These promising Nigerian entrepreneurs are those we are proud of because by attending to their personal businesses, they have been able to hold their own and make significant impact in the country and in the continent when it comes to entrepreneurship. If as a young entrepreneur, you are looking for people to understudy, here are five in no particular order.
1. Dr. Ola Orekunrin (Flying Doctors Nigeria): She is an example of an entrepreneur who was determined to run with a crazy but wonderful idea despite the apparent hindrances that may have come across the mind in a country as ours and she is just only 27! Flying Doctors Nigeria started in 2010 with the aim to improve the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria. Flying Doctors has been called West Africa’s first and only full air ambulance service.
2. Fatimah Aliyu Garba (House of Farrah): She is a formidable and stylish wife and mother with a die-hard entrepreneurship spirit. In 2004, she came into Nigeria after working for some time as a lawyer in the UK. She came into Nigeria to pursue her childhood dreams and for over eight years since she has started, she has not for once looked back. Her passion, vision and talent can be visibly seen as she has with the help of her husband developed her House of Farrah brand to become one of the most sought after luxury fashion labels in Abuja.
3. Adamu Waziri (EVCL): Adamu Waziri started EVCL when he approached TV stations, companies and individuals with the idea of producing Bino and Fino, a creation of his that came out of a hunger to see African cartoons showcased locally and globally, but he met with negative responses. Seeing prospects no one else saw, he started out EVCL, an animation company with a team of less than 10 people and now has his works featured all over.
4. Abasiama Idaresit: Abasiama Idaresit was mentioned as one of the ten African internet millionaires to watch out for on Forbes. He started out Wild Fusion, a digital marketing agency in 2010 with no external funding and with a bootstrapped budget; now it has its marketing company offices in Accra, Lagos and Nairobi. The company offers internet marketing and digital strategy solutions to some of the largest international corporations operating in sub-Saharan African such as Visa, Vodafone, Samsung, Unilever and some other large Pan-African corporations. The company is also Google’s first Adwords certified partner in West Africa.
5. The Jobberman Trio: The trio, Opeyemi Awoyemi, Olalekan Olude and Ayodeji Adewunmi started Jobberman in 2009. Today, Jobberman, Nigeria’s online job application website, is ranked among the top five most visited sites in Nigeria and receives up to 5,000 job applications every day. Jobberman serves as the first choice for employers and job seekers. Jobberman’s contribution has been acknowledged by Forbes magazine and it retains its position as West Africa’s most popular job search engine.
Do you agree with the above choices? Do you think there are more promising Entrepreneurs in Nigeria which we have not mentioned? Make your suggestions in the comments section below.
The above list is in no way exhaustive. Keep your fingers crossed for Nigeria’s promising entrepreneurs (2)!
