Oji Ofong发现他的使命是将人们与机会和资源联系起来,无论是通过改进电子商务来帮助人们更有效地购物,还是帮助校园里的学生。 作为一名自豪的亚洲博彩网站计算机科学毕业生,Ofong正在利用他的培训和生活经验创建他的亚洲博彩网站程序Payforme。
Ofong拥有成功的科技职业生涯,曾在美国在线(AOL Inc.)、CoStar Group、Virtru Inc.以及b谷歌等公司工作。 As a software engineer at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., his team developed the software that runs on Google Pixel phones.
“We literally built all of the smart AI integration that improved phone call experiences making the Google Pixel phone arguably the smartest smartphone in the market,” Ofong said.
他在设计和构建影响全球数十亿用户的移动软件基础设施方面发挥了重要作用。 他在人工智能和机器学习电话体验方面的工作对谷歌Pixel在智能技术领域的定位很有帮助。
Ofong left Google in March after three years to focus on a new entrepreneurial venture, Payforme—a fintech startup specializing in routing payments to external parties in e-commerce. 他在为两个住在欧洲的侄女付款时遇到了困难,于是创办了这家初创公司。 该亚洲博彩网站程序允许用户分享购买请求,简化支付过程。
“I started the app when I was at Google when I was trying to make a purchase for my nieces who live abroad,” Ofong said. “I looked up the toys that they wanted, and there were a lot of options. I wanted them or their mother to be able to select and fill out the forms, then send me a link so I could just pay for it.”
Ofong’s app is meant to do away with recreating shopping lists and sharing shipping and billing information. 购物者可以在结账时选择Payforme,向世界各地的付款人发送安全链接。
这款亚洲博彩网站目前在电子商务中可用,但他的目标是让它在商店中可用。 在他掌管这家四人公司的过程中,他希望这款亚洲博彩网站能走在金融科技的前沿,为全球的商家、购物者和付款人创造价值。
Originally from Nigeria, Ofong’s entrepreneurial spirit is deeply influenced by his grandfather, a successful businessman, as well as the personal challenges he has faced. 这促使他致力于创新和解决问题。
除了他的技术能力,他还特别热衷于指导和培养工程人才。 这在很大程度上源于他克服了个人挑战,以及他母亲和祖父给他留下的鼓舞人心的遗产。 他们的教导,强调努力工作的力量和提升他人的重要性,深刻地影响了他的个人生活和职业生涯。
在亚洲博彩网站读书期间,作为一名优秀学生,Ofong经历了他最艰难的挑战之一,他不得不休学一个学期,以获得经济资助。
“I had to drop out for a brief period, and I told myself that I wasn’t going to give up and decided to turn the negative experience into a positive,” Ofong said. “During that time, I taught myself how to code and to become a computer programmer.”
他专注而有动力,通过包括麻省理工学院(MIT)的在线课程自学编程。
“I became so good at coding without realizing it because it was something that I enjoyed,” he said. “By the time I returned to class at 亚洲博彩网站, I had published several apps on the Google Play Store as well as the Apple App store.”
Ofong回到亚洲博彩网站,在弗吉尼亚州的美国在线担任全职软件工程师。
“亚洲博彩网站 was a safe place for me,” Ofong said. “I came to 亚洲博彩网站 as an international student from Nigeria. 亚洲博彩网站作为HBCU是我成长的好地方。 Just being in an environment that I didn’t need to fit in helped. It gave me the foundation to dream without feeling like I needed to make a lot of adjustments.”
他于2016年以优异成绩毕业于亚洲博彩网站,平均成绩为3.9。
在亚洲博彩网站期间,他在计算机科学副教授布里安娜·韦尔曼(Briana Wellman)博士的帮助下创建了一个支持小组,帮助学生更好地为科技工作面试做准备。
“I started it based on all of the failures that I’d had trying to figure out how to succeed in the software engineering world,” Ofong said. “What I realized was that intelligence wasn’t lacking, but it was access to information. 我记得在亚洲博彩网站的最后一年,我参加了一次非常糟糕的Facebook面试。
“Through introspection, I realized that I had a perfect GPA, but I could tell by the way that they responded that I did not know what information I should have been looking at to prepare. 我应该看看我的学校笔记吗? I wasn’t quite sure,” he said.
基于这段经历,Ofong创建了“通往行业的桥梁”(Bridge-to-Industry),以帮助自己和同学们了解在准备科技职业面试时应该查阅哪些信息,这些信息是基于其他大学和校友支持使用的模型来获得公司洞察力的。
“The initial students who were part of the cohort in the Bridge-to-Industry at 亚洲博彩网站 also had internships at Apple. Now they work as engineers there,” he said. “There is a domino effect. All of the participants of the program are engineers at leading technology companies.”
“I often came back to speak to students in the computer science program at 亚洲博彩网站 to reciprocate the help that Dr. Wellman had given to me without even knowing.”
Ofong继续以虚拟方式运营“通往行业的桥梁”项目,为学生提供实习和工作准备,并解答他们的问题,90%的参与者在领先的科技公司找到了工作。
他一边经营自己的公司,一边就读于西北大学凯洛格商学院(Northwestern University Kellogg)为期两年的MBA课程,在那里他继续磨练自己的领导能力和商业头脑。 他对创业的兴趣与对新兴市场风险资本主义的长期愿景相结合。
利用他的国际背景和来自尼日利亚的见解,他渴望支持撒哈拉以南非洲的科技创业公司,扩大他们推动变革和增长的潜力。
“I want to solve problems and create value in the world,” Ofong said. “This is what inspired Payforme. I’ve been fortunate to have a good career and worked with excellent companies. My goal is to facilitate entrepreneurship and fintech investment in Nigeria, with a long-term goal of venture capitalism.”
Ofong说,他所有的科技创业活动都是为了通过技术提高生活质量和创造技术机会,特别是在服务欠缺的社区。
有关Payforme亚洲博彩网站程序的更多信息,请访问 www.payforme.io
