Picture this: a blank Figma canvas. 72 hours to launch. My brain? Emptier than the artboard.
The team needs illustrations for our new Stocks product. Stocks. Risk. Charts. My mind? Blank. Then it hits me, just like a rollercoaster. The ups, the downs, the stomach-dropping thrill of it all. I present the concept the next morning, the room goes silent, and then: “This is it.”
We launched with a full campaign, teasers, a photoshoot where I featured, and social media absolutely lost it. The result? A spike in product signups in the first week.
That’s been my year at Cowrywise, twelve months of turning panic into campaigns, finance jargon into stories people feel and love, and imposter syndrome into an Outstanding Hire award.
How is it already my one-year workiversary? Time flies when you’re constantly creating at the core of a leading brand’s design direction, where design isn’t decoration, it’s how we make wealth building simple for millions of Africans.
Let me take you through what I’ve learned.
Making Money Fun for Nigerians
When I joined Cowrywise last January, the imposter syndrome was real. I looked at the brand and thought, “They’re already doing amazing things. Where do I even fit in?”
But instead of just fitting in, I decided to stand out. I started doing things nobody sent me to do, that classic self-starter energy. By mid-year, I’d earned the Outstanding Hire award, and by July, leveled up to Senior Brand Designer.
My mission became clear: turn all those scary finance words into visuals and campaigns people actually get, and love. My focus shifted from creating beautiful visuals to designing for strategic business impact. I wanted people to think of Cowrywise and feel that fresh, “I’ve got this” vibe. It’s all about empathy, relatability, and a touch of class.
Some tweets calling me out as per Starboy doings lmao.🙂↔️
The Projects That Defined Year One
Looking back, a few projects perfectly capture the madness and magic of this year.
Stocks by Cowrywise
I already told you about the rollercoaster panic. What I didn’t mention: I also modeled for the campaign shoot. Watching my face on our social channels while the signups rolled in was unreal. This was proof that deliberate, bold marketing works when you’re willing to take creative risks.
“Lagos Never Sleeps”
Remember our billboards? We broke the internet once, then decided to do it again. The insight was simple: if Lagos as a city never sleeps, why should your money? I illustrated iconic Lagos landmarks, and the conversation exploded, our most-engaged outdoor campaign to date. Cultural insight plus bold design equals magic.
Special Days: My Creative Playground
From Valentine’s to Eid to April Fool’s, these became my moments to flex both design and copywriting skills. The challenge? Making finance feel human, timely, and real. How do you tie money conversations to Workers’ Day? You get creative, and you make it matter.
App & Play Store Glow-Up
The storefront is often the first visual touchpoint for new users, so I led a complete revamp of our App Store and Play Store assets. Everything became cleaner, more us, and way more compelling. The result? A significant increase in conversion from store visit to download in three months. I even wrote the copy with Feyi, turns out I design and write fire.
The Real Tea: Year-One Mantras
Achieving these results wasn’t accidental. It was built on principles I now live by:
Collaboration is my superpower
Never design in a dark room alone. Our best campaign ideas started as random jokes in the Slack channel. I’ve dragged growth marketers and CX team members into Figma files for quick feedback. Hearing a customer’s story adds the empathy your design might be missing.
Proactive hustle beats assigned tasks
I stopped waiting for briefs and started creating my own. If I saw a gap in our visual story, I’d mock it up and post it on #media-assets. I became the designer who always had something cooking in Figma. This isn’t about being a workaholic; it’s about owning your corner so much that you’re planting seeds for the future.
Rest is a creative tool, not a reward
I learned this after a few burnout episodes. I now have non-negotiable “screen-off” times. I hit the gym, disappear for weekends, dance terribly for fun. My best ideas? Always away from my desk. Your brain needs time to connect the dots. If you’re always “on,” you’re just recycling old ideas.
Your job is a slice of life, not the whole pie
I made sure my work wasn’t my entire personality. I traveled, went on fun dates, took on random passion projects. This outside life fuels my work. The conversations I overhear, the colors I see in a market, the frustration of a bad user experience elsewhere, it all informs my design. You can’t design for real people if you’re not living an authentic life yourself.
Show, don’t just tell
Be the person known for remarkable work, relentless reliability, and undeniable excellence. Do what you say you’ll do, and document your wins. The receipts are essential.
The Shift: From Aesthetics to Culture
This year forced a major mindshift. I transitioned from a designer focused on aesthetics to one who builds culture. It’s no longer just about making things look good; it’s about designing for global relevance and making financial empowerment a tangible part of African identity.
Cowrywise hasn’t just built a product; we’ve built the country’s most recognized fintech design culture. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of brutal intentionality, relentless innovation, and plain hard work.
The Biggest Challenge
Let’s keep it real, the hardest part was juggling multiple campaigns, each with insane timelines, unique systems, and zero room for error.
My saving grace was learning to blueprint every campaign before the first pixel was placed. A crystal-clear roadmap kept me steady through the chaos. Sometimes I look back at a launched project and think, “How did we even pull that off?”
The bar here is set astronomically high, and the mission to simplify complex financial jargon is no small task. But we consistently deliver. That’s a testament to my teammates, and my own stubborn refusal to be outworked.
I absolutely live for that pressure. There’s a certain thrill that comes with near-impossible challenges. It’s electrifying. That fire keeps me giddy, doing work I love, in a culture that fuels me.
Year Two: The Audacious Goal
What’s next? Audacity.
I’m going to make Cowrywise the first African fintech brand that people just collect their merch or brand assets. Not because we gave it away, but because the design and cultural relevance make it genuinely desirable. Think Supreme, but for financial empowerment. Think art meets accessibility meets African pride.
I want to raise the bar so high that we’re not just competing with other fintechs, we’re setting the standard for what brand design means across the entire continent. I want every campaign to be a cultural moment, not just a marketing push.
Because when Africans see themselves reflected in powerful, world-class design, it does more than sell, it inspires.
To continue making Cowrywise the undisputed top-of-mind brand through design that doesn’t just speak, but roars, making life and money easier for every African we reach.
If Year One was about proving I belong and what’s possible, Year Two is about breaking more glass ceilings.
Watch me.
Gracias.
