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

With a PhD in engineering and a career spanning Nigeria, Finland, Canada and the United States, Addy channelled her experience of navigating international education and career development into Pathfinder Consulting. What began as career coaching has expanded to include study-abroad programmes and, more recently, consultancy services for professionals interested in acquiring businesses and moving on from 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 speak, they listen."

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

​HeyGen provided them with one.

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 booking a studio, arranging the lighting, hiring someone to film her, travelling into the city, and spending hours recording. However, her team discovered something important about their audience: highly produced videos were not necessarily what made people pay attention.

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

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

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

“We needed something that could still help convey the ideas without requiring me to sit down and record every day,” Addy said.

Reducing founders’ time spent on content by 80%

That shift has dramatically reduced the amount of Addy’s working week consumed 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 drastically reduced the time I spend recording 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 wants included and what she doesn't.

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

"If an idea pops into my mind and I want to share it with them straight away, I simply 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."

Saving thousands on traditional production costs

The savings go beyond the time Addy saves.

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

“HeyGen eliminated that expense,” Addy said.

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

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

For highly energetic motivational content, Addy may still record herself, as her delivery is part of the message. For educational videos, explanations, and other presenter-led content, her avatar can convey the idea.

"We've had several viral moments with HeyGen," Addy said.

Sharing ideas while they are still relevant

For Addy, AI video is not about replacing everything she records. It is 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 share the message while it is still timely,” Addy said.

Her audience has 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 one another. "Is that all you took away from the post? That this is AI? Did you not notice those points?"

For a founder whose expertise is central to her businesses, that is precisely the point. HeyGen gives 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 multiple recordings to get it right, HeyGen will help you move past that. Use it."