At Appzone, everyone, irrespective of gender, race, creed, or culture, is treated equally and fairly with empathy. Our recruitment process is non-discriminatory, and the total rewards structure is built on equity –  Says Omomuwa Olulana.

Omomuwa Olulana is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Appzone, bringing to bear a wealth of knowledge and an array of experiences across diverse sectors including Financial Services, E-Commerce, Non-profit, and Technology. In this interview, she talked about work culture, tech talent, and employment in Nigeria. Excerpt:

Ans: Pre-Covid, we understood the future of work was borderless and had started building structures to guide our positioning. Hence the ease in migrating to Flexi-work. We hire professionals from around the globe, so our employees have considerable latitude in choosing where they would like to work to deliver on their goals. Their preferred location could be a workstation, home office, or office complex. 

However, we have specific events that are physical to deepen collaboration. Even in this mode, we still have structures to accommodate employees outside our operating base, Lagos.

Ans: Our culture is people and performance-centric. We are very focused on the enabling environment we create for our people, allowing them to deliver on the job and advance their careers. As an organization obsessed with productivity and performance, we have designed processes and built structures that shape our high-performing teams across departments at Appzone today. So, every business objective, perk, and benefit is centered on this ideology. Our core values have been deliberately integrated into our thinking, processes, and approach to problem-solving at Appzone.

Ans: Our strength is in two-fold. There is the part where we “create” Appzoners, and in the other, we “nurture” Appzoners. In creating, we have partnered with specific Universities, Institutions, and Communities where top talents are identified, recruited, and trained (technical and behavioral skills specific to Appzone) through our Learning academy. 

The second aspect relates to our intricate recruitment process that identifies top talents and hires them into a challenging, rewarding career journey.

Regarding retention, a couple of factors have worked for us, from our investments in employee benefits to investments in learning and development programs for talent. Research shows that top talents are always interested in doing impactful work. At Appzone, our technology is novel and home-grown; we built it. It is a big attraction for our technical talents who want to be a part of something meaningful and monumental and are looking to grow their careers.

Ans: As a company with a hybrid work model, we rely heavily on technology to get the work done. We currently do not have technologies built by Appzone as work tools. However, we have partnerships with specific providers that have modified their systems to meet our unique peculiarities and needs.

Ans: At Appzone, everyone, irrespective of gender, race, creed, or culture, is treated equally and fairly with empathy. Our recruitment process is non-discriminatory, and the total rewards structure is built on equity. 

Our philosophy is that we reward and compensate based on value-add. So, suppose you have two Engineers performing the same function with similar levels of competence and skill sets but different genders (male and female). In that case, they are compensated within the same compensation band. 

We also respect the perspectives and individuality of our people because therein lies our true strength.

Ans: Our impact can be seen in two ways – our recruitment preference and the future development of our employable youths. Our recruitment process focuses primarily on Nigerians living in Nigeria because they directly impact our economic growth. In 2021, 90% of our new hires were from this group. We are also passionate about developing graduates and making them work-ready through our Learning academy. At the academy, they are exposed to technical skills and work ethics. Currently, the focus is on developing tech talents; however, our plan from 2023 is to expand the focus to other disciplines (Product Managers, Product Designers, QA Engineers, Operational functions, etc.) within Appzone. 

The endgame is a Technical Institute where technical skills and knowledge are taught/imbibed to graduates to prepare them for their desired profession and the workplace.