Genesys Alumni Spotlight
Have you ever wondered what it's like for people who pass through Genesys Tech Hub?
Some come in with a clear plan. Some come in searching for one. But almost all of them leave with something they weren’t expecting; a skill, a direction, a community, or a version of themselves they hadn’t met yet.
This is Alumni Spotlight, a series where we let the people share their Genesys stories.
Genesys has always been more than a training program. It’s a launching pad. And the alumni? They’re proof of what happens when you give talented people the right environment and a little push.
Each time we post, you’ll meet one person. You’ll hear where they started, where they are now, and what they picked up along the way that nobody puts in a curriculum.
We’re starting this series because these stories deserve to be told and honestly, because we think you’ll find a little bit of yourself in every single one of them.
Let’s get into it!
First up: Elliot Yibaebi Yibalua
Learnable 2020, Frontend Track | Software Engineer, Appknox
In His Own Words
My name is Elliot Yibaebi Yibalua. Today I work as a Software Engineer at Appknox, but that sentence would have been completely unrecognizable to the version of me that showed up at Genesys in 2020.
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. That was the plan. That was always the plan. I had spent six years building toward a career in oil and gas, and when NYSC brought me to Enugu, I was already out there applying for internships in my field, taking online MOOCs, doing everything a fresh petroleum engineering graduate is supposed to do.
Tech was not the goal. Genesys was not the destination. It was, if I am being honest, a detour.
A Temporary Plan That Became Everything
When I applied to Genesys’ Learnable programme as a frontend intern, I will not pretend I was driven by passion for software. I was unemployed. I wanted a skill that could generate income while I kept chasing oil and gas opportunities. That was the full extent of my thinking at the time.
What I did not anticipate was what being inside that environment would actually do to me.
The people I met at Genesys were brilliant. Not just technically but in how they thought, how they approached problems, how they carried themselves. Being surrounded by that kind of energy every day started reshaping something in me that I had not planned to reshape. The internship was intense. We were not just learning the rudiments of software engineering; we were also building skills in business development and communication that I carry with me to this day in my career and in my personal life.
The Crossroads
When the internship ended, I was standing at a fork in the road. One path led back to petroleum engineering the field I had trained for, the career I had planned. The other led into tech, where I had just spent months getting my feet wet, surrounded by people who believed in what they were building.
I chose tech. But I want to be clear it was not a blind leap. I had spent enough time at Genesys to understand what the prospects actually looked like. Financial constraints at the time, and the very real difficulty of breaking into the petroleum industry as a fresh graduate, made the decision easier to commit to. But more than circumstance, I had seen what was possible.
Genesys gave me my first employment opportunity through DevStudio, their software development arm, where I joined as a junior software engineer. That was where I really honed the skills that form the foundation of everything I do today.
“I never planned a career in software, but I had always loved the idea of building solutions that solve problems at scale. Genesys helped me explore an option to achieve that desire, even though it wasn’t the field I spent six years of my life honing.”
Biggest Achievement
The achievement I am most proud of is deceptively simple to say: I am building great software with a world-class team.
But to understand why that matters, you have to remember where I started. I came into tech with a petroleum engineering degree, no prior software training, and a plan that had nothing to do with software at all. The fact that I am now contributing at an international level at a company like Appknox, working alongside engineers I genuinely respect and learn from that is not something I take for granted.
It is proof of what consistent effort, the right environment, and the right entry point can produce.
Lessons Learned
The Thing He Had to Learn the Hard Way
Do not underestimate the power of your network. No man is an island and in tech especially, you will go much further, much faster, if you invest in genuine relationships with the people around you.
Elliot learned this the way most people learn it: by seeing the gap between where he could have been and where he was, and tracing it back to moments where he underinvested in people. A strong network is not just about job referrals. It is about accountability, exposure, and access to perspectives that sharpen you.
What He Would Tell Someone Just Starting Out
“Show up every day, no matter how difficult it is. There’s light at the end of the tunnel but only for those who keep at it. Strive to become better every single day.”
There is no shortcut. The people who make it in tech are not always the most talented people in the room. They are the ones who kept showing up when it was hard, when the progress was invisible, when giving up would have been easier.
What Genesys Actually Did For Him
Genesys did not just give Elliot a skill. It gave him a direction he did not know he needed, a community that became a mirror for what was possible, and an entry point into an industry that has changed his life.
Every day at Genesys, he was watching people around him grow, the alumni who had gone before, peers who were pushing hard alongside him. That served as constant fuel.
He works today on the principles that were drilled into him during that period; show up consistently, defer the gratification, keep going. “Namo would say it to us often, and it is one of those things that sounds simple until you are in the middle of a tough season and you have to decide whether you actually believe it.”
People Who Made a Real Difference
Elliot is quick to name the people who shaped his journey: Namo, for building something that ended up changing the trajectory of his life. Osita, for giving him his first employment opportunity, a decision that was pivotal in ways he says he cannot fully articulate. Jerry Uke, Ekuma, and Ezra, for being great coordinators during Learnable. And Oranye, Adegoke Joshua, and Ali Mustapha, for the mentorship they offered during his internship and early junior years.
“I also made some of the best friends of my life through Genesys. They are too many to name, and I would not do justice to any of them by trying to fit them into a list.”
Connect with Elliot on LinkedIn or X
This is what Genesys does and there’s still room for your story.