Samson Goddy

The tech ecosystem offers a variety of niches, but none as unique as the Open Source environment. In this episode, we explore this niche with Samson Goddy (Co-founder, OSCA) as our guide. We cover the entire scope of open-source engagement - from the structure, its value for both business and contributor, and the ethical conundrum that bots present.

I gave a talk at the University of Vermont about why OSS is important, talked about my work around the continent of Africa, and stated use cases between startups, big tech, and governments and how they affect the pipeline of the subsequent billion maintainers. There was a push around what it mean to have an OSPO beyond tech companies, especially around government and educational bodies.

I talked about the state of OSS in Africa, citing the Github Octoverse report for 2021 and how individual contributions are significant to personal growth.

The Open Source Festival is the flagship OSS conference in Africa; my role around the event, especially the event in 2022, was leading the event strategy and activities, ranging from getting incredible speakers and community members all in one place for about three days, talking about everything open source related.

Growing in Open Source

The power of centering open source on community needs

Samson talks with Amanda about his lifelong journey in open source, why growing a culture of sharing is so important, and how his early experiences influenced where and how he has directed his energy into re-centering the nexus of open source.

Gaining skills with computers and technology has been an attractive path for recent generations to gain access to international career opportunities and generate income. In this episode, we talk with three rising stars who have developed great careers as tech leaders, advocates, and teachers, and they've done so while living in Africa (Nigeria). What about these people's stories is common to everyone working in tech? And what parts of their experience might be unique to being Nigerian? Also, what is the tech scene in Nigeria like, overall?