Abu Theodore Maxwell Rogers
AI-Native Product Designer & Product Strategist | Zero-to-One Specialist
Freetown, Sierra Leone · Remote (GMT, overlaps EU fully and US East mornings) · Open to relocation · +232 74 637 247 · theodorerogers10@gmail.com · linkedin.com/in/atmr
Professional Summary
Product designer and strategic PM who ships end-to-end products by pairing product judgment with AI-native execution: directing agentic tooling through implementation while owning architecture, design, and strategy, with the method written down in public as I go. Over 4+ years I've helped launch products serving 20,000+ users across fintech, civic tech, edtech, and government platforms, including a platform now rolling out as Sierra Leone's national employment platform with VP endorsement.
I design for real conditions: thin infrastructure, unreliable connectivity, and the hardware people actually own. The habits that kind of building teaches don't stay local, and they're the same ones I'd bring to a remote team or a frontier lab. In 2026 my essay on why open AI models still exclude the phones most of the world carries won DEV's Gemma 4 writing challenge, their most participated to date. I'm drawn to early-stage teams where a designer-PM hybrid can own the zero-to-one. The product doesn't have to be medicine, either. Some of what I build solves hard problems for people who depend on it, and some of it exists purely to make someone's day better, and I take both kinds seriously. What matters is that the thing is interesting to build and that people actually use it. I do my best work in lean teams that run on autonomy and product thinking rather than hierarchy.
Experience
- Led the end-to-end redesign of Sensebod, an AI-powered learning platform for secondary students, covering product strategy, UX architecture, and interface design for web and mobile.
- Collaborated with engineering and education teams to integrate AI-driven tutoring, gamification, and offline-first features, expanding the platform across Sierra Leonean schools.
- Product Manager for Bounty Platform: launched from concept to 1,900+ users, 1,226+ submissions, and $33,000+ distributed; the platform evolved into “Future of Work,” Sierra Leone's national employment platform launching with VP endorsement.
- PM for Mocha fintech startup: led product strategy and design with a 4-person team to $2.1M cumulative transaction volume across 5,189+ transactions with 2,233% volume growth; personally implemented the cross-border payments MVP site (currently raising pre-seed).
- PM for blockchain IP registry: led discovery and design through MVP, securing Administrator and Registrar General interest for national IP registration adoption.
- Managed 4 zero-to-one products concurrently, including a blockchain savings app, building core mobile flows while coordinating engineering integrations.
- Ran a weekly product education series: 15+ workshops, 30+ teaching hours, 350+ participants, plus quarterly newsletters to a 1,900+ member community.
- Co-founded the studio with a frontend engineer; ship several products end to end alone by directing agentic AI tooling (Claude Code, MCP servers) through implementation while owning architecture, design, and product strategy.
- Current flagship products: Orient, an on-device AI study companion built on open edge models to run offline on mid-range phones, and Watin Go, an offline-first expense tracker for users without reliable connectivity.
- Built and shipped the Chapter One Guest Management System, a digital ordering, reservation, and venue management platform in active production use with a hospitality client.
- Designed and launched 10+ client websites across finance, mining, logistics, and legal sectors, generating 20,000+ active users and 50,000+ Google Maps views through local SEO.
- Established design systems and security-hardened agentic development workflows enabling rapid, reliable deployment.
- Designed citizen-facing digital services for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies within the Data and Innovations team.
- Led end-to-end design for Lan 4 Vote, a voter education app for Sierra Leone's 2023 national elections; mentored junior designers and standardized design workflows.
- MeDomot (Waste management, Freetown): Designed two mobile apps digitizing waste collection in Freetown, used by 700+ collectors and 300+ citizens; designs supported the company's winning bid for the citywide digitization contract.
- Akaani (Nigeria & New York): Designed the complete mobile MVP, waitlist site, and positioning for an African diaspora food marketplace.
Skills
AI-Native Development: Claude Code, agentic workflows, MCP servers, AI-assisted implementation, on-device AI (LiteRT, open edge models), prompt and context engineering
Design: Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Webflow, Flutterflow, Framer, wireframing, prototyping, design systems
Research: User research, usability testing, stakeholder interviews, A/B testing, journey mapping
Product: Strategy, roadmap planning, cross-functional leadership, agile, analytics, documentation
Development: HTML/CSS, frontend collaboration, MVP development, no-code and AI-assisted platforms
Web3: Smart-contract integration, Web3 UX design, cryptocurrency payments, RWAs
Education
BSc Software Engineering with Multimedia — Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Sierra Leone, 2018–2024.
Certifications
- Claude Code in Action — Anthropic
- Claude 101 — Anthropic
- AI Fluency Framework and Foundations — Anthropic
- Figma Academy — Advanced Design Systems & Prototyping
Awards, Speaking & Writing
- Winner, DEV Gemma 4 Writing Challenge (2026), their most participated to date; essay on open AI models and hardware exclusion in frontier markets: dev.to/thelonewulf_wa
- Winner, SL Economic Diversification Project & World Bank Hackathon (2022); 1st Runner-up, Digital Tourism Hackathon (2021)
- TEDx Speaker on frontier technology adoption (2022); Panelist, AI & Technology Masterclass (YouthConnekt MRU Forum, 2026)
- Instructor, AI for Start-ups (Orange SL Foundation, 2026), three-week intensive, 30 founders, 17 presentations; Trainer, AI for Corporate Productivity (Ecobank, 2025); Co-Trainer, AI for Digital Freelancers (ITC READY Salone, 2025), 60+ freelancers
- Panelist, Digital Freelancing & Gig Economy (ITC READY Salone, 2025); 15+ community workshops, 30+ hours, 350+ students
- Host, Troubled Detective tech podcast; published writer on AI in frontier markets and agentic development workflows (Substack, dev.to)