About
Based in London.
Rooted in Africa.
Working across both.
I am Samuel, an innovation strategist, and I help African businesses and Western businesses cross into each other's markets intelligently, using design thinking to discover before they build.
The opportunity
The biggest opportunities in global business sit right at the border between Africa and the Western world.
But most businesses cross that border without truly understanding what is on the other side.
African founders copy Western products without adapting them to their own realities. Western companies enter African markets with assumptions built for a completely different world. In both cases, real opportunity gets lost because the right questions were never asked first.
That is the space I have chosen to work in.
Right now
Day job
Interaction Designer, UK Government
Currently building the National Data Library and data.gov.uk — one of the UK's most significant national digital infrastructure projects. This gives me a live, inside view of how large Western institutions think, design, and serve people at scale.
Consulting
Design Strategy, UX, UI & Brand, US, Canada, UK
I work closely with startups and founders across the US, Canada, and the UK, helping them with design strategy, UX, UI, and brand positioning. These are real companies, navigating real cross-border challenges, and I work with them to make sure their products and brands actually fit the markets they are building for.
Studio
Founder, designFleet_studio
I bring all of that experience into the space I care about most — the Africa-West corridor, helping businesses on both sides of that bridge innovate from real insight, not borrowed assumptions.
My path here
My path here was not linear.
I started in microbiology, moved into product and UX design, trained at the Royal College of Art, and hold a UK Global Talent endorsement in design and digital innovation — a recognition I carry with genuine pride.
Every part of that journey has sharpened my perspective on the world. And how I help others navigate it.
Selected highlights
Government Infrastructure
National Data Library & data.gov.uk
Part of the UK Government team building one of the country's most significant national digital infrastructure projects. data.gov.uk serves millions of people and organisations across the UK, and I helped design how they experience it.
Read more →Academic
Royal College of Art
Trained at the RCA, one of the world's foremost postgraduate art and design institutions, consistently ranked the number one creative university globally. It sharpened how I think about design as a discipline, not just a skill.
Read more →Community
Mentor, ADPList
Mentoring designers across the world through ADPList, the largest free mentorship platform in the design industry. I give time to practitioners who are where I once was, because access to the right thinking changes everything.
Read more →Recognition
UK Global Talent Endorsement
Endorsed by the UK Home Office as an exceptional talent in design and digital innovation. This is one of the most selective recognitions available to practitioners in the field, awarded to those who have demonstrably shaped, or show clear potential to shape, the sector.
Convening
Conference, Africa — 2023
Convened a conference in Africa bringing together business, technology, and innovation leaders to explore what the next chapter of African enterprise looks like. A room full of real practitioners, asking the right questions.
Read more →What I help with
You are building for a Western market but you are not from there. The assumptions baked into most Western products are not yours, and that is an advantage, if you use it deliberately.
→Innovation strategy for African businesses entering Western markets
You see the Africa opportunity. You are just honest enough to admit you do not yet see the full picture.
→Market discovery for Western businesses entering Africa
Your product works in one market. You need it to work in two, without watering it down for either.
→Design, UX, and brand strategy for cross-border founders
The ideas are not the problem. The problem is that nobody has checked whether you are solving the right one.
→Workshops and programmes built around real insight, not assumption
Innovation workshops
Innovation Workshops
For companies that want to innovate but keep building things that do not stick.
→I lead sessions that help teams move from vague ambition to clear, testable direction in a single day.
→Not theory. Not slides full of frameworks. Live problem-framing, real discovery, and decisions you can act on by the time you leave the room.
→I have run these for startups, scale-ups, and large institutions. The format adapts. The discipline does not.
Formats
Half-day
Full-day
Multi-session programme
Leadership team
Cross-functional team
How I work
I start with questions, not answers. Before any brief, any strategy document, any design. I want to understand the real situation. What is actually going on. Who the people are. What they need, not what they say they need.
That is what I mean by discover before you build. Not a workshop format. A discipline. One I apply whether I am in a boardroom in London or a market in Lagos.
The approach does not change. The context always does.
What I believe
Discover before you build
Pressure-testing an idea costs almost nothing. Building the wrong thing costs everything. I make sure we know what we are actually solving before we commit to how.
Lagos is not London
Markets have personalities. A product, message, or brand that lands perfectly in one place can feel completely wrong somewhere else. I never assume transfer.
I will say what I see
If something is not going to work, you will hear it from me before you build it. That is the most useful thing I can offer.
Real people, not personas
I do not design from guesses or stock archetypes. I talk to people, observe real behaviour, and build from what is actually true.
Skills & Expertise
If you are building across borders, or thinking about it. I would love to connect.
Get in touch