I believe that the best ideas are those that move people to action. My talks are rooted in real-world experience, practical frameworks, and a deep passion for helping others grow.
James Praise
Community Builder | Marketing Strategist | Teacher | Mentor
👉🏽 See the playlist of speaking engagements on YouTube.
Partners & Speaking Engagements
Contributed to a live panel discussion on “Building GTM Motion as a Solo PMM in B2B and B2C,” and shared practical frameworks and personal experiences on designing GTM strategy, managing cross-functional alignment, and creating impact as a solo PMM in both B2B and B2C contexts.
Panelist – Break Into Product Marketing
I joined a panel discussion on Data Storytelling, sharing insights on how marketers can transform raw data into compelling stories that connect, persuade, and drive results.
Panelist – Data Storytelling with CareerBuddy
On this podcast, I shared my insights on why today’s marketers must lean into the technicalities of AI and GTM engineering, alongside creative skills, to succeed in the marketing industry’s next big shift.
Speaker – The Future of Marketing is Technical
Served as a pre-event judge for the Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition (PAADC) for the second consecutive year. Also delivered a masterclass titled “Public Speaking: The Art of Pitching”—training finalists to pitch their innovations with confidence and clarity.
Delivered a session on Effective Strategies for Driving Product-Led Growth, illustrating how product teams can activate growth loops, improve retention, and scale adoption through experimentation and customer insight.
Speaker – Effective Strategies for Driving Product-Led Growth
Spoke on Building a Robust Customer Acquisition Engine for B2C Digital Businesses, sharing actionable playbooks for creating repeatable systems that attract, convert, and retain customers at scale.
Speaker – Building a Customer Acquisition Engine
Offered career guidance to students during a panel themed “How to Build a Borderless Career in the World of Work,” sharing lessons on global thinking, transferable skills, and leveraging digital platforms for opportunity.
Panelist – Building a Borderless Career
Joined a panel of industry experts to discuss how startups can innovate with focus—building products that align with customer needs, viable business models, and the realities of their target markets.
Speaker – Innovating In The Right Direction
Participated as a panelist at Utiva’s Tech Sales Conference, discussing how founders and professionals can navigate market disruptions, align sales and marketing teams, and drive sustainable revenue growth.
Speaker – utiva Tech Sales Conference
Moderated Bujeti’s second webinar on Regulatory Compliance, leading a conversation with experts on navigating compliance frameworks, risk management, and business registration for startups in Africa.
Moderator – Regulatory Compliance Webinar
Served as a panelist in a session on AI’s role in transforming Sales and Marketing, explaining how data and automation can improve targeting, personalization, and revenue acceleration.
Speaker – RevGrowth Community Session
Moderated Bujeti’s first Financial Literacy Webinar, facilitating an engaging conversation on the fundamentals of financial management, access to capital, and growth strategies for entrepreneurs in Africa.
Moderator – Financial Literacy Webinar
Led a masterclass on Product Marketing for beginners in tech, guiding participants through positioning, messaging, and GTM frameworks to help them break into the field with confidence.
Speaker – utiva Product Marketing Masterclass
Served as a pre-event judge for the Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition (PAADC 7.0), evaluating early-stage innovation concepts from undergraduate teams across Nigeria.
Pre-Event Judge – PAADC Design Competition 7.0
Acted as an event judge for the Product Innovation Pitches, assessing technical feasibility, business potential, and storytelling quality of finalist presentations.
Product Innovation Pitches – PAADC 2023
Contributed to a panel discussion on business sustainability and scaling strategies, sharing lessons from helping startups align revenue models, operations, and brand storytelling for long-term growth.
Panelist — Bujeti x TheCANS: Business Sustainability, Growth & Scale
Participated in Lagos Startup Week as a panelist, discussing ecosystem growth and startup resilience within Africa’s rapidly evolving tech and innovation landscape.
Panelist – Lagos Startup Week 2023
Joined the Prime Startups panel at Lagos Startup Week 2023, contributing insights on building scalable businesses and fostering community-driven innovation.
Panel Contribution – Prime Startups LSW 2023
Shared personal and professional insights on remote work and migration, highlighting how African tech talent can access global opportunities while remaining locally impactful.
Panel Session: Remote Working & Better Migration Experience for Techies – LSW 23
Spoke at the Lagos Executive Cloud Technology Summit by CIL and AWS, sharing practical strategies for digital transformation, product innovation, and cloud-led business growth.
Speaking Engagement: CIL x AWS – Lagos Executive Cloud Technology Summit 2023
Delivered a keynote session at the Lagos Executive Cloud Technology Summit 2023 on how African enterprises can harness cloud technology and go-to-market innovation to scale sustainably.
Keynote Session: CIL x AWS: LECS 2023
Joined Univacity’s Tech Tuesday Conversation to discuss how young professionals can navigate career growth in tech, marketing, and entrepreneurship by building leverage through learning.
Tech Tuesday Conversation: Univacity
Participated in Univacity’s Twitter Space discussion on “Female Staff vs Female Bosses: Unresolved Issues – Myth or Fact”, contributing perspective on leadership, inclusion, and organizational culture.
Twitter Space: Female Staff vs Female Bosses: Unresolved issues; Myth or Fact – Univacity
The Tech Sales & Partnerships Community (TSPC) invited me to share my perspective on the evolving relationship between marketing and sales teams, emphasizing why modern organizations must adopt a unified Go-To-Market (GTM) philosophy to drive alignment, efficiency, and growth across the funnel.
Featured in the Marketing In Action Newsletter as part of the T-Shaped Marketers in Africa series, which spotlights practitioners who combine breadth in marketing knowledge with deep expertise in execution, showcasing my approach to building frameworks, systems, and communities that translate marketing strategy into real business impact.
James Praise – T-shaped Marketer
The Africa Fintech Summit spotlighted my insights from leading marketing and growth at a B2B fintech company in Nigeria. My contribution analyzed trends in business financial management, product-led growth, and digital adoption, offering data-driven perspectives on the future of fintech marketing across the continent.
Africa Fintech Summit – Fintech Marketing Outlook for Nigeria (2024)
Interviewed by BusinessDay on how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping customer-centric marketing in Africa. I discussed how data, automation, and behavioral intelligence can unlock more personalized, impactful customer experiences, and why marketing leaders must balance human empathy with machine efficiency.
AI and Customer-centric Marketing – BusinessDay Feature
Featured by Vanguard News for commentary on the growth and resilience of Africa’s fintech ecosystem, where I discussed the region’s emerging business models, investor confidence, and the need for sustainable innovation within financial technology markets.
Africa’s Fintech Sector – Vanguard News Feature
Contributed to a Helio feature on audience and people research, exploring how marketers can leverage qualitative insights and community intelligence to better understand user behavior, craft relevant messaging, and build stronger customer relationships.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7138674282489925632/
Contributed to a newsletter series on startup growth in Africa, where I shared actionable insights on navigating early-stage challenges, from go-to-market clarity and fundraising storytelling to the importance of ecosystem collaboration for founders building across emerging markets.
Startup Newsletter Series: Navigating the Startup Landscape in Africa