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Passionate about building his own business, Seyi came to the U.S. from Nigeria on a student visa, earning his master’s degree in New York.
Passionate about building his own business, Seyi came to the U.S. from Nigeria on a student visa, earning his master’s degree in New York. He discovered Tulsa through the Techstar Accelerator and began exploring opportunities to build his dream business—a career accelerator for gamers—with help from the inTulsa Visa Network.
What led you to Tulsa?
I came to the U.S. from Nigeria as a student in the fall of 2021 and lived in New York City to earn my master's degree at Pace University. While I was doing that, I was building my gaming company, Gamr, setting out to create opportunities for people who play video games to make money from doing so. Because I could not build this business in the U.S. at the time (on my student visa), we launched it back home in Nigeria. After I graduated, I applied to the Build in Tulsa Techstars Accelerator, and I got selected. That's what moved me to Tulsa.
What was it like arriving in Tulsa from abroad?
I originally lived in Lagos, Nigeria, which population-wise has 23 million people in a very packed, congested space. It was similar to New York, but with three times more people and maybe two times less the infrastructure. When I applied to Techstars, at first I wondered, “Wait, where is Tulsa? Where's Oklahoma?” But I did some research, and I realized Tulsa is this little diamond just hiding in the middle of almost nowhere.
I came for a visit to check it out for myself. I heard about Tulsa Remote very quickly from the Uber driver who picked me up at the Tulsa International Airport, which I found interesting. I can imagine what Tulsa is going to be like a decade from now as it grows. This is a city that definitely has potential to grow, because there are a lot of people, city government officials, and nonprofits making efforts to do so. And I'm a beneficiary of that through the entrepreneurship route.
How did you find out about inTulsa’s Visa Network program?
After the Techstar Accelerator program wrapped up, I saw that the Build in Tulsa network had a program to help businesses like Gamr expand. At that point, I couldn't build a business for the U.S. because of my visa status, but I had a good starting point to import what we've done in Nigeria. So I applied to Build in Tulsa and I got accepted. I knew I needed to learn how to transition myself to be permanently in the U.S. I was talking about this with Tamara at Build in Tulsa, and she connected me with Stan at inTulsa’s Visa Network. He helped me through their five-step process from discovery, resume review, experience, what I intend to do, and then talking with their larger team, and I got accepted into the inTulsa Visa Network.
What have you enjoyed about participating in the Visa Network?
I want to give a huge shout out to everyone! First, I’m grateful to God for directing me here. Looking back now, I realize a lot of things have happened pretty quickly on my journey. I want to shout out the Build in Tulsa team, the TechStar team, the different support groups and individuals who have helped me. Stan and his team at the inTulsa Visa Network are hosting me in this opportunity, and I'm grateful to be selected to be here. As an entrepreneur, the journey is not always easy, and there are definitely a lot of ups and downs. But it’s worth it when you see where you want to go to surround yourself with people who are your champions and putting in the right places to succeed. The Visa Network is a big part of that.
What does your business, Gamr, do? What is its mission?
We are a career accelerator for gamers. First, we host tournaments where gamers can compete for money, and we've paid over $300,000 in prizes for over 2,000 gamers so far. We also train these gamers to build additional talent to place them in real-time jobs outside gaming. For example, there’s a direct path from being a gamer to being an air traffic controller. The Federal Aviation Authority has their training facility in Oklahoma for air traffic controllers, and they are hiring gamers because it's a job that requires intense focus for long periods of time, which gamers do well. There’s a shortage of air traffic controllers—about 3,000 jobs to be filled—so we’re having a huge conversation around that.
The military—Air Force, Navy—are also hiring gamers. Gaming is a huge activity in the defense world and with a lot of the people who serve the country. There are also new opportunities in robotics and AI and government, even with companies and institutions that want to gamify experiences for their customers. There's a lot of transition even in the gaming industry itself. These are the things that we want to solve for, as a career accelerator for gamers.
What is your role at Gamr, and what do you love about what you do?
I'm the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, leading the entire infrastructure technology product roadmap and the vision we're building. I handle everything when it comes to technology strategy, looking for new ways to continuously optimize for our customers. My role is to position us from an opportunity point of view and also from a cutting-edge technology point of view, in such a way that we don't fall behind. I watch what is changing, what is coming up in the world of technology, and plan how we can adapt and continuously position the business to prosper and be successful.
The other thing I do is I’m at the heart of being the expansion manager here in the U.S. Right now, we have a team of 30 people, all of them in Nigeria. I'm looking forward to hiring people here in Tulsa to join me as we continuously explore this market and use Tulsa as a point of contact to reach out to other states. I love having conversations with industry professionals, experts in this space, and exchanging ideas.
As an entrepreneur, what makes Tulsa a unique place to grow a business like Gamr?
A lot of gaming and entertainment is currently centered on the coasts—California, Texas, New York and the like. It will be good to have something specifically for Tulsa, Oklahoma. What I quickly did when I started here was to engage with the universities—TU, OU, OSU—to get a sense of what gaming programs they have, see how many people are interested in that, and how we can keep those talents here. And so there's a couple of things that I'm asking myself. A
What do you enjoy most about living in Tulsa?
I definitely love walking. I live downtown, so I enjoy walking and looking at the scenery. There are new things I'm discovering all the time. I’ve done some climbing at Turkey Mountain, which was pretty interesting, and it’s accessible from where I live. Nearer to me is Guthrie Green and the Arts District, and I like the activities that happen there. I enjoy Tulsa’s cool, vintage, retro coffee shops, where I go to sometimes to work.
It's pretty cool just meeting people in general. And interestingly, what I like most is just the people. Tulsa has a very diverse set of people from different places and experiences. I really connect with older people who have experienced life. I also volunteer as much as I can. I’ve done some volunteer work with the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance as a coach helping people navigate their career paths as people who play video games, scoring robotics exhibitions, and more. I also volunteer in the Global District serving East Tulsa, particularly people from Hispanic backgrounds and immigrants, talking to them about entrepreneurship, because a lot of them are small business owners and using technologies. I'm very big on using my own journey and experience to help others look at how to implement technology in their business.
What would you tell people who are thinking about coming to Tulsa and starting a business here?
Tulsa is a diamond still hidden and in need of more publicity, and I'm excited to promote it. There's an opportunity here to build a business, even for those outside the U.S. who are looking to move into the U.S. You can make Tulsa your landing spot. There are programs here that give you an opportunity to be focused and in an environment that is supportive. Rather than going to a bigger city where there's just so much competition and opportunities are diffused, you can basically validate your products or the service you're building inTulsa, and then expand.
On the business side, I encourage people to explore entrepreneurship, because we need more jobs, and jobs are created through entrepreneurship. Tulsa has a very interesting environment for this. We’ve won huge grants to build out the verticals that will position the city and the state well in the future. Use the resources and opportunities to validate your concept and grow from there.
