These experiences have shaped my leadership philosophy and my approach to managing growth, culture, and innovation. Here’s what my journey has taught me:

1. Building the Right Team from the Start

Having the right team in place is always important but it’s more than crucial at the very onset of a business. It’s more critical than the idea, the product, or even the strategy, because all of those elements will inevitably evolve. From founders and investors to managers and key employees, each person needs to be the right fit to steer the company through its journey of change and growth.

However, as your business scales, the focus shifts. Strategy, product, and organisational structure become increasingly important, but none of that matters without strong middle management. These leaders are the pulse of your organisation, setting the tone, inspiring growth, and defining your culture. I have seen this firsthand in my early career at Valeo, where many of our initial hires went on to lead startups, manage multinational corporations, and even become investors. Leadership truly is contagious.

At Sprints, we have integrated a sophisticated, AI-driven hiring process, but I still personally interview every leader. My experience in witnessing the infancy of corporate cultures taught me that strong, inspirational leadership is essential. By personally ensuring cultural fit and leadership quality, I maintain the balance necessary to build cohesive, high-performing teams.

2. Fostering an Agile Culture

Today, things move faster than ever before, so the ability to adapt is crucial. At Sprints, we have embraced agility as a core value, both in our culture and our processes. Long-term strategies often fail in a landscape where change is the only constant, so while we maintain a clear vision, we operate with short-term goals and pivot when necessary. This adaptability ensures that we can make quick decisions, reflect on failures, and implement new approaches swiftly.

Our culture encourages openness and feedback, allowing every team member to contribute to the improvement of our processes. For instance, at Sprints, we have implemented a bi-annual 360-degree feedback system, enabling everyone to provide constructive feedback, from entry-level employees to leadership. In one instance, over 100 employees praised a single team member for their contributions. This kind of recognition not only uplifts individuals but also strengthens the collective culture of the organisation.

Being agile means embracing experimentation – trying new ideas, learning from both successes and failures, and evolving as we go. It’s this mindset that keeps us competitive and ensures we are well equipped to overcome business, industry, and market challenges as they arise.

3. AI-Powered Teams

Even with the right team and an agile culture, scaling an organisation to hundreds of employees requires automation to achieve efficiency and consistency. At Sprints, AI plays a critical role in driving our success.

We leverage AI across various functions to optimise our processes. In business development, AI helps us generate high-quality proposals by analysing successful past deals. In marketing, AI creates content tailored to specific personas, allowing us to engage our audience more effectively. In learning content production, we use automated narrators and deepfake technology to deliver culturally relevant content in local languages and accents, ensuring a personalised experience in markets like Nigeria, Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, AI streamlines learning delivery, automating the scoring of learner submissions, which speeds up feedback and improves learner engagement. In HR, AI-powered interviews and assessments help us efficiently identify top talent while ensuring cultural fit.

By embedding AI into our operations, we not only improve efficiency but also enable our teams to focus on higher-value tasks. This fusion of human intelligence and AI allows us to scale effectively while maintaining a high standard of quality.

So what does this all amount to? In summary, the combination of having the right team, fostering an agile culture, and leveraging AI for scale are the pillars of our success at Sprints. Together, they empower us (and potentially you) to build innovative, high-performing teams that are capable of overcoming unforeseen challenges and shaping long-term success.