Mary Mmoh: How Struggling With Branding Pushed Me In Build 25+ AI Tools

I didn’t get into tech because I had a master plan. I didn’t start out dreaming of building artificial intelligence tools or becoming a solo founder running an entire business with systems I created myself. My journey started from something far less glamorous: a weakness I couldn’t hide.

For years, I worked as a web designer in Nigeria. I excelled at the technical aspects, including troubleshooting, structuring websites, managing tools and understanding how various components connected. That part came naturally. But branding? Graphics? Visual identity? Those were my blind spots. I would design a beautiful website, but the logo wouldn’t land. The colours wouldn’t align. My layouts lacked the visual punch clients wanted.

One day, everything changed when a client said it plainly: “You’re very good with the technical work, but branding and graphics are not your strength.” It was honest, obvious feedback, but it stung in a way I didn’t expect. I felt exposed.

But something shifted in me that day. I didn’t want to stay limited. I didn’t want to be “the smart technical person who can’t design.” I didn’t want to build half-good work anymore. So I turned to AI.

What started as a simple attempt to fix one problem became the beginning of a completely new life. The first tool I built was a website mockup generator, so I wouldn’t struggle with layouts anymore. Then I built a brand identity generator because choosing colours and styles exhausted me. Then a social media post creator because I could never get my designs to look polished.

Every tool I built came from a frustration I had personally experienced. One tool became five. Five became ten. Ten became more than twenty-five.

Looking back, I didn’t realise I was building an entire AI ecosystem, one that would reshape my confidence and transform the way I worked. I didn’t set out to create “products.” I set out to survive.

I built a photo enhancer because many client images were of low quality. A landing page generator because making them manually took too long. A Facebook ads strategist, because writing ad copy from scratch drained me. A logo engine, because I wanted my own branding to finally look professional.

Little by little, I was solving my weaknesses with innovation. And without intending to, I was becoming a builder.

Meanwhile, a moment came that changed everything for me. The office I supported needed an attendance and stipend automation system. Their web developer quoted ₦1.7 million to build it, money I knew they didn’t have, because they had already stretched their budget on earlier projects.

I didn’t want to watch them pour resources they didn’t have into something I believed I could create myself. So I built the entire system on my own. I didn’t charge them a kobo. By doing that, I saved the office the entire ₦1.7 million.

That was the day I realised I wasn’t just building for myself anymore. I was building solutions that could save real money, reduce stress and make people’s work lives easier. I realised they weren’t small hacks or experiments. These are solutions with real impact.

Today, my entire business runs on an internal AI engine I built from scratch. What looks from the outside like a full agency, content creation, branding, mockups, marketing assets, workflows, is actually powered by the tools I created to help myself. People often assume there is a big team behind me. But there isn’t. It’s just me and my systems.

That is where my pride comes from, not in a boastful way, but in a grateful way. I didn’t grow up around tech founders. I didn’t have a roadmap. I didn’t have investors. I had limitations, but I turned them into innovation.

Being a female founder in Africa presents its own unique set of challenges. You’re often underestimated before you speak. People assume you need permission before taking bold steps. The tech world doesn’t expect you to build, maybe to participate, but not to create.

So it is powerful when a woman decides to solve problems for herself. My journey into AI wasn’t about trying to impress anyone. It was about survival, resilience and making peace with the fact that growth sometimes begins with discomfort. It was about admitting what I couldn’t do, and then building the tools I needed to rise above it.

If my story says anything, I hope it is this: Your weaknesses are not the end of your journey. They might be the beginning of something extraordinary. If one woman, working alone in Nigeria, can build over two dozen AI tools from real struggles, imagine what millions of African entrepreneurs could do with access, systems, and the courage to try.

I’m still learning. Still building. Still evolving. I didn’t plan this path, but I’m grateful for every moment I felt inadequate, every difficult piece of feedback, and every frustration that pushed me to innovate. Those moments didn’t break me. They built me. And they taught me something I will never forget:

Sometimes, the thing you’re weakest at is the very thing that will unlock your power.