Dayo Akinrinade recalls facing many hurdles at her workplace while working in the City of London for arguably the world’s best management consultancies. Sometime later, she felt she needed mentorship from preferably a black woman in tech who was ten years ahead of her.
“Because a lot of situations I was facing, such as discrimination and detrimental treatment on account of my race, required me to speak to someone who was able to relate to me”, the British computer science graduate told the Mirror.
However, when it became apparent that she could not find one, she decided to create a community of mentors, leading to the creation of her tech startup called Wisdom in 2021. The app creates connections and lasting friendships between like-minded users. It leverages advanced AI with the power of social audio to make the world a little wiser.
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“With Wisdom, I am building an audio community with those who are ready to have conversations with knowledge seekers”, she told Mirror. “In essence, for me, it is about trying to help people overcome systemic barriers.
“When you need to level up your life and access wisdom, you can download the app and have a one-to-one conversation with someone who knows about what you want to know about. So you’re not limited by just who’s in your environment or neighborhood or network.”
Akinrinade tells People Of Color that the app offers women a safe space to converse about topics that matter to them, such as women’s rights, domestic violence, leadership, and wellness. “Our users who don’t identify as women consider themselves allies, and provide support by participating in the conversations or simply listening,” she added.
The app allows users to join live conservation on various topics and also ask questions. What is more, any user can start a talk or engage in Q&A, at no cost to them, on any matter of their interest. The platform also has features to help structure talks so as to make them accessible to all.
“The mission is to democratize access to mentorship and to democratize access to knowledge,” she told the platform. “I believe that knowledge shouldn’t be a privilege, it should just be a default — a right that anyone can have.”
Starting Wisdom was not a walk in the park for Akinrinade. She had to overcome several hurdles. She told the Mirror that she faced abuse on the app she founded.
“My team brought to my attention that there was a particular user who had created a talk on Wisdom and was body-shaming me and using racial slurs and sexually threatening language against me,” she said. “He said things like, ‘You know, she’s Nigerian, they are scammers.’”
However, Akinrinade has shown great strength in overcoming all odds, no matter how intimidating or tough the setbacks she has encountered.
