About me
I am a commercial strategist, founder, researcher, and writer interested in how people, products, and organisations develop in complex environments.
My work brings together enterprise, global trade, leadership, human values, and systems thinking. It is grounded in more than two decades of experience across finance consulting, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, international change programmes, mentoring, and research. An early influence was supporting market-entry work for LG Electronics as they explored Nigeria. That project showed me that success is rarely just about demand or product quality. It also depends on trust, timing, distribution, customer behaviour, culture, and the conditions that allow a product to take root. I later founded RedViolet, growing it from a home interior design business into a digital home-décor and e-commerce company serving Nigeria and Ghana. Building in a resource-constrained market taught me what it takes to move an idea from concept to first customers, and then from early traction to wider adoption.
After exiting RedViolet, I moved to the UK in 2018 to pursue a master’s in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership. That period became an important bridge between entrepreneurship, research, and global transformation work. During this time, I was endorsed as a UK Global Talent recipient, recognising the trajectory of my work across enterprise, new product development and innovation, and international growth.
At Expedia Group, I brought that operating experience into global transformation work, leading workflow design, automation, and change programmes across international markets. The context was different, but the underlying questions were familiar: where is value being lost, what needs to change, and what kind of system can support growth over time?
I am currently completing a Doctor of Business Administration at Durham University Business School. My research examines how SMEs build the internal capability to sustain export activity and international expansion beyond initial market access.
In 2025, I launched Vector & Helm, an applied research and advisory practice supporting SMEs with trade readiness, market access, product adaptation, and organisational capability.
What Shapes My Perspective
I am a problem solver by nature, a builder by experience, and a storyteller by instinct.
My perspective has been formed through finance consulting, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, global transformation, mentoring, faith, and doctoral research.
I have built from scratch in markets where infrastructure was limited, and led change in organisations where complexity was high. Those experiences taught me that growth is rarely simple. Opportunity matters, but so do capability, trust, timing, people, culture, and the systems that hold everything together.
In a world obsessed with speed, I am more interested in clarity, depth, and the conditions that bring people, ideas, and organisations together in ways that are sustainable and contribute to the common good.
Faith shapes how I think about integrity, conviction, responsibility, and the kind of person we become while pursuing what we are building.
I write because reflection helps me make sense of complexity. Sometimes that reflection is about business, markets, or strategy. Sometimes it is about faith, identity, leadership, reinvention, travel, or the emotional cost of becoming.
The question underneath is often the same: How we build matters.
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Other things about me
Outside work, I love lazy mornings, long walks in the park, and catching the contrast of sunshine against city-centre high-rises. I am still very much an amateur landscape photographer. One day, I’ll finally commit to buying a proper long-range camera and, who knows, perhaps take it a little further than a leisure hobby.
I enjoy deep conversations in the company of my few crazy friends, probably not what most people would expect from me. I also have a soft spot for life’s quieter pleasures. A well-styled, professionally cleaned space is my idea of a safe haven. Do you blame an introvert who once owned a décor company?
And if we ever share a meal, there is a very good chance I’ll order something dangerously spicy. I am Nigerian, after all.
One of my lifelong goals is to travel widely and see more of the world. Expedia says travel is a force for good, and I second that. I believe it opens the mind, softens assumptions, and reminds us that the world is far more connected than we think.
This Blog Is For You If...
This space is for you if you are building something that matters to you, a business, your career, a leadership practice, a life rooted in faith, or simply a different way of understanding the world.
You may be a founder, researcher, professional, advisor, leader, or someone navigating growth, change, and the questions that come with them.
Here, I write about leadership, enterprise, faith, decision-making, market systems, growth, travel, and the realities of building in complex environments.
Some essays are strategic. Some are reflective. Some are personal. All are written from the same place: a desire to understand what helps people, ideas, and organisations grow with clarity, courage, and empathy.
Editorial, Media & Advisory Enquiries
I write, speak, and advise on global trade capability, market access, African enterprise, SME internationalisation, and sustainable growth across markets.
My work draws on lived entrepreneurial experience, global transformation practice, and doctoral research into how SMEs build the capability to access, adapt, and sustain growth beyond initial market entry.
I welcome editorial, media, research, speaking, and advisory conversations on export readiness, inclusive trade, product innovation, market adaptation, women in business, organisational capability, and cross-border growth.
For enquiries, please contact: hello@mofolukeayoola.com