Celebrating Black History Month: Proud to be

To mark Black History month in the UK, each week we'll be sharing a new spotlight chat with a different GoCardless colleague. We'll be hearing about their role in the company, who has inspired them, and what they're proud of this Black History Month. This week, we're chatting with our colleague Naz Yakubu Wanka.

Proud to be an immigrant

What do you do at GoCardless?

I'm a Software Development Engineer with the Billing & Revenue team in Product Development.

How long have you been at GoCardless?

I've been here just over six months now.

Tell us something most people don’t know about you

I'm one of the few Nigerians you'll meet in the UK that's Hausa. Sadly, even though its our thing, I can't tell you how to make suya.

Who is someone that has inspired you and why?

As a kid growing up in Lagos the story of Fela Kuti's life is hard to avoid. Nigeria was a very different place when he was active and the passion and bravery it took to speak up to the government and to do it so openly through his music made him an inspiration to a lot of people.

What is your favourite book or podcast?

Hardcore History by Dan Carlin, also Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. If you want to understand how the world is today, a good starting point is to understand how we got here in the first place.

What does the theme ‘Proud to be’ mean to you?

To me, 'Proud to be' is about taking pride in your identity. That is, not just where you're from but who you are right now and the values and culture you want to represent. Personally, I'm proud to be Nigerian. We get a lot of bad press but you'd be hard pressed to find a place with as many creative, determined and hard working people anywhere else in the world.

Join us again next week for our next spotlight chat.