Explain what you do to a 5-year-old.
Once upon a time, there was a big fruit garden where fruits kept falling everywhere—apples here, bananas there, and oranges rolling all over the ground. Nobody could find what they wanted.
So I became the helper of the garden. I picked up all the fruits and put them into the right baskets; apples in one basket, bananas in another, and oranges in their own place.
I also made sure the fruits stayed fresh and safe. Whenever someone came looking for a fruit, I could quickly say, “I know exactly where it is,” and give it to them right away.
My job is to keep everything neat, safe, and easy to find, just like the fruit baskets in the garden.
- How did you become a Database Administrator?
I became a Database Administrator as part of a deliberate effort to improve my earning potential and build a more reliable career path. I joined a community of IT professionals in North America, where I was exposed to new ideas and opportunities.
Through that network, I discovered and enrolled in a bootcamp, completed several training sessions, and gained hands-on experience. I then applied to multiple roles, and eventually secured an opportunity that marked the beginning of my career as a Database Administrator.
- What is the easiest and most difficult part about your job?
The easiest part of my job is when systems are well-structured and everything is running smoothly. Tasks like monitoring, backups, and routine maintenance become very straightforward.
The most difficult part is handling unexpected issues, like performance bottlenecks or outages, especially under time pressure. But that’s also the most rewarding part, because it challenges me to think critically, troubleshoot quickly, and ensure systems are restored with minimal impact.
- If your job had a warning label, what would it say?
Warning: Unexpected issues may occur at any time. Requires patience, quick thinking, and a strong relationship with coffee.
- What’s one real-world incident where your database decisions directly saved (or cost) a company big time?
Early in my career, I was involved in a deployment where a change was made directly in production without a proper rollback plan. Unfortunately, it caused a temporary disruption to a critical service.
Although we resolved it quickly, it highlighted the importance of change management. From that point on, I enforced stricter deployment processes introducing staging validation, rollback strategies, and better communication.
It significantly reduced risk for us in future deployments, critical because it now shapes how I approach database changes today.
- As a first-time founder living abroad, what is the hardest part about building a startup for a market where you’re not physically present? How do you deal with this?
One of the hardest parts of building a startup remotely while living in Canada and operating in Nigeria is maintaining strong team alignment and accountability when you are not physically present day to day.
Early on, I experienced challenges with staff management, particularly around consistency, ownership, and productivity. Some team members struggled with structure, and it became clear that the issue was not just about effort. It was about clarity, expectations, and systems.
To address this, I shifted my approach in a few ways. First, I implemented clear performance metrics and deliverables so everyone understands exactly what success looks like. Second, I introduced regular check-ins and reporting structures to improve visibility. Third, I focused more on hiring for accountability and cultural fit, not just technical skills.
I also make it a point to spend time in Nigeria periodically, which helps reinforce relationships, build trust, and reset expectations with the team.
Overall, the experience taught me that managing a remote team, especially across different environments, requires intentional structure, strong communication, and the right people in place. Once those are aligned, performance improves significantly.
- What’s the vision behind WakaMi and why do you think a marketplace for managed services can scale in Nigeria?
The vision behind WakaMi came from a personal experience. While living in Canada, I needed someone to handle an errand for me in Nigeria. I tried finding help online, but unfortunately, I had a bad experience where I lost money.
That led me to dig deeper, and I realised this was not just my problem. Many people, especially those in the diaspora, face the same challenge. There is no reliable, structured way to get trusted services done remotely in Nigeria.
WakaMi was built to solve that. It is an on-demand managed services marketplace that connects people who need errands or services done with verified service providers. It also provides oversight by tracking progress and only releasing payment once the task is completed and confirmed.
I believe it can scale in Nigeria because it addresses a real and growing problem. As more Nigerians live and work abroad, and as urban life becomes busier locally, the demand for trusted on-demand services will continue to increase.
What makes it scalable is the combination of trust, structure, and technology, bringing accountability into an otherwise informal market. Once you solve trust at scale in a service marketplace, growth becomes a natural outcome.
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