Your Journey

My father passed away when I was four, which meant that although sports were a huge part of my childhood, I never had anyone there to watch me play. In 2011, my uncle came to my end-of-year school tournament, recorded a clip of me scoring a goal, and uploaded it to YouTube. Now, I can hear my mother, sister, and grandmother cheering me on for the rest of my life.

That single video changed everything for me. I used football as both an outlet and a source of focus - training two hours a day, often using our front door as a goal. I didn’t have access to an academy, a coach, or even someone to film my matches, but I learned early that moments like those shouldn’t be lost.

That’s why I created PLAYBACK — to become everyone’s “uncle.” Too many beautiful moments in sport go unseen, unrecorded, and uncelebrated. PLAYBACK ensures that every game, goal, and milestone can be captured, shared, and remembered.

PLAYBACK started by making footage-based technologies accessible to all - bridging the gap between professional-grade systems and community clubs. Today, we partner with global sports technology leaders to provide AI-powered cameras, highlights, analytics, and live streaming to organisations that previously couldn’t afford them. Our model allows clubs to access equipment for free, while players benefit from tools used by professionals at a fraction of the cost.

When we launched the PLAYBACK Academy Service, I decided to sponsor 200 scholarship players entirely free of charge. Within just 60 days, eight of them signed professional contracts - all because they finally had access to proper visibility. Parents often message us saying they were able to watch their child’s match from work thanks to our cameras. It might just be a camera to some, but to them, it’s a bridge - a way to feel present and connected. That’s exactly what my younger self would have wanted.

Of course, building PLAYBACK hasn’t been easy. Convincing organisations to trust a new model where we carry the financial and operational burdens took time. We had to develop revenue-sharing frameworks, ambassador programs, and new partnership models to overcome initial resistance and ensure sustainability. But through it all, our focus never changed: to give access, create opportunity, and make 9-year-old me proud.

What began as a simple idea to make sure no moment goes unseen has now evolved into a full ecosystem - a solutions aggregator providing software, financial, branding, and broadcasting tools to clubs, making PLAYBACK “the last partner a sports organisation will ever need.”

The Power of Community

During my time studying Computer Science at Queen Mary, I was juggling quite a few roles — working full-time at Amazon, serving as a director for two companies, and even demonstrating for eight courses. I expected people to tell me to focus more on academics, but instead, the Queen Mary community was incredibly supportive. They introduced me to mentors, programmes like QIncubator, and peers who helped me grow both academically and professionally. What stood out most, though, was how Queen Mary encouraged me to pay it forward.

Even after graduating, they continued to involve me in the ecosystem — inviting me to networking events, presenting me with the Alumni Entrepreneur Award, including me in panel discussions like the EECS Entrepreneurship Panel, and connecting me with opportunities to mentor current students and alumni. These experiences have allowed me to share my journey of building companies and to connect with the next generation of innovators.

Queen Mary’s approach truly embodies this year’s theme, “Together We Build.” It’s a community that doesn’t just celebrate individual success but fosters collaboration, mentorship, and continuous growth across generations of entrepreneurs.