Today we’d like to introduce you to Tosin Akinnagbe.
Tosin Akinnagbe was born in Washington, DC to Nigerian immigrants. At the age of ten, he was identified as a Gifted and Talented child while attending public school. As is the case with many immigrant families, the necessary tools to develop a first-generation child’s aptitude in the home were lacking. Tosin found creative outlets for his talents, such as making cardboard money which allowed free washing machine services to his neighbors. Opening a competing school store and running it outside of his school locker, offering discounted and better quality products unavailable at the official School Store.
Tosin created his first company in 1991, at the age 11. A lawn care and all-season sole proprietorship that employed his childhood friends. To date, Tosin has started six small companies and helped launch four startups. After leaving his most recent position as Lead IT Technician at Relativity Space, an Aerospace Unicorn flying the world’s first 3Dprinted rocket, Tosin has launched Diaspora Farms.
What has served Tosin in his life has been his commitment to being a relentless advocate for the good in people. Tosin’s career has taken him to unique positions at unique times in human history, allowing him to contribute with revolutionary companies such as Apple, Bloomberg, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Energy Now Networks – owned by Chesapeake Energy, and Aerospace Startup Relativity Space. As is the story with many young entrepreneurs, Tosin has held many jobs, roles, and titles in his life. To date, he has held over 50 jobs affording him a wide and rich bed of knowledge that he has been able to apply successfully towards new and future-forward companies.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have bootstrapped the entire process and paid for everything in Diaspora by ourselves that has limited our ability to expand and slows our ability to complete certain objectives. As is with every Diaspora, we acclimated, learned, and found a way through. Our White label approach is a classic example of this. The White-labeling model is relatively new to cannabis and has been our approach for launch. As we increase revenue and resources, we expand our footprint nationally and position ourselves for THC licensing.
As Diaspora is a new “Black-owned” brand we find organizations that are open and celebrate this fact and others that politely decline to work with us. We are very adamant that Diaspora Farms a Black-owned businesses DOES NOT convey ever “Black-only”!
We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I started my first company at age 11 and have held over 50 jobs in my lifetime. As a Technologist, I would go into an organization as 1 of 2 people or part of a specialist team to facilitate the scale-up of Startups. I have had the opportunity to work for incredibly unique and global companies such as Apple, Bloomberg, Fisher Scientific, and recently startup unicorn Relativity Space. I originally joined Apple in 2007 to help launch the iPhone and the mobile revolution. After being with Apple in the DC area for a few years, I joined a think tank in Washington, DC that focused on new green technology such as (Tesla)electric cars that were then on the rise.
I ventured to California in 2018 to help scale up a space startup, Relativity Space, as their second IT employee and their first African American employee.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I truly feel this moment in time and history is making me happy. I was born for this moment, this cultural awakening that we all are collectively having globally really makes me happy. I am a believer that if we do not own and address our past, we will never truly heal from it. I love building and creating and in that vein very much enjoy helping and supporting other humans. I’m a natural tinkerer and creative thinker. Creating something and the ability to have those things come to life now and have other people celebrate them and really connect to them has me overjoyed. I am a huge traveler and appreciate that we all come from other cultures. I love being immersed and learning about those cultures and our common bonds.
Contact Info:
- Email: tosin@diasporafarms.com
- Website: www.diasporafarms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diasporafarms
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diasporafarms
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiasporaFarms
Image Credits
Tosin Akinnagbe
