I saw an opportunity and took the bet as a third year law student.
In my third year of law school I kept watching talented people around me apply to remote roles they were qualified for and never hear back. The opportunities existed, they were simply not reaching the people who needed them. I decided to build the bridge myself rather than wait for someone else to.
The opportunity
Remote hiring had gone global, but discovery was still local. African professionals were competing for the same handful of visible roles while hundreds of genuinely remote friendly companies were hiring quietly. I did not have engineering resources or funding. What I had was a clear read of the audience and the willingness to start with the smallest useful version of the product.
How I built it
I built and launched the first version of the platform myself on WordPress, because I wanted the product in front of real people while the problem was still fresh. I curated the roles, wrote the weekly newsletter and watched how members actually behaved. As the platform grew I worked directly with engineering on product improvements, translating what members struggled with into changes we shipped: clearer job discovery, a smoother onboarding flow and a premium experience that earned its price. Feedback from more than 500 members decided the roadmap, and analytics showed me exactly where people were dropping off before subscribing so I could fix those steps one at a time.
How I advocated for it
I did not only build the product, I argued for the cause behind it. I advocated publicly for fair access to global work for African professionals, and I collaborated with career platforms, technology communities and government backed employment programmes to widen job access. Those partnerships put our roles in front of people who would never have found us through search, and they gave the platform credibility that no advertisement could have bought.
How it grew
Zero naira on paid marketing. Growth came from content people trusted, the partnerships I built with career, government and technology organisations, and members referring their friends. The platform reached more than 6,000 weekly users, more than 3 million monthly visits and a community of more than 100,000 people across 140 or more cities.
How it earns
I designed a tiered subscription model out of community feedback, and it lifted paid conversion and recurring revenue by 35 percent. I wrote onboarding guides that showed free members what the premium tier actually did for them, which increased engagement by 30 percent and cut churn by 15 percent.
What I learned
Distribution is a product problem. The features that mattered most were the ones that made a person feel confident enough to apply, and the growth that lasted came from teaching before selling.
Why I built Inclusively Remote
A ninety second pitch: the problem, the bet and what the product became.
What people said afterwards
Unedited messages from members of the community. Names and salaries are hidden out of respect for their privacy.
People I worked with
“Mary-Esther is the embodiment of professionalism. Collaborating with her across the globe has impacted our startup with her insights, organizational skills, proactiveness and personality.”
“Incredible passion and drive to solve problems across global hiring, DEI and more. Mary-Esther is self-motivated and definitely loves the work she does.”