The boy who chose shoes over code. — Yinka Atunde, a computer science graduate of Babcock University, saw his plans change in 2015 when delays to the NYSC programme gave him time to rethink his next steps. — Instead of tech, he followed his love for design. He travelled to Italy for a shoemaking course with placements in Italian factories, then toured factories in China, where the pace was faster and more commercial. —Then came the move that shocked everyone at home: back in Nigeria in 2015, he took a manual job in a local shoe factory, to the dismay of his family. From fashion shoes to safety boots — Yikodeen started in 2016 making fashion shoes, then a police contract pointed it toward safety footwear. Work on safety boots began in 2018, but certification and COVID slowed things down. — The big break? Saipem, the Italian oil-services firm, tested the boots and started ordering in 2022, proving a Nigerian maker could meet strict safety standards. — Local content helped too: Yikodeen is one of the few domestic manufacturers certified by NCDMB to supply safety footwear to the oil and gas sector. Regulation did the rest. — Lagos State Safety Commission now inspects even small construction sites, where workers once wore flip-flops. Demand got so heavy that they had to reject all military footwear orders for lack of capacity. Enter the money — Aruwa Capital @AruwaCapital invested $1.5 million from its Fund II as sole investor, to buy equipment that would take capacity 10x to 2,500 pairs a day, grow corporate sales and improve efficiency. — The investor's logic is worth noting: many of Yikodeen's corporate clients pay in dollars, a natural hedge against naira depreciation. — Aruwa has since led a follow-on round, with the company adding an upgraded plant and specialised lines for electrical and water-hazard environments. Ten years on Yikodeen claims over five million pairs in ten years and capacity of 5,000 pairs daily from a 120,000 sq ft factory in Ejigbo, Lagos.