Tarebi Alebiosu
Years in Tech
17
Current Role
Managing Director
Core Skills
Interview Date
14th December 2018
Tarebi is the Managing Director at Yoke Solutions Limited, a company she founded in 2006. Under Tarebi’s leadership Yoke Solutions’ has provided technology solutions for 200+ organisations including the Lagos State Government, Rural Electrification Agency, Adam Smith International, the National Theatre and Topbrass Aviation. In 2008 Yoke Solutions expanded it’s service offering with the launch of Sugar Weddings & Parties (www.sugarweddings.com), the first online wedding resource in Nigeria.
With an impressive market recognition and a huge online following, Sugar Weddings & Parties has amassed over ten million page views, 500,000+ Instagram followers, 70,000+ Facebook likes, and 3000+ Twitter followers to date. Prior to Yoke Solutions, Tarebi worked as a Solutions Architect at Live Technology Holdings, a New York based subsidiary of Omnicom (the largest advertising agency holding company in the world), where she led a development team to software rollouts for Procter & Gamble, AARP and International Trucking. After a three (3) year stint at Live Technology Holdings, she secured a two year outsourcing contract with Code Worldwide (a UK based software provider) where she managed product development for General Motors.
Alongside Yoke Solutions and Sugar Weddings & Parties, Tarebi is a co-founder of Yan Games Limited which recently launched YTrivia, the first live trivia gaming app in West Africa. Tarebi is an active participant in the Nigerian technology sphere, her recent speaking engagements include Social Media Week, Microsoft Mara Mentors Entrepreneur Pitch, Lagos Startup Week and Google’s G-Nigeria Initiative. Tarebi possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Queens College – City University of New York and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Personal Links
What experiences led you to technology and how did you develop the skills to compete in the industry?
My career choices were heavily influenced by my father who being a tech enthusiast gave us (his children) access to his computer with dial-up internet connectivity as far back as 1994. As much as I enjoyed my time with the computer, playing games and, believe it or not learning to how to type, I had never considered a career in this space till it was ‘gently’ suggested by my dad after I told him I wanted to be a doctor. He was rightly convinced that technology was going to be the next big thing and the result of this was two of his three children (all female) majoring in computer science.
How has your background helped/differentiated you in the tech industry?
I have designed and built technology solutions for 17+ years in three different regions, New York, London and Nigeria, as well as across multiple industries energy, aviation, advertising and others. This breadth of experience amongst other things immensely helps with ‘big picture’ thinking, allowing me efficiently dimension problems and provide creative solutions (with or without technology) where needed.
What advice would you give to women considering a career in technology? What do you wish you had known?
Technology is very broad, don’t limit yourself, explore as many areas as you can till you find what you enjoy. Always try to learn through experience, personal projects go a long way, and don’t get overwhelmed by “tech speak”, people typically try to sound more intelligent than they really are by padding information with unnecessary technical jargon. Finally, your goals should never be static.