...Let's work and connect
He is a graduate of Physics from the University of Maiduguri and upon graduation lectured at Ramat Polytechnic before proceeding to the University of Lagos for a postgraduate study in Computer Science. He worked with the National Population Commission after which he joined the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) where he served for 12 years and eventually resigned as an IT manager.
Abdulrazaq has been an entrepreneur for the last two decades and has delved into various businesses spanning across Forex Trading, Real Estate, Interior Design and Agriculture.He founded an ISP Firm supporting corporate organisations especially embassies in the FCT after which he became the Managing Director of Flamer Bureau De’change (at the time a class A BDC) and Everyhome Emporium, a luxury building materials and finishing company.
He is currently one of the Directors of Founder Institute Abuja; the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, having helped launch over 4,300 companies across 185+ cities and six continents and also a member of the computer society of Nigeria.
At Broadcom, Mohammed held several roles including engineering, technical marketing, and business development interfacing with major tier-1 clients like HP, Alcatel, Dell, Huawei, Asian Chip manufacturers, and OEMs.
As an Entrepreneur, Mohammed co-founded Eagle Technologies International, an ICT consulting firm in San Jose, CA that was later sold. He then Co-founded Copious Energy to focus on the Nigerian energy market.
Mohammed is passionate about entrepreneurship and its potentials in African which led him to team up with his old college friend and classmate to drive the vision of “Work and Connect” located in Abuja, leveraging on his over 25yrs of experience and contacts in Silicon Valley.
Mohammed earned his bachelor degree in Physics from the University of Maiduguri, and Ph.D. in Microelectronics Systems Design from Brunel University, London, England. He later attended the Executive MS in Technology Management at Columbia University, New York.
A serial entrepreneur who has founded/co-developed various startups in communications & strategy, cosmetology, fashion, food and beverages.
Her talent management expertise is focused on building young and upcoming talents with the aim to develop great minds and businesses.
Stella strategically leads the Operations, Community and Human Resource departments. She is also responsible for customer service, customer experience, customer engagement and brand value creation. She joined Work and Connect as a Management Associate leading ‘’project Work and Connect” through business set up and start of operations.
Prior to joining Work and Connect stella worked with various multinational organizations such as MTV Africa, leading innovative projects for youth development in Entertainment and Arts, she also consults for The Corporation an organisation responsible for midwifing numerous cross-sectoral business interests in Africa.
As a member of the Alliance Group, she makes contributions in the area of community development especially towards the North East of Nigeria.
Stella enjoys touring African countries, as a historian she has visited Ghana, Togo, Benin republic and Cote D’ivore respectively.
She has diverse experience in the non-profit and technology sector. Her zeal for solving Nigeria’s unemployment challenge and building sustainable youth-led businesses and inclusive communities led to her involvement as a project manager and youth coach at the Next Economy Nigeria, the Dutch government-funded Local Employment for Development in Africa (LEAD) program.
She was instrumental in building the capacity of 400 youth in employability, entrepreneurial skills, and financial literacy through the project and also, supporting 120 youth-led start-ups to grow, scale and raise seed capital in less than two years. To further drive access to capital, she led the implementation of the launch of Jack Ma’ Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative in West Africa, worth $10 Million in 2019.
Excited about diversity, gender inclusion, and providing safe spaces, safeguarding the rights of minority and vulnerable communities, she co-curated a Women in Business: Digital Entrepreneurship Round-Table event in partnership with the World Bank Group Nigeria and a female-led business management firm to commemorate the 2019 International Women’s Day.
Passionate about building and developing the African entrepreneurship ecosystem, Mercy led the implementation of the Hub Management project in 2018/19 in Abuja, Aba, Yola, and the largest start-up ecosystem in West Africa, Lagos, resulting in the upskilling of over 60 hub owners and managers. To further strengthen the efficiency of Enterprise Support Organisations and drive sustainability, Mercy led the implementation of the Blended Learning project, building the capacity of 20 northern hubs with partners such Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) and Butterfly Works using innovative techniques such as design thinking and blended learning methodology.
A business developer, communications specialist at her core and mentor at the Founder Institute, Mercy supports the growth of several companies, including start-ups in Nigeria.
She strategically leads the business development team at Work and Connect and is responsible for the development of business and marketing strategies, partners engagement and management, business Implementation as well as represent Work and Connect brand in industry conferences, meetings, and workshops. In addition, she manages and leads Program-related strategic partnerships with donors, academia, Venture Capital Firms, IDAs, INGOs, Financial Institutions, Startups, and Government agencies to ensure optimal Program performance and Quality Assurance.
Prior to joining Work and Connect, Felista worked as Programs and Events Lead at AfriLabs, a Pan African network of 174 hubs in 45 African countries, and led the team in Planning the 2019 Annual Gathering which took place at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She supported in planning the AfriLabs Annual Gathering 2018 in Dar es salaam, Tanzania, and AfriLabs Annual Gathering 2017 in Cairo, Egypt as well as implemented several other Programs, Projects, and Events across the continents on behalf of AfriLabs partners and donors. She has also worked as a research assistant for NGOs like Health Safety and Delivery Foundation as well as Society for Family Health Nigeria.
He is a Smart Software Engineer with specialized knowledge in Developing and securing applications. Highly skilled in creating and deploying both security and management software’s for company’s, hospitals, and government agencies.
As the IT lead, Justice has seen to the development of various tech applications in coworking space management, security management, video conferencing to boost the work and connect brand.
Prior to joining Work and Connect, Justice was the lead software developer at Efficient Links Lagos, Pure Web Technologies Abuja and STQ Solutions Abuja a software development company that metamorphosed into a logistics service provider through technology. He is an Alumnai of Aptech, NIIT & Andela a pan African talent pool for software engineers.