When i joined the Lagos WordPress community in 2016 as a meetup co-organiser despite living outside Lagos, we were 147 members. Today we are 1500+ strong and i still do not live in Lagos city.
Back in 2016 the Nigerian community had only 3 meetup groups in 3 different cities within the country. Today, we have 14 communities in 14 different cities within the country.
A lot of friends and colleagues within and outside the community call me the mother of WordPress in Nigeria. I get calls, mails and whatsapp messages everyday from people calling me a WordPress expert and seeking solutions, guidance, ideas, and reviews to their WordPress problems and projects.
We also have a WPNigeria Slack group with presently 499 members and we look forward to a regional WordCamp in a few years, and a continent WordCamp in the future.
It feels really weird when these people mention that they have not met someone who loves WordPress more than i do or when they tag me an expert, because i am not.
And, i know better, i know there are so many people who love WordPress way more than i do. I have been fortunate to make friends within and outside the community who are experts at WordPress and its technologies.
There are wonderful and talented people outside the WordPress community. Some of them use WordPress, others don’t. Majority of them do not know about the community. You can connect and network with these people. This can only happen if you, as a community member be a model to these people by imbibing the open source spirit and giving back.
I will be sharing insights on how i am able to manage a thriving Tech community despite not having any formal learning in computer science. I am going to share with you how WordPress has empowered me personally and professionally. The challenges involved in giving back to the WordPress community. The opportunities and ethical considerations involved when building yourself professionally, and by extension the WordPress community.