Eromo Egbejule

I was not built to clone twitter.

Remember that local adage: “That which you seek in Sokoto is already in your sokoto?”

The case of Ahmad Mukoshy, 22, makes a mockery of this rule as he developed local URL shortener, Yrn.me and social platform, Yarnable all from the city of Sokoto where he resides. In this interview with Eromo Egbejule, the new age techpreneur and web developer speaks on Yarnable, the social platform he developed at 20, life as a geek and other issues.

At 22, you’re carving a niche for yourself already. What got you this far?

Passion and persistence have been my drive ever since I started business. I have a big desire towards technology and business and it makes me happy every morning that I wake up and every night that I sleep. How did this all start? Did your education prepare you for this? If you are referring to formal education, then I will say no. School was really preparing me for something else; to never make mistakes and to know so much of so little (specialization). But I chose to jump into things, make my mistakes early, learn from them and move on and that’s what I do. I dream and wake up with it, (so unlike school).

 How are you looking to use social platforms, just like the one you created, Yarnable, in selling IT to Nigeria and beyond? Nigeria is just getting started online; it has been a tough journey for me and every other person in the web industry. But thank God to social networks for bringing more people to awareness of the Internet and how it simplifies life and businesses. I am personally active on Yarnable, Twitter, Facebook and Google+, getting to know more people, learn and share with them as well. This is how I am able to grow both my business and myself too.

According to TweetMeme stats, bit.ly has the largest market share (54.69%), tinyurl.com (7.39%), ow.ly (4.38%), so exactly how do you plan to upstage other url shortners? I do not plan on upstaging bit.ly or any existing word leading short url providers. Instead, I plan on making a localised service that will add more power to sharing knowledge (links) on the Internet. These url-shortners carry a great power over content sharing, which has been my motivation ever since; to explore and experiment on how this content sharing can be best utilized for social benefits. Thus, my adventure is still on run and I’m enjoying so far.

Yrn.me, then Yarnable and the WordPress plugin, plus your hosting firm Aimtech; how do you run all this from Sokoto? I hear this, a lot; “OMG, he’s from Sokoto!” Well, I believe if there is passion there will be no borders, I love what I do and sincere to myself.  Deep in my heart, there are very few things that give me joy compared to a computer, Internet and business. 

You were named TechLoy Person of the Year in 2010. What other such awards have come your way? I was overwhelmed when TechLoy referred to me as the ‘TechPerson of the Year 2010’, I mean I was only 20yrs old and already getting big blog mentions. It was an encouragement and still it is. Aside Techloy, Y! Naija magazine release of 2012 March also featured me among some other 11 Nigerians as “The New Establishment” driving the future of Nigeria.  I was also on that list and it’s a pleasure to share that honour alongside you, sire.

Now, isn’t Yarnable just another Twitter clone like Gistcaster? Yarnable is not a twitter clone; Twitter was integrated to it on user’s request. It is to be a forum, a micro-forum to allow users share and discuss on topics like Music, Technology, Business, etc. That is the idea behind it which I sold to a company called MobiQube Nig. Ltd (Abuja). I was not built to clone twitter. 

Say I want to develop an app, summarize the processes… 3 words, “go build it”. Seriously, there are no processes; you just do what you have to do to produce it. That is all that matters. But if you want to follow a channel, I will suggest: Plan, Code and Launch. (Simple).  

Tech things aside, what else is there to Ahmad Mukoshy? Well, nothing much. He’s just a music fan who loves to read a lot and talk about technology. Some call me addictive to computer, but I also hang-out with friends. Aside technology, I love horse racing and playing chess. 

For fellow youngsters aiming to make a name in their chosen fields, what do you advice? My first advice to all young entrepreneurs at all times is that; there is never the right time to do anything. You are never too young or too old; the time is now (right now).