100 days at the Cabal-mixing magic,weaving wonders

When you read the onboarding message that says "Welcome to the Cabal", we are really saying- welcome to the home of captivating creativity, consistently excellent content, pin-point journalism and a thousand documentations. We are saying, welcome to a culture of candor, where punching above your weight is the norm, where good work is appreciated and audacious moves are rewarded. In retrospect, isn't that what Cabalians do?

Switching jobs is never easy, in my own case, I wasn't just switching jobs. I was shedding off an identity I had unconsciously but wholeheartedly carried for 26 months to wear a new, exciting but uncertain one. It was a larger scope, it was a bigger task, it was leading the Talent team of one of the biggest Digital media organisations not just in Nigeria but in Sub-Saharan Africa, managing about a hundred talents across ten countries across the continent and beyond. How do they spell 'upgrade' again?

I know you have a hundred questions; why did I leave my former workplace? Why did I choose the Cabal out of the array of options I had (trust me, I had a lot of them, I am a hot cake, you know?), well, I do not plan to answer your questions right now, instead, I'd whet your appetite and share a bit of what the first 100 days look like.

One of the first words my current CEO told me was that "We brought you onboard to weather the storm and we trust your ability to stabilise the ship", challenging ehn? My first task was raising employee engagement across the business and I had the chance to lay a good foundation within my first days at work, trust me to deliver excellence. People dined, wined and merried ensuring, the single-pringles amongst us were consoled with our comforting culture of chocolate, wine and munches.

The next set of asks was navigating the maze of policies, processes and documentations. Speaking of documentations, that was my first point of learning. In my former role, I randomly just think about ideas, map out strategies, inform my stakeholders, and execute. At BCM, documentation is sacrosanct; the first hurdle I had to cross, thankfully, I had the most supporting buddy Anita Ebinehita Eboigbe who made settling in easier.

When you stop by our website, the following words stare at you:

"Big Cabal Media (BCM) is a Nigerian digital media company creating super-engaging content that African youth audiences love. We lead the most engaging conversations around culture, innovation, entrepreneurship, entertainment and all the things that matter to the youth today" . Every letter of this words is true and everyday, I see magicians weave wonders to life, literally. I work with with the brightest and best minds in the industry commited to creating captivating content and narrating relatable stories that glues thousand of readers to our platforms everyday.

From Zikoko focused on telling untold African stories with intriguing flagships like Nairalife that narrates variant of financial stories people are often reticent to discuss, lovelife that points the touch to the most fascinating romantic experiences (etc) to Tech-cabal focused on delivering timely, accurate information about the tech-ecosystem in Africa, everyday the brand is commited to its vision and the recent exploits of Citizen(the arm focused on bring politics closer to you through edutaining contents) and TC insights which inform you about the industry-centric facts, numbers and data you should be aware of gives you a glimpse of how wide our spectrum is.

Beyond work, we enjoy a charming camaraderie across all teams and cadres, the free-spirited team members make work less "worky" and people are given wings to fly (literally) and room to explore their creativity. (One of our team members is currently exploring different mixture of meals and sharing them, you should follow Zikoko on IG and tiktok), it is this freedom, this creativity, this ability to do big things like bringing 2500 ladies together to have the time of their life at HERtitude makes Big Cabal welcoming. Guess who is tasked with the responsibility of managing these awesome rockstars? Yes, that's me.

Sometimes, I am working a Learning and Development plan for Leaders, sometimes, I am supervising the onboarding of our new talents, ensuring they have the most relaxing experience joining the team, whatever it is I am doing per time, I ensure that I am commited to managing people, and processes to enhance people's happiness and optimal productivity.

Today, we could be planning the next best content idea over lunch, tomorrow, we could go see Fast X and be swayed by Vin Diesel's wonders but everyday, we are buiding a formidable team crossing continents to make things happen and today , its day 100, the work continues.

As the habit is, feel free to share your thoughts , questions and of course, congratulations and goodwill messages below.