Revelations from TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI’s close-up with
some Nigerian online entrepreneurs underscore the positive
influence of social media
Some 15 years ago, making money online was largely
synonymous with advance fee fraud, popularly called yahoo
yahoo in Nigeria. That was when the Internet revolution was
just taking shape in the country, which was also just getting
off the hook of military juntas that thrived on trampling on
freedom of information.
While many people could not yet appreciate what the
Internet and accompanying social media trends stood for,
most of the few that first caught the bug exploited it to dupe
unsuspecting folks, especially foreigners. Indeed, that is the
time the notorious and ever-recurring letter in which an
online conman (or woman), who claims he is stranded in
some foreign country or has problems accessing a huge
fund, was first composed. A lot of water has passed under
the bridge since, but some people have also proved that
Nigerians too know how to make the best of the social
media.
It does not matter if some of them got online by accident.
The fact is that from their different professional and
accademic backgrounds, they have entrenched themselves,
deploying the digital phenomenon to various businesses.
Whether it is an Anderson Uvie-Emegbo that has
abandoned medicine for online entrepreneurship, or
nairaland founder, Seun Osewa, who was pushed out of the
university by an accident, the guys got to the Internet ‘on
time’, and have practically become landlords, making good
money in transparent ways.
Curiously, more than half of those our correspondent
contacted for an interview were not forthcoming. While
some, including Linda Ikeji of the lindaikejiblog fame,
repeatedly declined to grant the correspondent audience,
Bellanaija founder, Uche Pedro, appeared too shy to talk
about herself and business – despite the fact that they are
often eager to sell other people to the world.
Bella Naija
She is popularly, called Bella Naija but her name is Uche
Pedro (formerly Eze). She appears to be the most influential
blogger in the country, with even most of her other
successful counterparts attributing their in-road into the
world of blogging to their visit to bellanaija.com.
For instance, in an interview, ace blogger, Ladun Liadi, says
she drew her inspiration to become a blogger from Bella
Naija.
Liadi says, “One day, I was with my friend who is a radio
presenter and he said, ‘Ladun, why don’t you start a blog?
You have so many things going on for you.’ I didn’t really
want to, because I felt owning a blog was personal (as it
was meant to be about the person’s daily activities) and not
meant for reporting. But he told me I was wrong and gave
me a blog address to check out. It was Bella Naija. And that
was how I started my own blog too.”
Also, celebrated blogger, Linda Ikeji, in an interview
published on bellanaija.com, also explains that she
discovered what was called blogging after visiting
bellanaija.com.
Bellanaija.com, which was formally hosted on
blogspot.com as bellanaija.blogspot.com , started off as a
small entertainment and pop culture portal. Publishing
Nigerian celebrity, fashion and lifestyle news, the blog has
grown to attract over one million hit per month across the
continent.
Apart from fetching Pedro cool cash, her blog success has
taken her to places. She has featured in many elite celebrity
talk shows. One of such is the Oprah Winfrey Show, which
is the highest-rated talk show in American television
history.
In an interview she granted to Cable News Network’s Isha
Sesay in Nigeria, Pedro, who studied in a Canadian
University, said she started blogging after being bored while
on a two-week holiday in Nigeria.
“In 2006 when I just graduated from the university. I had
two weeks off before starting my first job. I had always
loved Nigeria and Africa but I was just bored. But I realised
the fashion and entertainment industries were more vibrant
and more people were involved in politics, business and it
was so encouraging.
“I was like: Let me just start something that will sort of
represent these and it has grown in leaps and bounds since
then.”
Seun Osewa
Interestingly, Seun Osewa, the brain behind popular online
forum, nairaland, is, conventionally speaking, a drop-out.
After spending three years at the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile Ife, where he was studying Electrical
Electronics, he, according to him, decided to go the way of
super rich Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, the world’s
largest personal-computer software company. He also
knows the history of founder of Facebook, Mark
Zuckerberg; and Steve Jobs – the late co-founder of Apple
Inc., who also dropped out of school at one time or the
other.
In an online interview with our correspondent, Osewa,
however, responded to just two out of the questions asked
him.
He notes, “I studied Electronics & Electrical Engineering at
OAU with good grades for five semesters. But then I had a
little injury, which eventually caused me to crash out. I’m a
30-year-old Yoruba man raised in a small town in Ogun
State. I started Nairaland eight years and some days ago.”
Asked to speak on what injury he sustained and how he had
taken other educational opportunities after “crashing out,”
Osewa said, “ Well, it’s personal. Thanks for the
understanding.” Subsequent reminders sent by e-mail for
him to answer the other questions were not replied.
Nairaland, which claims to have over one million registered
users, and over 35 million page views monthly, was last
month ranked the most visited website in Africa by
alexa.com , a US-based firm that provides web traffic data.
According to reports, the journey of Nairaland began in
2004, when Osewa started “mobilenigeria”, a forum to
cover the emerging GSM industry at that time. However, it
was transformed in March 2005 to what is now known as
nairaland. Interestingly, in an interview granted to
dipotepede.org, Osewa was quoted as saying that all the
business projects he embarked on before Nairaland were
failures, except the one (mobilenigeria) that became
Nairaland.
He notes,, “My web hosting business failed after just three
months because I ran out of money, while I couldn’t
execute many other projects I researched due to shyness
and lack of capital. My blogs and the mobile phone forum
that preceded nairaland were successful but not profitable.
However, it was on that foundation that nairaland was built.”
Dr. Anderson Uvie-Emegbo
Dr. Anderson Uvie-Emego is a graduate of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He abandoned a
medical job to pursue a career in digital technology. Today
he is a household name in Africa not as a medical doctor
but as a digital media expert.
Uvie-Emegbo now has multiple streams of income. Apart
from earning what can be described as a descent income
from his firm, Dymore Vision Consulting Ltd, where he is the
managing director, he teaches post-graduate students as
an Adjunct Faculty at the School of Media &
Communication, Pan African University, Lagos and
Strathmore Business School, Kenya.
“I teach, consult, implement and publish all things digital. I
consult across Africa,” he says.
On how he abandoned medicine and surgery for the digital
media, he says, “No matter how hard I tried to focus on
medicine, I kept developing my skills in web strategy and
project management. Eventually in 2007 after three years
and five months of practice, it was clear that I had to make
a career change. I formally left medical practice on June
28, 2007. It is a privilege to be doing what I do now. As a
medical doctor, my role was to help people stay healthy.
Similarly, as a digital media consultant, I enable individuals
and organisations stay competitively healthy – creating
sustainable, superior corporate performance, using a digital
approach. In both situations, I start with the diagnosis and
end with solutions that make all parties satisfied.”
Linda Ikeji
Ex-model-turned blogger, Linda Ikeji, has no doubt joined
the millionaire club. The 2004 English Language graduate of
the University of Lagos confirmed her status as a
successful blogger recently when she bought herself a 2011
model Infiniti FX 35 Sport Utility Vehicle, reportedly for
N8m.
Announcing the purchase of the SUV on her blog, Ikeji says
she had lost count of the businesses she had laid her hand
on without success before blogging paid off.
She notes, “By this time two years ago, I didn’t have much
but I never stopped believing in myself and I never stopped
working hard. I can’t even begin to count how many
businesses I put my hands into before one paid off –
blogging!
“I told myself that I would make it in this life one day as my
own woman and on my own terms, that no man will ever
take away my dignity and I did it. So can you! Yes, you! You
have the power! And with God on your side, you are
unstoppable!”
She started modelling in 1998 and, in 2004, set up a
modelling agency and event management company,
Blackdove Communications. Ikeji, 32, quit modelling for
blogging in 2007. The competition in the modelling industry,
which has culminated in the proliferation of unregistered
modelling agencies that go about recruiting pretty girls and
getting them jobs without proper accreditation, might have
propelled her to quit the field.
Omoyele Sowore
The former President of the Students’ Union of the
University of Lagos, Omoyele Sowore, started Sahara
Reporters in 2006 from his base in New York, United States.
In an interview with the Sun Newspaper, United Kingdom,
he says he does not operate his news website with any
expensive office furniture or high-end cum high-priced off-
the-shelf devices. He explains that at some point he
equipped his car with gadgets for-on-the go reporting but
adds that he now operates a mobile office.
“With little more than a few cell phones, an Apple computer,
and the wonders of the Internet, I can do what I have to do.
He did not study communication, but he says his
experience as a student union leader, which made him a
mass communicator of some sorts, spurred him to launch
the online platform which enables people to report
themselves.
Sowore, who now makes good money from the website
especially through adverts, says he started out cheaply.
“When I started, it was very cheap. I was hosting Sahara
Reporters at the rate of US$35 per month when I started. It
didn’t cost me much to actually have an online presence.
“Talking transparently, we have been making money. There
is what they call Google Adsense, which is the most
democratic way of participating in advertising. When I
started, I used to make 50 dollars every month. Over time,
we began to make a lot more money because it is driven by
traffic in usage and patronage of the website.”
In an online interview with our correspondent, Sowore
stresses that what gives him fulfilment most is the fact that
he Saharareporters identifies with the search for positive
change in the society. He indirectly affirms that it has also
been success in terms of financial rewards.
But for other people, especially young Nigerians, who may
want to explore citizen journalism, he says, “Unemployed
Nigerian graduates might be able to eke out a living through
citizen journalism but I couldn’t tell them how. I could only
advise people to pursue their dreams passionately. And
most important is that they should be engaged in the
pursuit of freedom for themselves and freedom for all. I
think the larger question for Africans-employed,
underemployed and unemployed is to determine, very
quickly, how long they will continue to endure the
unwarranted and brazen rape of the dignity of the African
person by a tiny clique of corrupt and gluttonous but highly
incompetent rogues disguised as leaders.”
Ladun Liadi
Oladunni Liadi is the name behind the popular blog,
ladunliadi.blogspot.com. Liadi, who hails from Ijebu-Mushin,
Ogun State, abandoned Microbiology, which she studied at
the University of Lagos for blogging.
Confirming the current fact that making money online is a
reality, Liaidi says, “It (blogging) has been very profitable.
My eyes are closed to any other business for now.”
She started out in the world of blogging in August 2010,
after a friend spoke to her about the opportunities which
abound in it. After visiting a handful of blogs being run by
Nigerians then, Liadi says she decided to leverage her
journalism instinct and ventured into blogging.
But while starting out she also faced the teething problems
of low blog traffic, which new bloggers complain about. Her
low blog traffic, which for some months, was further
compounded by incessant outage, andpoor Internet
connectivity. But she refused to give up on her new found
profession.
She says, “At first, I didn’t know comments meant a thing.
For the first few months I didn’t get comments and later on
they started coming. But now, I get over 100,000 page
views per day.
“Internet connectivity and electricity are still major
problems. Internet connectivity is an issue for me. I have
almost all the Internet modems you can think of, in case
one doesn’t work, another will. While PHCN never ceases to
disappoint one, the issue of electricity is minimal because
there is an alternative which is fueling the generator.”
Liadi, who is in her 20s, says she operates from her home
in Lagos or anywhere she finds herself and has a few
people working with her on part time basis.
“For now, I don’t have anybody working for me on full time
basis. But I have a few people who attend some events for
me; I just pay them per event. I solely run the blog myself,”
she explains, adding that blogging is fun.
“It has opened doors for me in a lot of ways. A lot of people
now know Ladun Liadi, unlike before. I am even moving a
step further to launch an online entertainment magazine
covering all events and reporting all the latest news in
Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
Robert Ikhazobor
Although a graduate of Economics from the University of
Hull, Robert Ikhazobor has stamped his foot on the Internet
world. He ventured into an Internet-driven business which
deploys technology in recruitment, examination
administration, identity management as well as scholarship
and bursary management – with the establishment of
Dragnet.
According to him, the firm he started some five years ago
has taken him to 22 states of the federation where he has
offered computer-based tests for firms and higher
institutions of learning. Along the line, he has also
developed several versions of his proprietary computer-
based testing engine which he calls ‘The Face of Testing.’
He says, “The world has largely witnessed a sweeping
revolution in the education sector but, sadly, we have been
left behind. But we are offering a better alternative to the
conventional Paper To Pen Testing method.”
Kunle Adeyeri
Kunle Adeyeri is an online forex trader and trainer. The
graduate of Microbiology from the University of Lagos
started his firm, Kards Nigeria Limited, in 1996 after a stint
at a computing firm between 1991 and 1995.
“I worked as a Senior Administrative Officer at a computer
firm but in 1996, I started my own firm where I major in
computer-based analysis. In 2007, I ventured into online
forex trading. My job does not basically require many
personnel but I have two employees on my pay roll,”
Adeyeri says.
Olori Super Gal
Oluwatosin Ajibade’s active involvement with Facebook as a
means of sharing information to her friends paid off in
2010. A friend who regularly benefits from the updates
talked to her about blogging as a means of sharing those
pieces of information to the larger populace while still
making some money.
Ajibade, the blogger behind olorisupergal.com says, “I didn’t
join any group to become a blogger. I remember I was in
the habit of using my Facebook account to share
information especially entertainment news.
“My friend saw what I used to do back then on Facebook
and he introduced me to the bigger platform – blogging.
Since then it has been fun. I never know blogging is another
form of sharing one’s ideas and creativity. I started on my
own after he (friend) introduced it to me in 2010. Then, I
started blogging on February 8, 2010.
Ajibade, a graduate of Accounting from Lagos State
University, says the road she travelled to blog success was
bumpy as she experienced low blog traffic for a whole year.
According to her, she was forced to visit several online
portals to acquire knowledge about blogging.
