Tobi Lafinhan
Co-founder, VettedAI and Venture for Africa
I'm a builder at heart.
Studied Civil Engineering because I genuinely thought I'd spend my life on-site, building roads and skylines. Did my one-year internship, looked around, and thought: yeah… not for 20 years. Pivoted into startups in 2016 – haven't looked back since.
I've spent the last 6 years in talent and people across Africa. Placing professionals at startups, building hiring processes for early-stage teams. The hard part has never really been about finding good people, but everything else around it.
So we started building. What we learned doing it by hand is what makes the software we're building good and intuitive. I've essentially built this company for myself, but not just for myself, but for everyone like me out there that deserves an opportunity.
Now
- VettedAIAI hiring that scales the screening interview: candidates show their work in video auditions, AI scores every answer, and hiring managers get a ranked shortlist. I lead engineering and product.2025–
- Venture for AfricaTalent infrastructure for African startups: 200+ hires, 30+ startup partners and a 4,000-person talent pipeline.2020–
- Nairobi Talent SocialNairobi's monthly recruitment meetup, co-run with Lemuel Abishua. Talent, recruiters, founders and operators in one designed room, where weak ties turn into real opportunities.20 editions
- Career Design LabStructured coaching that helps mid-career professionals tell their story, pick target roles and run a real search.VFA
- Co-PilotAn AI job-search partner built from the coaching I used to do by hand. It scans job boards every week, scores each role against your profile, tells you why you fit or don't, and preps you for the application and the interview.VFA
- Venture for Africa FellowshipA two-sided fellowship. Companies and startup partners get a scoped project delivered by an AI-powered fellow, and a tested pipeline to hire from. Early-career fellows get real work, AI tools and context, doing jobs that didn't have a name a year ago.
- Sensemaking with Wolé & TobiA podcast with a lifelong friend. Tech, culture, work.118 episodes
Writing
Thinking out loud on the podcast (trimmed, not rewritten), and earlier posts on Medium.
- Ask why, not what6 Nov 2026
- Everyone looks good on paper14 Oct 2026
- Falling forward25 Sep 2026
- Everyone has the same tools now14 Aug 2026
- Superman doesn't kill24 Jul 2026
- The guardrails are the product24 Jul 2026
- Execution used to be the ceiling19 Jun 2026
- What part of it is AI?19 Jun 2026
- Who reviews 20,000 lines?17 Apr 2026
- Getting crafty13 Apr 2026 · Ep 118
- Stay close to the money13 Apr 2026
- What the camera did to painting13 Mar 2026
- What is education for?2 Mar 2026 · Ep 113
- Four juniors instead of one senior23 Feb 2026 · Ep 112
- Hire for the deliverable23 Feb 2026 · Ep 112
- The $200 plan versus the senior salary23 Feb 2026 · Ep 112
- Control what you can control13 Feb 2026
- A teacher that doesn't get tired30 Jan 2026
- What an AI skill is, in plain terms21 Jan 2026 · Ep 107
- Prototype conversations4 Jan 2026 · Ep 105
- I'm not an engineer, but I ask the right questions8 Dec 2025 · Ep 103
- Two months is too long24 Oct 2025
- Falling into recruitment5 Apr 2021 · S4E6
- How Venture for Africa works (fellows)30 Mar 2021 · Medium
- Putting together a strong VFA application22 Mar 2021 · Medium
- How to conduct assessment tests and phone interviews15 Mar 2021 · Medium
- How to write great job descriptions1 Mar 2021 · Medium
- How to make the most of short-term hires16 Feb 2021 · Medium
- 3 tips to making remote work effective2 Feb 2021 · Medium
- Young, Black, and financially literate21 Dec 2020 · Medium
- Why now is the perfect time to join a fast-growing startup in Africa4 May 2020 · Medium
- A word to recruiters during COVID-1929 Apr 2020 · Medium
- It doesn't have to be crazy when you hire24 Mar 2020 · Medium
Questions I'm exploring
- Can we turn talent into infrastructure?
- What can AI do for real ops and business output (not prototypes)?
- What does a "career" look like when it's modular and flexible?
- What if we could design and run ops like software?
Things I've made
- Work Values Explorer78 questions across 13 work values. A personal report of what drives you, and what drains you, in about ten minutes.
- VFA Coffee ChatMatches people in the VFA community for 1:1 conversations every two weeks, by what they need and what they can give.
- Deepen, then grillA free guide to getting work from AI you would put your name on.
- Wiki Starter PackA self-installing personal wiki for Claude: your notes, meetings and documents become the context your AI works from. People outside our team run their work on it.
- Talent Social BingoTurns event icebreakers into a live game. Hosts set the prompts, guests join with a four-letter code, and a leaderboard keeps the room moving.
Talks
- Building & Scaling with AINairobi Talent Social, Oct 2026
- Beyond Better CVs: using AI in your job searchVFA / MEST
- AI for Talent Opsworkshop
Before
- MESTLed pan-African recruitment for the MEST entrepreneur programme. Applications grew 187%.
- Fintech Product Management BootcampA 12-week programme I designed, with 16 facilitators from teams like Flutterwave, Paystack and Barclays.VFA
- Career Transitions BootcampUpskilling operators for growth and revenue roles at startups.VFA
- Hiring case studiesTalent searches for startups like Tushop and Carbon.VFA
- WecyclersSet up the independent contractor programme, a franchise model for recycling collection in Lagos.
- Civil engineeringInternships. Not for 20 years.
Off the clock
Part-time producer & ex-rapper. Kizomba dancer & teacher. Long-distance cyclist (amateur). Guitarist and pianist. Christian & bible nerd.
Places I've been
- Nigeria
- Ghana
- South Africa
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- Rwanda
- England
- Scotland
- USA