Olubiyi Ismail started karate in 1989 and within a short time became one of the top athletes in Nigeria. This could be attributed to his doggedness and focus which is also evident in his successful business career. He dominated his weight-class for many years at State and National Competitions. He was Lagos State Karate Champion in the early 1990s and also became National Karate Champion at the National Sports Festival during the Imo 1998 edition. He won Gold at the first Karate edition of the Nigeria University Games (NUGA) in 1998 and also a Bronze medallist at the International Shotokan Karate Federation Goodwill Games in Philadelphia, U.S.A, in 2015.

Sensei Ismail has attended numerous karate courses at home and abroad and has trained with renowned karate instructors worldwide. He graded 5th degree black belt (2014) by the Karate Union of Great Britain in Lancaster, United Kingdom. 

He was the Karate Instructor at the Medical School of the University of Lagos for many years and he coached the students to many victorious outings. He also has a wealth of experience over the years teaching karate to young children. At one time, he was karate instructor at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Oyo State, Grace Children School in Lagos and a few of the top schools in Lagos.

Outside Karate, Sensei Ismail is a successful entrepreneur who travels the world and always seizes the opportunity to train in karate dojos when he is away on business. Sensei Ismail is a Geomatician with many years of experience as a Professional Network Engineer and Analyst; specialising in satellite communications, networking design, planning and implementation, maintenance and advance integrated broadband solutions. He has co-founded many companies which are still in operation today and seats on the board of several companies & organisations.

Currently, he is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Directors (IoD) UK, member of the Nigerian Internet Group (NIG), council member of the Nigeria Britain Association (NBA), council member of the Nigeria Spanish Association (NSA), member of Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) (NIM) and Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). Also, he is a board member of many Nigerian and foreign companies. He has attended several local and international trainings on leadership, management and technical installations.