Derek Vinebo is another promising talent we have quite a lot to talk about. Just like I did in my previous article, I say “Ikwerre Anumeka O” to all my PH people. We have quite a number of talents in Africa and they don’t get the hype. For me, I believe appreciation motivates the person to do well and Techtrend Africa has a bigger plan for that. Okay, let’s begin
Derek Vinebo Early Life
Derek was a science student that had a passion for art and commerce. He was a rare person that fits into any circle. The exams coordinate will find it hard to place Derek because he’s a sitting cheat to every angle. He decided to further his love for sciences at the University of Port Harcourt where he studied Human Anatomy. People believe while you are in school, you shouldn’t do any other than study. Derek did not buy such ideology and he was heavy into developing his software development career. In his second year, he started a student past question app. We know how we love past questions. This app had over 5K traffic daily during the exam period and amazingly, he handled it all alone.
During his undergrad, he was into school politics to make the administration right. He combined developing himself for the labour market with administration and academics. Derek explored possibilities with Uniract Integrated Ltd where he worked part-time and polished his skills for 3 years. He joined Shabtech Innovations for his compulsory service year. Now let’s talk about recent years

Derek Vinebo’s Lockdown version
For a man that like cooking, you’ll know he definitely likes staying indoors. Derek has worked remotely for people in various continents before and during the lockdown. He is an experienced work from the home expert. I feel we need to think of his award category. His transition into product management begin in 2019. He joined Sprinthub, a Port Harcourt based IT firm to start this new journey. Derek joined quite a few teams to explore new solutions and develop himself. Did I mention he created a ticketing platform from scratch and was immediately deployed for use? That’s one of the reasons you see how perfectly he matched software engineering and product management.
LinkedIn should probably fix him up as a tutor. Derek has gotten 20 certifications from LinkedIn when most people don’t have one. Maybe I am actually the most people I just referred to. As a movie lover, I start to wonder how he had the time to make all this work but really he did it during his undergrad so nothing is new. Derek joined South Africa based Deimos for 10 months. He recently joined UK based Codematic.io as a technical product manager.
Let’s tell what you don’t know
As an Anatomist, Derek has been involved in child delivery and surgical operations. You wonder how? Me self wonder oh. During his internship, he was opportune to get a placement in a hospital. This young man is super talented and already understands the human body. Learning how to deliver babies and carrying out operations in a short time is really an amazing part you need to know. Probably I’m the only one that sees Derek looks like a doctor. If you have the same view, drop it in the comment section. He loves seeing beautiful places probably while he usually has a beautiful experience with clients. His pushing factor to date was an accolade from a UK based client that love what he delivered. Isn’t that beautiful. Or should we talk about Hera, his hybrid caucasian- german shepherd that he’s expecting her beautiful puppies?
Derek Vinebo’s Believes about Africa
He believes Africa technology space is only scratching the surface and many areas are yet to be explored. However, he’s worried about the role the government plays and how stiff policies create a barrier to the proliferation of technology in Africa. His word for new techies is that they should understand what they want to do. It’s fine to want to get into tech because you just want to make money. But understand that people pay heavily when you create value. The biggest people who earn the most are those who create awesome values for their clients/companies. So learn one thing, be good at it and figure out how to help someone solve a problem with it.
To the Nexford University MBA candidate that rarely watches football, his friends, well-wishers and family. I will say, Techtrend Africa, wish Derek Vinebo the very best and hope we get to write more about him soon. Make I commot body for this location till next time.