Nudge of the Week: Hammed Kayode Alabi
This week we spoke to Hammed Kayode Alabi, Social Entrepreneur, Storyteller, and Founder of Rafiki AI.
Hammed didn’t expect Nudge to surprise him. By the time he joined, he had already participated in many leadership programmes. But something felt different from the start. “There was a sense of openness, people showed up fully, with vulnerability. That stayed with me.”
What he took away wasn’t a framework or a single insight, but something more lasting. “I left with stories,” he says. “And I still carry them with me.” For Hammed, that’s where the real impact lies. “We often underestimate the power of stories; our own, and those of others. At Nudge, there was space to reflect on that. To sit with different perspectives, even disagreement, and really understand the complexity behind impact and leadership.”
That complexity became an important lesson. “Sometimes we try to simplify problems that are not simple. But real change asks us to stay with that complexity, to grapple with it, rather than reduce it.”
What shifted most was how he relates to others. “It made me more receptive to people’s experiences and cultures. When you truly listen, you create space for connection. And that changes how you move through the world, with more kindness, more respect.”
That mindset is visible in his work today.
Hammed is the founder of Rafiki AI, a generative AI platform providing career guidance to underserved and displaced youth. What started as an idea is now used by thousands of people across more than 60 countries, helping young people access opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
At the same time, he continues to build on-the-ground initiatives, including transforming an abandoned building in a rural community in Lagos into an innovation centre. A space where young people can learn digital skills, explore AI, and shape their own futures.
For Hammed, this work is a response to the world as it is. “It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, to think you can’t do anything. But for me, creation is a way of responding. Creation is a form of rebellion. You can protest, and that matters. But you can also build. You can create something that shifts reality, even in a quiet way.”
Looking back, Nudge was one of the spaces that made that way of thinking possible. A place to pause, reflect, and connect. To realise that change doesn’t always start with answers, but with the stories we choose to listen to, and the ones we decide to act on.
Stories like Hammed’s show what can happen when people from different disciplines and generations come together around a shared mission. Curious what your next step with Nudge could look like? Explore the NextNudge programme.
This is poem that Hammed wrote during the Nudge programme, and he shared with the group on the last day.