-
A Beautiful Name
You never really think about your own name. But today, I did. I realized just how beautiful my name is — my native name, I mean: Chinecherem. In fact, I’d rarely considered the full version: Chinecheremechicheoma. It means “God has good thoughts for me.” Thinking about it, I realize how true that meaning has been…
-
The “What do you do?” Question
Today, someone asked me a familiar question: “What do you do?” Without much thought, I gave my usual answer: “I’m a software engineer.” It’s a line I’ve said countless times, usually met with a polite nod and a shift in conversation. But this time, they didn’t just nod — they pressed further. They wanted to…
-
Soutle Focus
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Balancing client projects and other commitments has made it challenging to carve out time for Soutle. This week, my top priority is to clear all other tasks off my plate so I can focus on pushing the MVP. We have a few hundred people on the waitlist,…
-
Back In 2010
I spent most of today catching up with an old friend from secondary school. We talked about many things, but one topic stood out: how free browsing led me to tech. Back in the day, there was a time when the Opera Mini mobile browser was mysteriously free to use for browsing. To this day,…
-
Firing & Hiring
The highlight of my day was interviewing a potential hire. It brought back some memories — the kind that shape you as an entrepreneur. This year, I’ve had to let two people go, and it has taught me a lesson I wasn’t prepared for: hiring is easy, but letting someone go is incredibly difficult. This…
-
The Real Ones
After the encounter on Sunday, the first thing I did was start making arrangements to renew my car papers. There’s a lady who helps me with the renewals — Mrs. Mnadu. I called her that Sunday, and she immediately got to work. By this morning, she had completed everything and needed to send the finished…
-
Conversations And Entrepreneurship
From successfully squashing a stubborn bug in my code to exploring Oracle’s cloud offerings, today was significantly better than yesterday. The highlight of the day was finally completing an implementation I’d been working on. Then, I had a discussion about design with our graphic designer. While he sometimes produces spectacular designs, other times his work…
-
One Of Those Days
Today has been one of those difficult days. It began with me deciding to skip making breakfast and order it instead, hoping to save some time. My mood started to sour when the delivery driver arrived with my food, only to find my coffee spilling all over the delivery bag. From that point on, it…
-
An Unexpected Sunday Encounter
Today’s service was wonderful. The sermon was uplifting, and I left the church with a sense of peace. But on my way back, just a few kilometers before I reach home, things took a different turn. Out of nowhere, a Toyota Hilux suddenly stopped in front of me, and a couple of men in police…
-
Self-Constructed Boundries
I believe there’s such a thing as over-respecting a person’s boundaries — especially when those boundaries are imaginary ones we’ve constructed ourselves. Boundaries are essential for personal well-being and mutual respect. However, there’s a delicate balance between respecting someone’s space and recognizing when our hesitation is more about our own fears than their needs. Often,…