Tech Trivia with Omolara Sanni, Co-founder at Midddleman

Supply chain technology is rapidly transforming how businesses move goods across borders. In Nigeria, where importation has long been slowed by fragmented sourcing, payment bottlenecks, and complex shipping processes, technology is making international trade faster, more transparent, and more accessible. 

One of the startups driving this shift is Midddleman, which helps African businesses source, pay for, and ship products from China with ease. This week’s Tech Trivia features Omolara Sanni, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Midddleman. 

Sanni leads a platform that simplifies global trade for African entrepreneurs through AI-powered product sourcing, secure payments, verified procurement, and end-to-end logistics.

With more than six years of experience in product marketing across fintech and social commerce, she drives growth, operations, and customer success, ensuring Midddleman solves real-world sourcing and payment challenges for businesses across the continent.

As someone passionate about mentorship and community building, Sanni is also the co-founder of African Product Marketing Pioneers. This thriving community empowers Product Marketing Managers across Africa to learn, grow, and navigate their careers.

As a non-technical founder, she is committed to helping other entrepreneurs and founders bridge the gap between ideas and execution, building successful products that resonate with users. Her journey is driven by a mission to support innovation in African startups through impactful product and marketing strategies.

1. Summarise your mornings in one sentence

My mornings are reflective. I take at least 10 mins to ask myself why I decided to build a startup in Nigeria. More seriously, my mornings are pretty chilled; I try not to have early morning meetings, so I focus on operational work. 

2. Describe your gadget setup

My gadget setup is simple because I’m not a technical founder. I currently use a MacBook Pro for work and my iPhone. I would love to add a monitor to the setup in the near future. 

3. What tech tools/ applications do you use the most for work?

I use WhatsApp a lot for work, and this might be strange to a lot of people. A lot of work communications still happen on WhatsApp; we’ve tried Slack, and it just wasn’t working. Now it’s email and WhatsApp. I also use ChatGPT a lot for work and my personal content. 

4. What do you do when you need inspiration?

When I need inspiration, there are two things I do: First, I sleep, which helps me relax and feel refreshed after a nap. The second thing is to consume a lot of content. I take inspiration from others a lot, so I watch videos and read articles. 

5. What mobile application can you not do without daily?

Zoho Mail.

6. What tech solution do you wish someone had created?

A tech solution I wish someone had created would help people figure out the best career path for them based on their interests, skills, and even the kind of life they want to live. They should also be able to see what the typical day-to-day looks like in that job. 

7. If you have unlimited time and money, what problem would you solve?

If I had unlimited time and money, I would solve the problem of access to funding for early-stage startups. Most investors focus on seed-stage startups, but how are pre-seed startups supposed to reach the seed stage without funding? Beyond funding, there would also be other forms of support to help them grow, because that’s the stage most startups die. 

8. Which woman in tech inspires you the most?

Linda Ikechukwu, I think she’s an absolute rockstar. I’m inspired by her ability to explore the many sides to her. She’s not boxed into the version of what a woman in tech should look like. I see her as a multi-potentialite. 

9. Which profound statement inspires you the most?

Probably not profound, but this statement drives everything I do: “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” 

We would have more people doing really great work if they had this at the back of their minds. If you’re not going to do it well, you might as well not do it at all. 

10. Whose Women in Tech trivia would you love to read?

If she’s yet to be featured, I would love to read a Women in Tech trivia about Linda Ikechukwu, Developer Advocate Lead at Smallstep. The reason is obvious, as she’s the woman in tech who inspires me the most. It’s a good way to get to know her better. 

Read also: Tech Trivia with Ruth Okoli, Co-Founder at Nestuge