#20: Oluwasemiloore Akoni—From Law to Growth Marketing
Oluwasemiloore Akoni is a product-led growth marketer with a track record in content, retention, influencer marketing, and product strategy for tech and SaaS companies.
This is the African Growth Marketers Spotlight series for the Marketing In Action Newsletter where we interview diverse marketing practitioners who are putting marketing into action. Share it with your network! ~James
🚨 ICYMI: We’re building the African SaaS Marketing Report to provide benchmarks on growth, pricing, team structures, and marketing effectiveness for SaaS companies across Africa. See what the report looks like here.
If you work in SaaS, we need your input (you'll be done in 10 mins). If you don't work in SaaS, share it with other SaaS folks you know!
Can you tell us a bit about your background, education, and how you got into marketing?
I studied law but found myself drawn to storytelling and creating viral content, brand building, and the dynamics of influence. I began my career managing social media pages and running a small influencer agency, which now has over 500 influencers in the community. That opened doors into core marketing, digital campaigns, brand strategy, and performance marketing.
Eventually, I moved deeper into product, and later into growth, where I could directly impact both acquisition and retention through experimentation and data.
My first tech experience was at Hytch Africa, a ride-sharing carpooling service where I supported early user adoption. From there, I joined Go Shiip, a B2B SaaS delivery aggregator focused on logistics APIs.
That set the tone for my entry into product marketing and strategy across ventures like Chequemate (a pooled savings platform), Quickshop (a marketplace), ComfortPay (mobile money), Puffer (freelancing and gigs), and Coco Cabana (event management).
👉🏽Join the Marketing In Action WhatsApp Community, where MIA Newsletter subscribers network, and gossip (what’s trending).
How do you define growth marketing?
Growth marketing, to me, is the science and systems behind sustainable product adoption. It’s not just about top-of-funnel metrics; it’s about solving the right problems at every stage of the customer journey. From onboarding to retention and monetization, everything must loop back to the user experience and the value being delivered. Growth only works when the product retains.
What are your key areas of expertise within marketing?
I’d describe myself as a π-shaped marketer, broad across product, creative, and team strategy, but with deep expertise in lifecycle marketing and product-led growth.
My core strengths include building and executing go-to-market strategies, designing onboarding flows and optimizing funnels, creating growth loops and retention systems, running performance and influencer-driven acquisition campaigns, and using data analysis and experiment design to drive sustainable growth.
Which marketing channels do you prioritize, and have you found to be effective?
I choose channels based on product and audience. For Quickshop and ComfortPay, social media, referrals, and partnerships were key. For Chequemate, community activation, incentives, and embedded sharing loops worked well. With Go Shiip and Puffer, we leaned more into targeted outreach, partnerships, and niche platform discovery. Influencer marketing and product-led acquisition have consistently been high-return channels in my playbook.
What roles have you held in your growth and marketing career?
Throughout my marketing and growth career, I’ve held roles such as Growth and Marketing Lead at Quickshop and Chequemate, Head of Marketing at Go Shiip, Product and Brand Lead at ComfortPay, and CMO/CPO at both Puffer and Quickshop. I’ve also worked as a Marketing Strategy Consultant for Coco Cabana and led brand and community-building efforts at Hytch Africa.
Which companies have you worked with?
Hytch Africa – Carpooling ride sharing app; B2C; focused on community-driven acquisition
Go Shiip – SaaS logistics aggregator; B2B; drove onboarding and marketing revamp
Chequemate – Social savings and liquidity platform; B2C; led GTM and lifecycle strategy
Quickshop – Marketplace connecting vetted sellers and buyers; B2C; focused on growth loops and retention
ComfortPay – Wallet and payment platform; B2C and B2B; built out product and brand roadmap
Puffer – Freelancing platform; B2C and C2C; bootstrapped GTM and early activation
Coco Cabana – Events and lifestyle brand; B2C; supported brand partnerships and awareness
Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself that most people don’t know?
Most people don’t know I studied law, and that's because I practice mostly in the entertainment industry. I shifted gears entirely and built my career from the ground up in marketing and tech.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside work, I enjoy watching CIA-themed and action-packed series, helping people bring ideas to life. I’m a builder at heart.
Can you share a resource or template that has been particularly valuable in your work?
A practical one would be my Notion-based GTM template that helps align teams across product, marketing, and operations. Also, the Reforge growth loops framework has helped shape a lot of my thinking around scalable marketing systems. I revisit it often.
What advice would you give to someone starting their career in growth marketing?
Start where you are. Growth isn’t reserved for technical folks or data nerds; it’s a mindset. Get close to the product, understand what makes people come back, and build from there. Experiment often, learn fast, and document everything. And remember, growth without retention is just paid churn.
Give us two marketers that you would like us to interview in this newsletter
Uchechi Nwosu – Product and Brand Strategist
Tolulope Ojo – Growth and Data Strategy Consultant
📘 Want to become a truly T-shaped marketer?
Master Growth Marketing across AARRR metrics, ads, onboarding, content, and more with the Complete Growth Marketing Handbook.
20% off all MIA handbooks and templates when you use the code: MIA Community.
If you have a recommendation for who we should be speaking to, or who you would like to see in this interview series, reply with their names, marketing specialty, and how we can reach them (LinkedIn, Email, Phone, Home address 🙂).