Shifting Gears: From Powering Payments to Empowering Teams

I spent a good part of my career as a Tech Lead at Paystack, where I had the privilege of working on some of the systems that helped shape the future of online payments in Africa, and, as Paystack would say, power African ambition. 

I had the opportunity to work with incredibly smart and driven teammates, and in the final phase of my time there, I had the privilege of leading pretty amazing teams.

My career at Paystack centered on building transformative financial infrastructure, including leading the architecture and scale-up of key payment systems.

As the early technical driver of the Managed Accounts team, and later Technical Lead of the Processing team overseeing all core payment integrations in Nigeria. I drove the design and launch of Dedicated Virtual Accounts, a milestone that transformed how thousands of businesses receive payments. 

I also led the end-to-end development of Pay with Bank Transfer, which accounts for  66% of all Paystack transactions in Nigeria today, and Automated Top-ups, powering seamless, reliable transaction flows at scale.

One of the most defining projects for me was Paystack Titan; the fastest and most reliable online banking transfer experience in Nigeria. I was responsible for laying the foundation for its technical implementation, including designing and developing the core system architecture. 

It was a challenging but rewarding build, and one that pushed me to think deeply about scale, reliability, and performance in high-stakes environments.

The systems I built for Titan didn’t just power transfers; they became the backbone for other key Paystack products like Virtual Terminal and Direct Debit, extending the impact of that work across multiple customer-facing experiences and reinforcing the platform’s reputation for dependability.

After spending nearly half a decade building fintech products, I was eager to explore new terrain, particularly the kind of problems SaaS could solve. 

I started having conversations with professionals across different industries, trying to understand the gaps they were experiencing. 

Again and again, I found myself drawn to one area: how teams learn, share knowledge, and develop over time. 

It made me think about my own journey. I joined Paystack as a Software Engineer and, over time, grew into a Tech Lead. That growth wasn’t just about hard work; it was possible because I had access to people, processes, and knowledge that were shared in structured, and intentional ways.

Most companies don’t struggle because they lack smart people; they struggle because knowledge isn’t transferred effectively. And the cost is staggering.

A study by Panopto found that companies lose an average of $47 million annually in productivity due to poor knowledge-sharing practices

The truth is, building products is one thing. But building knowledgeable, aligned, confident teams? That’s a whole different challenge.

Common issues I spotted were:

• 👥 Onboarding that drags — with new hires piecing together info from scattered sources.
  
• 📁 Disorganized documentation — living across endless tools and threads.
  
• 📉 Training without structure — making it hard to track progress or spot knowledge gaps.
  

And that’s why I built Varsi.

Varsi is a SaaS platform that helps businesses streamline documentation and employee training, so teams don’t just work hard, they work smart:

• 🚀 Faster onboarding — Clear, step-by-step training paths.
  
• 📚 Centralized knowledge — All your docs and learning materials, in one place.
  
• ✅ Progress tracking — Know who’s learning what, and where support is needed.
  
• ✨ Effortless content creation — Build and update training with ease.
  
• 🔒 Consistency at scale — So every team member has access to the same, accurate information.
  

Your product or service can only go as far as your team’s knowledge allows.

Since launching, we’ve made over 1,000 cold calls and spoken to more than 155 HR professionals across industries.

And what we’re hearing is clear: the problem resonates. The pain is real. And the solution we’re building is meeting a real, overdue need.

Curious to see how Varsi can work for you? Book a demo today and discover how we can help you streamline knowledge sharing and drive team growth!