Dr Addy Olubamiji has built businesses around something people cannot easily replicate: her experience.

With a PhD in engineering and a career that took her from Nigeria to Finland, Canada and the United States, Addy drew on her experience of navigating international education and career development to establish Pathfinder Consulting. What began as career coaching has expanded to include study abroad programmes and, more recently, consultancy for professionals interested in acquiring businesses and leaving corporate careers.

​However, as a founder-led business, its growth depends heavily on Addy herself.

​‘People trust me as an authority,’ she said. ‘When I talk, they listen.’

​With three content creators supporting her, the team needed a way to keep Addy at the centre of their content without requiring her to step into a studio constantly.

​HeyGen provided just that.

Keeping the founder in the content without filming constantly

Before HeyGen, Addy regularly filmed herself or booked professional studio sessions to produce content in batches.

Once a month, that could mean securing a studio, arranging the lighting, hiring someone to film her, travelling into the city and spending hours recording. But her team discovered something important about their audience: highly produced videos were not necessarily what encouraged people to listen.

'They don't even mind if I tie my hair up. Just tell us something,' Addy said. 'Whether I'm at the gym or simply out for a walk and talking, they'll still listen.'

The value lay in Addy’s perspective, not the production.

With HeyGen, her team can turn those ideas into presenter-led videos without requiring her to film each one. They create a script, choose an avatar, generate the video and add supporting visuals where necessary.

‘We needed something that could still help convey the ideas without me having to sit down and record every day,’ Addy said.

Reducing the founder's time spent on content by 80%

That shift has considerably reduced the amount of Addy’s week taken up by content production.

Before HeyGen, she set aside Tuesdays and Thursdays for recording. Between developing scripts, filming, making corrections and ensuring everything was right, she estimates that she spent at least 10 hours a week on the process.

Now, her own involvement takes no more than two hours per week.

'HeyGen has reduced the time it takes me to record content each week by at least 80%,' Addy said.

​Much of those two hours isn't spent recording. Instead, Addy reviews scripts and quickly decides what she does or doesn't want included.

It also means ideas no longer need to wait until the next day of filming.

'If an idea pops into my head and I want to tell them straightaway, I just choose one of the avatars,' she said. 'I don't have to think, oh, it's midnight. I'm not wearing any make-up or anything like that. It's been a lifesaver.'

Cutting thousands of dollars from traditional production costs

The savings go beyond the time Addy saves.

Professional filming previously meant paying roughly $1,500 for studio production, plus another $800 to $900 to film her, along with transport and other expenses.

‘HeyGen took it away,’ Addy said.

That changes the economics of maintaining a founder-led content engine. Instead of organising an expensive shoot every time the team need more polished video, they can produce it internally and reserve Addy’s time for the content where her live delivery matters most.

​Her team have learnt to distinguish between the two options.

For particularly energetic motivational content, Addy may still record herself, as her delivery is part of the message. For educational videos, explanations and other pieces presented directly to camera, her avatar can convey the idea.

'We've had plenty of moments go viral with HeyGen,' Addy said.

Sharing ideas whilst they're still relevant

For Addy, AI video isn't about replacing everything she records. It's about removing the production barriers between having something valuable to say and sharing that message with her audience.

​That matters across a business spanning careers, international education, entrepreneurship and business acquisition, where timely ideas can quickly be turned into useful content.

'HeyGen allows us to get the message out there whilst it’s still topical,' Addy said.

Her audience have also become increasingly comfortable with AI-generated content. Some viewers recognise that a video uses AI, but Addy says others in the comments often steer the conversation back towards what matters: the information itself.

‘Focus on the message,’ she recalled viewers telling each other. ‘Is that all you took from the post? That this is AI? Didn’t you notice those points?’

For a founder whose expertise is central to her businesses, that is precisely the point. HeyGen give Addy and her team another way to package and share her knowledge without allowing her schedule to become a bottleneck.

Her advice to other founders is straightforward.

‘You don't have all the time in the world,’ Addy said. ‘If you have a message to share, you're shy, you're always second-guessing yourself, or you feel you need several recordings before it works, HeyGen will help you move beyond that. Use it.’