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Empowering Lives Through Tech: The Story of Adeshola Cole

…survived to become CEO of the Year in London

The story of Adeshola Cole-Alegbe, a 2022 Emerging CEO of the Year in London, is as interesting as it is repulsive. Her life and times as the only black girl in her UK community was hellish. She was maltreated at home by wicked foster parents, beaten up in school because of her looks, labeled a thief just to humiliate her, and was toughened by racism. She was eventually “deported” to Nigeria for cultural orientation and survived to become Woman of the Year 2018 in Black Business. That was about the beginning. Just recently, she was bestowed with another award as the Woman of the Year.

Born in Hackney in 1981, Adeshola was subject to a lot of racial abuse due to her skin colour and how she looked. She grew up in Birmingham and was the only black person in her school at the time. She, indeed, had a challenging childhood having been fostered from the age of two to 11 years. Adeshola’s relationship with her parents was somewhat hindered by the relationship she had with her foster parents, and she had a complicated relationship with her mother during her teenage years. When things became complex with her foster parents, her parents decided to take Adeshola to Nigeria to have a more disciplined upbringing.

She went to ISSI and LASU and was only allowed to come back to the UK once she had graduated from university. Adeshola graduated with a Second Class Division in literature in English. Like so many people at the time, Adeshola came back to the UK and did odd jobs here and there; cleaning, working in a bakery, and so much more. She finally secured a bank role, which opened up a plethora of opportunities for her to work in a professional environment. She realised her passion for IT and mentorship in her Mather years, which led to the birth of Tritek Consulting Ltd, a London-based multiaward- winning IT company committed to assisting candidates in the African community secure roles within the IT sector.

To date, Adeshola has helped over 700 candidate’s transition into IT roles and has been awarded multiple awards, including: Mentor of the year, 2016, IT Company of the year, 2020, and was recipient of the award for youth empowerment in 2021. She said: “My parents were Nigerian immigrants. Then, busy working parents would put their children in foster care. So, I was in foster care with a family in Birmingham for about eight to 10 years of my formative period. It was a very tough growing-up experience; I was subjected to a lot of racism. “I was the only black person in my school, so try and imagine the racial discrimination I suffered. But, there was a good side to it. That period taught me how to speak up for myself, I refused to be judged or maltreated because of the colour of my skin.

When I had to fight to stay relevant, I fought. “Today, when I look back, I’m grateful for that experience. I received practical life lessons. That experience taught me the true meaning of resilience and it has helped me in overcoming daily life obstacles. “Also, taking me back to Nigeria was the best decision my parents made. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I stayed in the hands of my foster parents.

That also contributed to who I am today. “Setting up Tritek Consulting Ltd has been a blessing to me and a lot of people I feel blessed to be contributing to human capacity developing, and assisting people who want to transition into the amazing world of tech. Generally, it’s been a business of touching lives. “In 2016 I received the Mentor of the year award. I’ve also been recognised as ‘Woman of the Year’ 2018, in the Black Women in Business Award, and that helped my profile and my business a lot. We were also nominated for IT training Company of the year, 2020 by Southern Enterprise award. We got recognition for youth empowerment 2020 by BLine.

“I also got an award from the Rotary Club for my philanthropy in 2022. And in May, this year, I got an award as Emerging CEO of the Year, 2022 at the Annual Business Summit Global Honours London.” Adeshola said she expects to be working on expanding Tritek, and, according to her, it is happening beyond my imagination. “I’m looking beyond Nigeria, it’s time to target other countries and spread the importance of Information Technology, and build strategic partnerships. With the exposure we are having now, we can work with different governments to promote IT initiatives and find ways to help people who are seeking a career transition. Work on more success stories and solidify a global presence,” she added. The IT guru used the interaction opportunity to talk about the situation in Nigeria today, saying that the insecurity issue in the country is a shame.

“There are so many opportunities back home and a lot of Nigerians abroad want to return home but the security situation is just discouraging. The government has to do more in protecting its people. Hopes, dreams and aspirations have been dashed due to the insecurity issue and if nothing is done about it, it will harm the future of the younger generation. It is a serious threat to our existence as Nigerians. “On education, back in the day, we weren’t doing badly with it but lately, with the never-ending ASUU strike, the system is being damaged. The strikes affect the youths negatively because they are constantly delayed with their education and that makes planning so difficult.

I think we should have a focused school curriculum and it should be adaptive to IT and digital transformation. “There should be more tech courses in our universities. Big companies such as Google, Microsoft, etc have their eyes fixed on Africa and looking to take on our young talents. We must be positioned to take those opportunities,” she said. Adeshola is happily married to Dele Alegbe with three adorable children. She loves music and listens to it a lot. “It helps me in so many ways. I go to the spa and getaways and sometimes I just go somewhere to have some personal time and reflect,” she added.

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