Canada’s tech ecosystem is growing fast, but for many small and medium businesses, turning digital ideas into reality is still a challenge. Bridging strategy and execution in a way that actually works requires not just technical skill, but vision, creativity, and a deep understanding of how technology can serve people and businesses.
Temitope Benson is quietly redefining that bridge. A product strategist and digital innovator, he helps Canadian businesses transform ideas into impactful digital solutions through Swash Digital, a Calgary-based digital consulting agency.
At the intersection of AI acceleration and zero-party data collection, his team is helping FMCG brands reduce cost-per-insight by up to 60% while preparing for Canada’s privacy-first future.
In this interview, Temitope shared his journey from arriving in Canada with a small family to building a thriving digital agency that empowers organizations through AI-driven tools, effectively bridging strategy and execution in the Canadian business landscape.
Q: Temitope, can you tell us how Swash Digital began and what it was like starting your journey in Canada?
I landed in Canada in 2021 with my small family, and navigating jobs and settling down was a great learning curve. Being a product expert and helping businesses thrive digitally, I realized I could flip that into a full-blown business.
So I took the leap, registered Swash Digital, and since then we’ve worked on digital projects, product development, and ideas for not-for-profits and small businesses — you name it. Canada gave me the opportunity, and I was determined to make the most of it.
Q: What will you say is the differentiating factor between Swash Digital and other digital agencies in Canada?
Fundamentally, our leadership is built on the experiences of individuals with at least a decade in digital technology. Personally, I have over 15 years of product management experience across industries and countries. Then the engineering side of Swash Digital is also deeply vast with core expertise of at least a decade through multiple industries.
In Lagos, we built MarTech platforms and MVAS solutions for telcos serving 2M+ users, where mobile data was expensive and user attention was measured in seconds. That teaches you ruthless efficiency because every kilobyte and every tap matters.
Our philosophy is simply driven by the idea that technology is meant to make life easier for people and businesses. And it is based on this ideology that we have designed Swash Digital to not just be a digital consulting agency, but at our core, product-centric and user-centric. We are very mindful of delivering products to users thoughtfully, considering both current functionality and scalability.
We also believe the dynamics of consulting and the ecosystem are changing. You don’t need as many people to deliver as much result as you would have two, three, or four years ago. So we focus on operational efficiency and how we can achieve maximum value with minimal effort. This shift has greatly enhanced our efficiency and how we deliver solutions.
Q: You talk about being “product-centric.” What does that actually mean when AI is involved? Doesn’t AI make product management obsolete?
It makes it more critical. AI can generate code, but it can’t ask: “Will this architecture support 100K users without a rebuild?” That’s product thinking.
Our clients come to us after an agency built them a “chatbot” that works for 10 users but hallucinates at scale. We had to rebuild the data architecture because the original design treated AI as a feature, not a core component. Product management ensures AI solves the right problem the right way.
For example, when we built Swash Engage’s AI recommendation engine, we could have just plugged into GPT-5o. Instead, we designed a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system that only pulls from verified brand content. That one design decision reduced hallucinations by 91%.
Q: Having embraced AI-accelerated development, how do you ensure speed never compromises quality?
At Swash Digital, we use AI to speed up development, but we never let it operate alone. There’s always strong human oversight and product reasoning. AI can only build what it’s told, so our job is to guide it, think ahead, and ensure the solutions we create are scalable, ethical, and genuinely solve the problem.
Anybody can use AI to develop an app, but not everybody can truly create a product with AI. Our strong product experience ensures we stay rooted. For example, when we built the volunteer portal for SERV Food Bank using our product-first approach, we designed every workflow to anticipate real volunteer needs, from scheduling to document verification.
The system is projected to reduce onboarding time by over 80% based on workflow automation, but we’re still collecting live performance data to validate those projections. That’s the level of intentionality we bring — we don’t just ship features; we build for measurable impact.
Q: Can you share more about Swash Engage and why it became a flagship product?
The idea for Swash Engage emerged when an FMCG client told us “We’re spending millions on ads but still don’t know what our customers actually want.” They had purchased third-party data that was 40% inaccurate and facing iOS privacy headwinds.
Swash Engage is a zero-party data engagement platform disguised as gamified quizzes and rewards. Instead of tracking consumers, we ask them about preferences through trivia, challenges, and instant-win mechanics. Consumers share their breakfast habits, flavor profiles, and purchase triggers willingly because they get value — points, rewards, entertainment.
The architecture was built for scalability: a sports federation used it for fan engagement, then a beverage brand saw the same platform could collect 20+ preference signals per user. We added modules for rewards redemption, AI-driven segmentation, and CRM integration. Now, Swash Engage serves both contexts without rebuilding from scratch.
Early metrics from our beta FMCG client: 12,000 enriched profiles collected in 6 weeks at $2.10 per complete profile versus $4.50 through traditional lead gen. Email open rates from our data: 34% versus 18% from purchased lists.
Q: So how does AI integration work on Swash Engage?
The AI aspect is mostly in data analytics and automation. Swash Engage can automatically segment users based on engagement, suggest personalized content, and forecast attendance and revenue based on historical data. That reduces manual effort and gives organizers actionable insights. But again, everything is overseen by humans to ensure accuracy and ethical use.
As mentioned before, we are very deliberate about AI ethics and security. Any automation, AI-driven insights, or predictions we deploy are double-checked by our team. We don’t fully trust AI to make decisions that affect people without human oversight.
All AI processing runs on Microsoft Azure’s Canadian regions, ensuring PIPEDA compliance and data residency. We’re actively pursuing Microsoft partnership certification because Azure’s responsible AI tooling gives us audit trails that build enterprise trust.
Beyond Swash Engage, we’ve also applied the same product thinking and user-centered approach to other solutions for Canadian organizations.
Q: You’ve positioned Swash Engage for FMCG brands, but the platform also serves other sectors. How does that work without losing focus?
The secret is zero-party data collection is universal, but activation is vertical-specific.
A sports federation uses Swash Engage to learn fan preferences (which merch, which events, which channels). An FMCG brand uses it to understand purchase drivers (flavors, price points, competitor usage). The data collection engine is identical; the quiz content and AI segmentation models are tailored.
Come January 2026, we’re releasing our FMCG Accelerator Module with pre-built templates for CPG brands: flavor profile quizzes, purchase journey mapping, and retail channel preferences. That focus lets us serve one vertical deeply while the core architecture remains horizontal.
Q: What about the volunteer management portal for NGOs?
The Covid-19 pandemic drove demand for volunteers, and NGOs needed a better way to manage them because existing tools were either outdated or not user-friendly.
We built a system where volunteers can sign up, get screened, and log hours, while admins have full overview and control. It’s simple, efficient, and really makes a difference for Canadian not-for-profits.
Q: Where do you see Swash Digital in the next three to five years?
For me, it’s about impact—seeing digital solutions not just exist, but truly make someone’s life easier. I also want to create opportunities through jobs, learning, and mentorship, using technology to lift both businesses and individuals.
Our goal is to bridge gaps in talent and digital delivery using AI, while expanding flagship products like Swash Engage, the management portal, and others in view. Beyond serving clients, we’re exploring licensing and partnerships in other countries so the solutions we build can reach wider markets.
Q: Calgary’s tech scene is competitive. What makes Swash Digital’s approach possible now versus five years ago?
Two forces converged: AI commoditization and privacy regulations.
Five years ago, building AI required specialized data science teams. Now, Azure’s ML Ops and OpenAI’s APIs democratize the tech. The moat isn’t the algorithm but the product framework that activates it correctly.
Simultaneously, PIPEDA and iOS privacy changes killed third-party data. Brands must collect zero-party data now. We spent 6 years perfecting how to do that at scale. The market need finally caught up with our capability.
Our 2027 projection is 50,000+ consumers engaging monthly with Swash Engage-powered quizzes, generating 5–7 million zero-party data points for Canadian brands. That’s a data moat no competitor can replicate overnight.
Looking Ahead: Impact, Innovation, and Opportunities
As the world continues to turn its attention toward innovation and AI-driven solutions, Temitope’s journey shows that vision, creativity, and strategic execution can converge to create meaningful impact in a new country. Through Swash Digital, his team is building platforms that connect brands to people, organizations to volunteers, and talent to opportunity.
For FMCG brands needing consumer insights without privacy liability, and organizations ready to own their customer relationships; Swash Digital offers a zero-party data platform that’s already collecting 20+ signals per user. Review our case studies or schedule a data strategy session.
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