Julius Jesse Mbidomti is a man of many descriptions ranging from Media honcho, Financial Expert, Agriculturalist and Futurist.
He stands as a voice for emerging technologies that are poised to redefine the way humanity lives and interacts with itself and nature in the future. He is a staunch believer in the importance of blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence in redefining lives.
He has invested the past 17 years promoting an industry-wide shift to technology and helping position various organizations to take the lead in pivoting to technology. He is a calculated risk-taker equipped with deep technology industry knowledge and offering such services to interested entities
He is recognized for helping entities to strategically position for the challenges of the future.
Noted for bringing the very first TEDx event in Adamawa State of Nigeria, Julius Jesse Mbidomti has become an inspiration to many and in this exclusive interview with Stir 360, he recounts his journey into the world of technology and how his influence, life & times has positioned many for a life of beau.
Can you tell us how you developed so much interest in technology?
Since I was a child, I always have the interest in technology; graduating from secondary school I was fascinated about automobile design and study Automobile Design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena at California. It did not work out, so I opted to go to ABU Zaria to study there and from there I got interested in the business of money. I got into banking industry and worked there for over 10 years. But before my stint in the industry, I had (in 1999) stumbled on the Internet and it was a wow experience that sucked me into its grasp and never let me go. I had my first experience with the Internet September 1999 and from then it was from one project to another. I built my first website in 1999 using pure HTML. That was when there was no website editing software like Front-page and all that, and from then it was technology, technology & technology even while working with the bank then, I advised some startup companies in the technology space, one of them grew up to become a big company In Africa, that is SmartWeb Nig. Ltd which is the third or second largest Domain Name and Webhosting in Nigeria today. In 2006 we tried floating an online magazine called the Cyber-Elite. It was supposed to chronicle people within the technology space and stuffs like that., I tried my hands on Python programming in 2006 before it became popular. Along the line I dropped it because I felt more comfortable being a catalyst towards making Companies adopt technology in their processes. I have a background in business development while working with the bank thus naturally I gravitated towards young Tech Startups struggling to get their businesses off the ground. I developed a strong affinity in working with young businesses helping them to develop business plans, Design Pitch Decks and Financial Projections.
The longer I engaged with real industry actors the stronger the feelings for Technology got for me. In 2006 I saw a uniquely practical example of how technology can change the world, I followed Shawn Fawning (The first guy to bring decentralized file sharing (Music) into existence) Time Magazine then covered his story in an edition titled “The Napster Story”
Shawn was one of the people that started the decentralization, outside that I did a lot of work with digital currencies way back in 2006 before even Bitcoin existed, I was trading in an electronic currency called e-gold. I was one of the biggest distributors of e-Gold. I got deeper into it, got a lot of mentors in that spaces did a lot of stuff with Google etc. I think I got my first google check from Adsense in 2008; I had a blog then on which I was running Google Adsense (in its early years) and google was sending me cheques. So, technology was just inevitable for me!
I eventually I drifted into the side of technology that has to do with bringing people into the technology ecosystem on a larger scale from whatever it is they are doing and technology for me covers everything, not just about computers but even agriculture.
My addiction to technology is getting worse, today I think I found myself in the Futurist movement because of that and it is deeper than the ordinary technologies we interact with in our day-to-day living.
In the medical field technology futurist technology is there. Today we have things like Crispr Cas9 gene editing technology where you can edit the gene of a baby before it is born to produce exactly what you want. We are already producing Chimeras, Human Monkeys (do you understand?) The truth is technology is a ship that has sailed, you cannot stop it. People are farming indoors today….etc, it is one of the things technology is doing today.
Can you share with us your own take about Tedx Yola?
Tedx Yola was one of most cherished best events and being an event person, I’ve been organizing events in Yola, Numan and Jos since way back In 1994, so I’m from the background of Showbiz, I was into music in my early years. TED stands for Technology, Education and Design. My core background is Design, I love Technology and I love Teaching or imparting Knowledge. I always tell people that I do not get involved in anything I cannot teach, so the moment you hear Julius talk about anything, rest assured that if you take me to a classroom, I will be adequately equipped to teach on that topic without hassles.
What’s the drive for bringing TEDx to Yola? So, I have a number of mentors that had delivered speeches on many Tedx and TED events within and outside the country. On 17th December 2017 I had the privilege of attending Tedx Rayfiled in Jos, Plateau State. At the event, two people in my opinion stoles the show. Both were from Adamawa and that had me thinking, “what is difficult about getting it done in Yola?” To me Yola was getting to a point where people’s minds (especially young folks) needed to be enlightened, they needed to be positioned on a new trajectory towards self realization to enable them to start looking at things from a different…
… to be continued!
