2021: Year In Review

8 min readDec 30, 2021

Looking back on the year 2021 and all that transpired, it was a long, hectic, mentally demanding, yet incredible year. I started the year with a lot of anticipation, and I’m pleased to be alive and well enough to see it off on a positive note. When you have already bagged the first 2022 win even before the previous year ends, you know it was a tremendous year.

In 2018, I began writing my yearly reviews for the sheer joy of it, and it has since evolved into my own personal way of measuring progress, being appreciative, and feeling good about myself. So, welcome to my Year in Review for 2021.

Work & Side Projects🧑‍💼👩🏾‍💻

I didn’t feel like I had done any genuine meaningful work for the majority of the year. Looking back, I can see that it was an adventurous year for me. The goal has always been to be a generalist, and getting to do so many different things in a 365-day period with tangible outcomes is thrilling.

Got selected as a winner of the Pioneer Tournament — one of the only 230 winners from across the world so far. I practically spent the entire year of 2020 hustling my way up the Pioneer leaderboard, from being unranked to the Top 50 in Africa, the Top 10 in Africa, the Global Top 100 in the World, then the Global Top 50, before being chosen as a winner. This is perhaps the most memorable event of my year for me.
Officially launched Afriktrip received our first international booking, and added over 100 new tour partners, bringing our total number of tour partners to 410 across 28 African nations.
Afriktrip became a legal entity in the United States as a Delaware C-Corp, and we received our first term sheet.
Got accepted into the 3-months Spring Cohort of the MZZ Africa program and had the opportunity to work with an amazing six-person team of business analysts.
Got accepted into the 8-weeks Pioneer Accelerator with Afriktrip and had the incredible Tim Suzman as our expert advisor.
Built and launched AfroScanner — an online travel advisory tool providing prospective tourists with all of the essential information they need to know as regards planning their holiday to African countries.
Started content writing and launched The Tour Guide Africa (TGAFrica) — a blog series that gives spotlight to the best local tour operators and experience creators across Africa and allows the world to learn more about the nitty-gritty of their business.
Got accepted as a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Jemi Product Management Fellowship.
As a program mentor for the Andela Learning Community, I joined the ALCxMicrosoft 2021 program and mentored around 25 people in getting started in Cloud Computing.
Got a real job straight out of university by joining Quabbly to lead product marketing alongside an amazing growth team.
Added a new cloud computing certification after passing the Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals certification exam — making it 2 cloud certifications in less than 2 years.
Got selected as a finalist for the FTxSDG 2021 Challenge. My team worked on drafting a strategy for the UN Sustainable Development Goal of “Good Jobs and Economic Growth.” Financial Times and Seedsters collaborated on the challenge. We didn’t make pole position, but it was an exciting challenge.
Did some web development work — redesigned the Afriktrip Blog, built the landing page for Adlan Accountants, built the first landing page for UpBox, and redesigned the DiverseK website.

Media Features 📰📰

This was never one of my objectives for 2021. Interestingly, out of all the media recognitions that I got this year, I only contacted the folks at Disrupt Africa, and that was even in November 2020.

Pioneer — Meet Our January 2021 Winners.
Forward Thinking Podcast — Ibukunoluwa Salau (Afriktrip) on Booking Trips To Africa.
Disrupt Africa — Nigerian Startup Afriktrip launches Online Travel Marketplace.
Startup.info — Afriktrip: Building The Future of Travel in Africa.
Techbuild Africa — Nigerian Startup Afriktrip Is Connecting Africa To The World Through Tourism and Technology.
Techpoint Africa — Wimbart launches the third edition of PR Office Hours
Technology Mirror — Afriktrip Nigeria’s Travel Startup Takes Business Online Across Africa.
Wimbart — Afriktrip Describes Wimbart Describes Wimbart Office Hours as “Educative and Enlightening”

Speaking 🎤

In 2019, I wrote on my 2020 wishlist that I wanted to speak at a conference, but it never materialized. I finally got to talk and show off my work at Afriktrip as a panellist at the first WiT (Web in Travel) Africa 2021 conference this year.

School 🏫

In this regard, I had a great year, despite the fact that it was also the most hectic time of the year for me. In every way, I was pushed over my breaking point. Don’t expect to see this section in my review next year.

This was my final year in the university and I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
Got inducted into my first professional body and became a General Member of the Computer Professional of Nigeria
As a parliamentarian in the Student Representative Assembly, I was involved at the highest level of school politics, serving as a member of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Budget Review of the Student Representative Assembly and the Hall of Residence, as well as on the Budget Monitoring Committee of the Student Union Government.
Participated in the annual university-level intercollegiate championship and was a member of my college’s mixed VolleyBall team that won a bronze medal.

Reading 📖📚

This was not my best year in terms of reading, as I only managed to read three books. In a normal year, I try to read at least ten books. It’s possible that I’ll have to go back to reading hardbacks.

Writing ✍

This year, all of my writings were about my work and side projects. There was insufficient enthusiasm to write about anything else.

My Music 🎶

According to my Spotify Unwrapped for 2021, I spent at least 18,000 minutes online this year listening to music. This year, my top five artists were: the area boys — NSG, Dave, J Hus, Buju, and Starboy — Wizkid. Honourable shoutout to Burna Boy, Skepta, Backroadgee, Bad Boy Timz, Bella Shmurda, the African Rebel — Pa Salieu, and the Queen of the South — Shaybo.
You can find my 2021 Spotify Playlist HERE

My Podcast 🎙️

This year, I spent a lot of my free time listening to hundreds of episodes of some of my favourite podcasts on a weekly basis. My favourite podcasts include the following: 90s Baby Show, Filthy Fellas, Halfcast Podcast, Zeze Millz Show, JD in the Duffle Bag, OffAir With Gbemi and Toolz, and I Said What I Said Podcast.

My Vlogs 📹

YouTube has been my small refuge from the year’s craziness, and a couple of vlogs have held a special place in my heart. They include the following: #JuliesTop5, Taaoma, MC Lively, Mr Macaroni, Therapy, Chicken Shop Date, Bkchat LDN, TBandistry, Korty EO, Denz&Renz, and Champions League of Everything.

Lowlights 😔

I’m very certain I’ve developed a thick skin for losses after taking so many Ls this year. My biggest failure was missing the opportunity to obtain $245k ($120k + $125k) in investment from an angel investor and a startup accelerator at different times of the year. In addition, I wasted a lot of time second-guessing virtually all of the major decisions that I made during the year. I also ran out of energy and burned out on a different level, to the point where I considered closing down Afriktrip.

Big Lessons 📝

This year, I spent months putting together something rather ambitious, and I had to tap into every strand of social capital available to me. My main takeaway from that experience is that people want to help, and there’s no harm in requesting help — the worst reaction you’ll receive is no.

2022…🎈🎈

I read two distinct tweets at different moments in December that appeared to be written specifically for me, thus they formed my new year’s watchword and philosophy.

“Don’t remain a local spectator when your gifts and calling were made for a global audience”
“I’m going to be very audacious in 2022. I’ve put in the work, no more self doubt, I sabi this work and no one including myself can trick me out of believing that”

On a personal level, I plan to live a very adventurous life outside of work and trying to chase global dominance - I’ma need to make a bucket list 🙃🙃. In my own little manner, I’ll be assisting others in transitioning into tech.