Title: Former Co-Chair
Company: LAUNCH: The University of California’s Startup Accelerator
Location: San Francisco, CA
Education: Pursuing MBA, University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business (2023); BS in Economics, Baylor University (2014)
Career History: Co-Chair, LAUNCH: The University of California’s Startup Accelerator (2022-2023); Senior Data Engineer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., (2019-2022); Senior Data Engineer, General Motors, (2017-2020); Data Engineer, General Motors, (2015-2017); IT Consultant, CGI, (2014-2015); Consultant, Egencia, an Expedia company, (2012-2014)
Sikiru “SK” Alagbada, Co-chair at LAUNCH: The University of California’s Startup Accelerator, has been recognized as a Marquis Emerging Leader for their contributions and achievements in the field of technology and venture capitalism.
Attributing his success to grit, resilience, and support from his family and friends, Mr. Alagbada has been building an accomplished career as a data engineer, an MBA student, and a Season 3 cast member on the Emmy-award nominated Netflix show, “Love is Blind.” Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, he moved to the United States in 2009 and settled in Texas, where he attended Baylor University for his undergraduate studies. He is currently a second-year MBA candidate at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where he is focused on technology, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. He will be graduating in May 2023.
Since 2022, the scholarship recipient from the National Black MBA Association has excelled as co-chair of strategy and partnerships at UC LAUNCH, Berkeley’s in-house accelerator program for promising startups within the university’s ecosystem. Utilizing his skills as a data engineer and problem solver, he has been able to pilot projects off the ground and into fruition, as well as gain a strong grasp of the business of technology, by engaging and developing relationships with investors and raising funds for various startups. As a leader, Mr. Alagbada has been especially proud of his ability to raise the number of diverse founders accepted into the program by 40 percent.
Prior to his enrollment and active work at UC Berkeley, Mr. Alagbada launched his career at General Motors in Austin, Texas, where he worked at General Motors in Austin, Texas, working as a data engineer. In 2019, he then joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a senior data engineer, building enterprise data pipelines and back-end infrastructure with a data footprint covering about 55% of all U.S. households. He previously worked as an IT consultant at CGI from 2014 to 2015 and as a consultant for Egencia from 2012 to 2014. In addition to his primary areas of expertise, he has acquired a residential mortgage loan originator license from the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry and a Texas Real Estate Salesperson License from the Texas Real Estate Commission from 2012 to 2015.
Mr. Alagbada has spoken about tech and startups at such conferences as AFROTECH, Berkeley Fintech Summit, LAUNCH Demo Day, AFRICON, and the Berkeley Africa Business Forum. He has been featured in more than 25 media publications, including Business Insider, The San Francisco Standard, and The Daily Californian. This year, he was inducted into the Who’s Who in America 2023 list.
Before moving to the United States in 2009, Mr. Alagbada, a member of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, was an international exchange student in Poland and lived all across Europe for many years. He ultimately earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from Baylor University in 2014. Still connected to his home country, he served as the president of UC Berkeley’s Africa Business Club, which works to develop business relationships between tech companies in Africa to capital, mentorship, and general resources in Silicon Valley. Outside of his academic and professional pursuits, Mr. Alagbada made a name for himself worldwide as a cast member of Season 3 of “Love is Blind,” a popular Netflix dating reality show, which hit the streaming service in late 2022.
Looking ahead to the future, Mr. Alagbada sees himself succeeding professionally, acquiring a company, becoming a CEO, and giving back to his community. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, interior design, soccer, and spending time with his family.