Curiosity.Withconsequences.
My name is Obinna.
Obii to some. Spyda to others.I’m interested in what happens when technology meets people.
And what we choose to do about it.
People don’t
behave like code.
I studied computer science.
Then I went into advertising.
People complicated things. Thankfully.
Some of my most useful research happened at five in the morning, helping a trader open her stall in Accra. There are things you only learn when you turn up.
That instinct has followed me through two decades of building brands, leading creative teams and working across African markets. Understand the person. Question the obvious. Then make something useful.
Today, I help businesses work out where to go next: how to grow, what to offer, how to communicate and what needs to change. AI is part of that work, alongside the creative and strategic judgment I’ve built over two decades.
And sometimes I write about friendship, memory or who we are when the job title comes off. Curiosity doesn’t keep office hours.
A computer science degree from Ashesi. Further study in AI and disruptive strategy at Oxford. Twenty years of learning what the classroom couldn’t tell me.
Follow a thought.
See where it goes.
Insomnaic III: Execution.
Ghana has AI ambitions. Here’s what turning them into action could look like.
Read the essayThe Human in the Room.
AI can help us understand people. There’s still something to be said for actually meeting them.
Read the essayOn Moats.
Take away the title, the salary, the possessions. What’s still difficult to replace?
Read the essayBrand Purpose Dead. Again.
Advertising’s favourite pastime: giving the same old problem a new name.
Read the essayWhat does AI
make possible
for Africa?
A new capability is only the beginning. The interesting part is what people can do with it—and who gets the chance.
That connects my work on brands to my thinking about AI: adoption, trust, context. What should a business change? What does Ghana need to get right? How do we build the skills to shape what comes next?
A few thoughts on executionNew possibilities.
Practised judgment.
My work has changed shape.
These lessons keep showing up.
01Give people a reason to care.RELEVANCE BEFORE REACHFrom cultural insight to adoption
A youth proposition needed a place in people’s lives. The decision was to build around an attitude before introducing the product.
Earn a place in youth culture.
A telecoms brand wanted to attract young people in Ghana. Reaching them was one task. Giving them something they could identify with was another.
Start with a conversation.
We built the audience around an attitude: #LetsNotPretend. The conversation began on Twitter before the product was introduced, giving the platform a cultural identity from the outset.
Carry the idea through.
As founder and creative director of the agency, I led the development of the platform. Our team’s work connected strategy, ideation, communication, execution and production.
400,000+ new subscribers.
The platform brought in more than 400,000 new subscribers in its first year. The proposition continued beyond its launch campaign.
What I take from it today: before asking people to adopt something new, understand why it would matter to them.
The thinking behind this: The Human in the Room ↗EXPERIENCE / YOUTH BRAND PLATFORM · GHANA02Context changes the answer.ONE CONTINENT. MANY REALITIES.Creative leadership across 23 markets
My regional creative leadership remit covered 23 markets across West and Central Africa. Working across languages and cultures made context a practical responsibility, not an optional layer.
That matters in AI too. An approach built elsewhere still needs to meet the infrastructure, incentives and everyday realities of the people using it here.
EXPERIENCE / REGIONAL CREATIVE LEADERSHIP03Leave people able to act.UNDERSTANDING INTO CAPABILITYAI strategy, leadership and governance
I now advise organisations on AI strategy and governance, and design programmes that help leaders work through what adoption means for their decisions and teams. That includes an AI programme delivered to an investment firm’s executive committee.
The useful questions are concrete: where should we begin, what needs oversight, and what must the team learn to make this work?
EXPERIENCE / ADVISORY & EXECUTIVE EDUCATIONThinking is better
with people in it.
Writing is one way I work through a question.
Getting people around it is another.
A good strategy gives people somewhere to go. And a way to get there.
I work with leaders and teams on retail, marketing, communications, product development and business transformation. We work through the choices: where to compete, what to create, how to reach people and what the organisation needs to do differently.
Creative thinking helps us see another possibility. Strategic judgment helps us decide which one is worth pursuing.
AI is part of that conversation too. My executive education work includes an AI programme for IC Securities—one example of helping a team make sense of change and prepare to act.
- Where will the next stage of growth come from—and how should retail and marketing support it?
- What should we build, and why would people choose it?
- What should the brand say, do and stand for?
- What needs to change in the business—and where can technology, including AI, help?
LET’S
THINK.
A room to speak to.
A problem worth working on.
An idea that won’t leave you alone.