Abiola Taylor
Suffolk,VA
Summary
Corporate innovation and product strategy leader with 14+ years of experience helping organizations shape innovation vision, interpret emerging technologies, and turn customer needs, business processes, and operational challenges into practical business outcomes. Partner with business leaders, clients, stakeholders, engineering teams, and technology leadership to guide commercialization strategy, improve digital products, identify workflow friction, support end-to-end project delivery, reduce rework and risk, and move work from ambiguity to execution. Background spans defense, education technology, venture development, enterprise operations, and digital transformation, with experience building products, advising founders, developing business cases, monitoring progress, and creating disciplined systems that improve decision-making, value creation, and delivery predictability. Known for combining business acumen, consulting-style problem solving, digital technology fluency, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams through disciplined, outcome-focused innovation work.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Co-Founder
Venture Navigator
07.2025 - Current
- Co-founded Venture Navigator, an evidence-based venture development platform that helps founders, mentors, and program leaders structure venture progress, evaluate readiness, and make clearer decisions from submitted evidence, milestones, and business signals.
- Designed the venture development operating model and innovation operating rhythm, including structured journeys, phase gates, embedded mentor reviews, evidence submission workflows, and readiness signals that move opportunities from identification to prioritization, clearer decisions, and measurable progress.
- Launched the Navigator Mentorship Lab as an applied pilot environment to test Venture Navigator’s structured innovation model with founders and small business owners, using quests, evidence reviews, and mentor feedback to improve decision clarity, customer engagement, and venture readiness.
- Translating National Science Foundation Mid-Atlantic I-Corps commercialization and application-preparation processes into a Venture Navigator journey, using structured analysis, process dissection, and swimlane design to define phases, evidence checkpoints, stakeholder handoffs, and founder progression workflows for research-based ventures.
- Developed frameworks to help innovation programs identify venture blind spots, assess readiness, prioritize intervention areas, monitor progress, communicate decision context, and improve support beyond narrative updates and scattered progress reports.
Innovation & Product Strategy Lead | Business Analyst
Emprise Corporation
Chesapeake, VA
11.2022 - Current
- Partner with the CEO, business leaders, and technology stakeholders to shape innovation, commercialization, and market expansion strategy, including a commercialization playbook that defined innovation priorities, operating rhythm, stakeholder handoffs, ownership transitions, and accountability points for moving opportunities from concept to execution.
- Translate business priorities into actionable product, market, and technology initiatives by connecting strategic goals with customer needs, business processes, enterprise operations, internal capabilities, delivery constraints, risk considerations, and measurable outcomes.
- Work within a cross-organization modernization team serving a U.S. federal maritime customer, partnering with business, client, subject matter expert, Scrum, and engineering stakeholders to translate operational needs into system improvements, integration priorities, product enhancements, and delivery-ready requirements.
- Analyze end-to-end project delivery workflows and enterprise operations, including stakeholder handoffs, system constraints, and recurring pain points, to support delivery excellence, risk reduction, clearer requirements, improved sequencing, and more predictable solution delivery.
- Support commercialization planning and business case development for SaaS-based maritime/logbook solutions, including market research, customer engagement, regulatory positioning, financial modeling, return on investment analysis, go-to-market planning, KPI frameworks, and product direction.
- Identified two new market segments with more than $65M in potential annual revenue by connecting customer pain points, compliance requirements, operational inefficiencies, risk reduction opportunities, and cost-saving needs to product strategy.
- Supported AI-enabled workflow automation and digital infrastructure improvements, including a 20TB AWS S3 migration that contributed to 32% storage cost reduction and 40% faster feature velocity.
Business Mentor
SCORE
Williamsburg, VA
04.2025 - Current
- Advise founders and small business owners on business model refinement, customer discovery, capital readiness, product/service positioning, and operational decision-making.
- Use structured mentoring methods to help clients clarify assumptions, test market opportunities, prioritize next steps, and translate broad goals into practical execution plans.
Digital Transformation Strategist, Education Upgrade Program
DAWN Commission
Ibadan, Nigeria
04.2020 - 09.2022
- Led consulting-style analysis of business processes and coordinated a multi-state digital transformation blueprint to improve education delivery across six states, aligning stakeholder engagement, technology investments, and implementation priorities around measurable service improvement goals.
- Assembled and coordinated a cross-industry ecosystem of banks, telecommunications providers, education technology firms, public agencies, and implementation partners to support scalable digital transformation.
- Facilitated policy and stakeholder alignment across government and partner organizations, accelerating rollout planning, adoption readiness, and execution coordination.
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Operations
Mobitutor Systems
Lagos, Nigeria
05.2015 - 01.2022
- Co-founded and scaled an education technology venture, leading product development, operations, partnerships, customer discovery, and commercialization strategy from concept through market adoption.
- Conducted user interviews, design sprints, lean experiments, prototypes, and A/B tests that identified teachers and administrators as the primary growth lever, contributing to 35% retention lift and 50% revenue growth.
- Scaled SmartTrybe Junior to 20K users by Year 2 through iterative product improvements, onboarding strategy, partnership execution, and data-driven growth planning.
- Implemented product-led growth OKRs, funnel dashboards, and cohort analysis to monitor progress, improve customer engagement, prioritize business initiatives, and support revenue growth.
Product Innovation & Digital Learning Contributor
ICT4E / Opon-Imo Initiative
01.2012 - 04.2015
- Contributed to an ICT-enabled education initiative launched in 2012, supporting digital learning access, product development, stakeholder engagement, and education transformation efforts.
- Helped advance a digital learning solution later recognized through WSIS Award recognition and UNESCO endorsement for innovation and replication potential.
Education
Master of Management - Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Pennsylvania State University — Smeal College of Business
05-2025
Graduate Certificate - Digital Transformation
Dartmouth College
10-2022
Bachelor of Science - Sociology
University of Ibadan
02-2007
Skills
- Innovation Vision, Roadmap & Operating Rhythm
- Emerging Technologies, AI, Automation & Analytics
- Project Delivery Improvement & Workflow Analysis
- Business Process Dissection & Structured Problem Definition
- Business Case Development, Return on Investment & Value Realization
- Customer Engagement & Stakeholder Influence
- Competitive Differentiation & Market Expansion
- Portfolio-Level Decision Support & Progress Monitoring
Certification
Product School- Product Management Certification (PMC)
Product School- Product Leader Certification (PLC)
Product School- Product Marketing Manager Certification (PMMC)
Product School- AI Product Certification (AIPC)
Product School- Product Growth Certification (PGC)
Timeline
Co-Founder
Venture Navigator
07.2025 - Current
Business Mentor
SCORE
04.2025 - Current
Innovation & Product Strategy Lead | Business Analyst
Emprise Corporation
11.2022 - Current
Digital Transformation Strategist, Education Upgrade Program
DAWN Commission
04.2020 - 09.2022
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Operations
Mobitutor Systems
05.2015 - 01.2022
Product Innovation & Digital Learning Contributor
ICT4E / Opon-Imo Initiative
01.2012 - 04.2015
Graduate Certificate - Digital Transformation
Dartmouth College
Bachelor of Science - Sociology
University of Ibadan
Master of Management - Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Pennsylvania State University — Smeal College of Business
Selected Recognition
WSIS Award for Innovation — Key contributor to an ICT4E initiative launched in 2012 and later recognized at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society for excellence in digital transformation., UNESCO Endorsement — Educational e-learning product endorsed for potential replication and adaptation, demonstrating global relevance and innovation potential., Graduation with Highest Achievement — Penn State Smeal College of Business, Master of Management, Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Awards
WSIS Award for Innovation (2013) – Key contributor to an ICT4E solution recognized at the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society for Innovation.
UNESCO Endorsement (2014) – Educational e-learning product (Opon-Imo) endorsed by UNESCO for potential replication and adaptation, demonstrating global impact.