Damilola Ogunmoye

Part of the IT Leaders 100 - a list of the most influential IT leaders in the UK in 2023.

Damilola graduated from university in Nigeria in 2012, and since then has made a successful tech career in development and engineering roles. He took on his first lead role in 2016 and went on to co-found his own recruitment firm after seeing first-hand the lack of tech skills in the market.

How did you get into IT?

Ever since I was a child, I have been curious about how technology works and how it can be used to solve problems. I was fascinated by computers and how they could be programmed to perform various tasks.

My interest in technology led to a switch from studying Physics and Solar energy to pursuing a degree in Computer Science, which helped me gain a deeper understanding of the field and exposed me to a wide range of technologies and programming languages. After graduation, I worked for several tech companies, gaining experience in software development, project management, and team leadership.

With my knowledge and experience working for tech companies, I noticed most businesses underutilise technology and tools to scale their business. Fortunately, I shared the same observation with Tommie Edwards, which led to us developing a project delivery platform for businesses of all sizes to enable rapid development led by a matched project team.

The growth of our business to over $1 million in revenue required that we hire more tech talents. Surprisingly, we encountered difficulties finding and hiring quality talents that could meet the increasing client demands across the globe. I noticed that this talent deficit was not peculiar to us. It was a global problem ravaging other companies.

As COVID came, I discovered another limitation in the supply chain. Some talents in certain countries lacked the resources to equip and position themselves for global opportunities. Hence, an increasing deficit in quality tech talent globally. With this discovery, we built Tech1M.

Tech1M is a talent acquisition platform developing, curating, and matching a pipeline of skilled tech talents for businesses to find, evaluate, hire, pay and manage globally.

How do you ensure diversity is taken into account in your IT recruitment?

As a global company, ensuring diversity is our top priority, especially regarding our IT recruitment. Our company-wide policy is to ensure that exceptional talent - regardless of age, location, race or gender - obtain the right opportunities to impact and build a career dependent only on their abilities.

I take a proactive approach to ensuring diversity and inclusion in our IT recruitment process. Our hiring process depends solely on skills and ability, regardless of location. As a result, our current workforce comprises talents from four continents - Africa, Asia, America and Europe - from different races, ideologies, and abilities.

We have created a diverse and inclusive workplace culture that values and respects all employees. This helps to attract a diverse pool of candidates representing different genders, ethnicities and cultures, and retain them as valuable members of our team.

As an employer, we adopt a global hiring policy that allows us to source talents in any part of the world tailored explicitly towards underrepresented groups in the tech industry using our intelligent algorithm on our platform.

Finally, Tech1M, as an HRTech company, is keen on promoting diversity. Using our AI-powered algorithm, we offer a global hiring and vetting policy that provides unbiased talent matching and access to underrepresented skilled talents.

Which technology are you currently most excited by?

As a co-founder of a global company, I am constantly excited about new and emerging technologies like AI that have the potential to transform the way we work, live and communicate. AI innovations like ChatGPT can be integrated into search and work, boosting productivity and innovation.

In Tech1M, I've seen how AI transformed our offerings. That's why we invest in AI on our hiring platform, sourcing talents with AI matching and helping companies discover talents that match their company's values, ethics, and requirements. I am currently most excited by the potential of artificial intelligence as a way to innovate and stay ahead of the curve.

What would an outsider find the most surprising part of your job?

As a CTO in the tech industry, an outsider may find it surprising how much of my job involves lots of research. Many people may assume that the CTO role is solely focused on managing a team developing software. In reality, it's a multifaceted role that involves understanding the business's overall goals, conducting user research, and multiple iterations.

In addition to managing technical teams and overseeing product development, I also need to stay up-to-date with the latest technological developments and trends and deeply understand the business side of things. This requires ongoing research, networking and a willingness to embrace change.

What's your secret talent?

My secret talent is singing. When I sing, I use my voice to create melodies and harmonies that express many emotions and tell stories. In addition, I can sing a cover version of a song, recreating it into a different genre. While I don't often sing in public, it's something that I do for fun.

What makes you laugh?

I laugh when I am happy, and what excites me is seeing people progress and achieve their goals. Recently, I've been more excited watching my newborn. His innocence and pure nature, his smiles and coos, and the milestones he achieves are why having a newborn can bring immense happiness to a parent's life.