S1E1 - Get to know this season’s host: Bayo Adelaja

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‘I started Do it Now Now because I recognised that there were very distinct challenges that I was facing as an entrepreneur and there were a lot of hurdles that I was having to climb over that no one around me understood. Coupled with the fact that I distinctly saw that there was no infrastructural or systemic support for Black entrepreneurs, particularly Black social entrepreneurs in the UK.’ - Bayo Adelaja

In this interview, Lucy Arup, our Head of Content, speaks with Bayo about her motivation, inspiration and ideas about entrepreneurship.

Bayo Adelaja is the founder and CEO of Do it Now Now; which she founded in 2016 in response to gaps in the support available to Black innovators building tech companies and social enterprises in the UK and across Africa. 

The initiatives Bayo developed for Do it Now Now have led to awards from  both Harvard University and Oxford University's Business Schools for her endeavours in creating and fostering opportunities for under-served communities through technology. In 2018, Bayo was named one of the most influential women in social entrepreneurship in the UK by Natwest bank and has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

In 2019, Bayo was chosen as one of the top 100 most influential BAME leaders by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards. She was also recently the Diversity and Inclusion Consultant at Google for Startups UK and is a Fellow at Included VC, as well as the Royal Society of Arts.

Prior to setting up Do it Now Now, Bayo was a Social Policy Researcher at the London School of Economics, where her work garnered press coverage, including being quoted by former prime minister David Cameron. 

Her initiatives have received coverage in The Metro, CNN, Huffington Post, Financial Times, The Independent, TechCabal, Ventureburn and Disrupt Africa. 

The free downloadable resource we have made available to you for this episode is a guide on How to Craft a Winning Mission Statement. ​