Growing from being unsure about her career trajectory to getting an initial placement at Deloitte (one of the BIG 4 consulting firms in the world), and now working with the Portfolio Management team at United Capital’s Asset Management Division, Taiwo Odunuga, an Economics graduate of Kwara State University shares her story of how the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community has been very helpful in her career journey, personal growth, and development. She also emphasized how the quality of her network has grown exponentially, helping her to have friends, acquaintances, and connections with fellow ambassadors who now work at international firms like Bank of America, Airtel Africa, Goldman Sachs, and many more. In all, Taiwo says “The people in the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community are in a top league of their own! 👌🏼” Learn more about Taiwo’s journey in this article.
Can you tell us about what initially attracted you to the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ program, and how you eventually became an ambassador?
Sometime in Q3 2021, I was having a conversation with a friend Iyanu, and he randomly spoke about Cowrywise, I also mentioned that I had seen people wear the Cowrywise branded merchandise in our campus fellowship and around my faculty on campus, and he responded that they were Cowrywise campus ambassadors, his roommate at that time was also an Ambassador. He gave me a brief overview of the ambassadors’ community, and I also read more about it through the ambassadors’ landing page he shared with me. 😅
I really did enjoy all of the information I heard and read about the ambassadors’ community, but I wasn’t exactly happy that I didn’t get to know about the community during my early undergraduate days, as I had just ended my penultimate year in school, and I thought that there wouldn’t be any opportunity for me to be a part of the community again. However, during a semester break, I saw that Cowrywise had opened the application form, calling for students to become a part of the ambassadors’ community, I shared the link with a couple of my friends on campus, and even outside of my school. I applied, alongside Iyanu and luckily, we were both selected to become Cowrywise Ambassadors. 🎉
We’re glad you got the chance to join the community. 💙 What was your overall experience as a Cowrywise Campus Ambassador?
I had a very amazing, and rewarding experience as a Cowrywise Campus Ambassador, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.
I say it very often that; the biggest contributor to my career today has to be my association with people in the Cowrywise Ambassadors program and especially the Kwara State University campus community. These people have helped redefine the way I approach career activities, they have helped with the provision of access to career and professional development opportunities, they have helped to serve as accountability partners and many more.
The Ambassadors’ program helped me define a clear vision of the career path I am currently pursuing.
It has also helped to sharpen my soft and technical skills with some tools I now use in my everyday tasks at the office. I remember how James Essiet, the Co-Lead of the Data Skill-based team would always organize daily and weekly quizzes, and periodic data training sessions for those of us in the Data team. These daily and weekly exercises were very instrumental in sharpening my knowledge of SQL, and Microsoft Excel as a Data Enthusiast. In the data team, I met Kayinsola Diyan who now works as a Data Analyst at Capital Sage Holdings, we quickly became friends, and she has also been very instrumental in my Data Analytics journey. 👌🏼
Amongst many other things, what’s that pivotal moment you’ll always make reference to in relation to your involvement in the Campus Ambassadors’ Community?
It’s quite difficult to talk about just one pivotal moment, especially because I have had numerous thrilling moments! 😂
However, I’d talk about a conversation Timi Joel led during one of our periodic campus meet-ups at Kwara State University. We talked about the concept of “Shooting your shot!” I listened to different people share their experiences with shooting their shots, and how it worked just fine for them, of course, there were also stories of people who got “No’s” but the overall conversation opened my eyes to see what’s possible when one takes responsibility of his/her own life. Throughout that semester, people kept sharing their experiences with trying to shoot their shots, and I knew that I had to sit up as well.
It was the lessons from those conversations that helped me get my initial NYSC placement at Deloitte (one of the Big 4 consulting firms in the world), and eventually my current role at the Asset Management Division in United Capital. 💯
In what other ways was your involvement in the ambassador’s community helpful during your application process for your current role at United Capital?
My involvement in the Ambassadors’ program has been super helpful for almost every one of my application processes, especially whenever I got to the interview stage. The very first thing was that the title “Cowrywise Ambassador” was on my Resume. It served as a conversation starter during my interviews, which quickly grew to become an interesting one where I’ve had to explain what the community entails and clarify some common misconceptions about the Ambassadors’ program (Again, it is not a marketing scheme! 😂). My participation in the periodic general community activities and the training in the Data skill-based team was also very helpful.
Additionally, my volunteering experience at the ambassadors’ community also helped communicate the type of person I am. How I always wanted to get things done, my soft skills, my ability to take responsibility for tasks, etc which I learned and executed while I was a Cowrywise Ambassador were all helpful in proving my ability to do well in the team I was looking to join.
In your current role in the Portfolio Management Team at United Capital, has your participation in the Cowrywise community been specifically helpful to you?
My knowledge of personal finance, and finance in general through the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community, and my background as an Economist was very helpful in quickly understanding and finding my way around my tasks and responsibilities at the office. I was also able to learn and grow fast because I already understood some finance concepts and terminologies. 💪🏽
Because of the nature of my role, I’ve had to use Excel as my primary work tool, and I have not had any challenges with using this tool thus far, many thanks to my participation in the Data skill-based team of the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community. I also found it very easy to visualize data and interpret these data to my team members and managers.
Looking back, how would you compare the quality of the network you built through Cowrywise to other student communities you were a part of?
Very briefly like I’ll always say anywhere I get to say this; The people in the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community are in a top league of their own! 🫡
How did you balance your participation as a Cowrywise Campus Ambassador with other commitments such as academics or extracurricular activities?
Before joining the Ambassadors’ Community, I’ve always thought that it would be very demanding, and time-consuming, but it was an entirely easy-going and time-rewarding experience. There was this acknowledgment and respect for the fact that we were students, which was reflected in the timing of our weekly and monthly activities, as well as other periodic sessions we had. All of these made it very easy for me to actively participate in the ambassadors’ community, whilst still doing well for myself academically.
Speaking of personal finance, how has your perception of personal finance and wealth management evolved through your involvement with Cowrywise?
My involvement in the ambassadors’ community has made me understand that it’s never too early to start building wealth. I’ve come to recognize personal finance as not just a means of managing money but as a pathway to empowerment, freedom, and long-term prosperity.
Additionally, being a part of the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community exposed me to different financial strategies, enabling me to optimize my personal finances more effectively, from automated savings, and other savings features, and utilizing the investment products on the Cowrywise app, I learned and utilized practical approaches to building wealth and securing financial freedom.
In fact, as campus ambassadors, one of our yearly voluntary activities was to participate in the Ambassadors’ yearly savings circle, which was very helpful in instilling financial discipline for me as a student. 😂
Who was Taiwo BEFORE joining the Ambassadors’ program in 2021? Who is Taiwo AFTER 2 years of being a part of the Cowrywise community?
Taiwo was actually a young female student who was striving for personal development and growth, though without clear direction. She had no access to like-minded people, no access to quality information, and opportunities for growth.
Right now, Taiwo has clarity on what she wants to do, she has seen hundreds of like-minded people within the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community who are hungry for career growth and personal development, and she now has that bank of quality network at her disposal. I now have friends and acquaintances who work at top firms in Nigeria and across other parts of the world, like FMDQ group, Meristem, FBN Quest, Flutterwave, Cowrywise, Airtel Africa, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, other tech startups in Nigeria, top banking institutions in Nigeria, and many more, thanks to the ambassadors’ community. 💯
If you could change one thing in your entire journey about your involvement in the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community, what would that be? 😅
I really do wish I had joined the Cowrywise Campus Ambassadors’ Program earlier than I did, maybe even as soon as my 100 Level days.
Every time I get the opportunity to, I still preach the gospel of the Cowrywise Ambassadors’ Community. In fact, some months ago, I was challenged at my workplace for always posting, and reposting Cowrywise’s content across my social media platform, and I had to explain that it’s really because I want to always encourage undergraduates within my network to be part of the ambassadors’ community, reiterating the fact that I am a product of the Ambassadors’ community. 💙
If you’re reading this as an undergraduate, you should head over to cowrywise.com/ambassadors to become a part of this community. If you’re not an undergraduate, I urge you to share this with every undergraduate student around you! 🚀
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