Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is seeing the emergence of many young, promising entrepreneurs.
The Anzisha Prize, a competition that recognizes and celebrates African entrepreneurs between the ages of 15 and 22 who are using business to solve problems in their communities, is currently making its way through 339 applications to find this year’s top 12.
According to Chi Achebe, programme manager for The Anzisha Prize, the competition received applications from 32 countries across the continent, with the highest number of entries coming from Nigeria.
DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY REELING IN THE BIG FISH - SUNKANMI OLA (NIGERIAN -22)
After finishing university in 2012, Sunkanmi Ola founded a digital advertising agency when he saw a gap in the market. During the venture’s early days Ola kept close contact with a mentor who gave him leads on when companies where taking pitches from advertising agencies to market their brands.
“I gate crashed pitches, pitting myself against national marketing agencies’ presentations to brands on how my team and I (consisting of a programmer, a designer and a web developer) could grow their brands massively.”
After three months of what Ola refers to as “pitch battles” he landed his first client, a leading mobile telecoms manufacturer in West Africa.
Today, Ola (who has only just turned 22) is the founder, CEO and chief digital strategist for his registered company, Syracuse Digital, which helps brands translate their marketing activities online.
“With the growth in the mobile, internet and electronic device usage, smart brands have realised that their target audience spend much more time interacting on these platforms than on TV, press and radio. That is where my agency comes in. We help brands leverage on this growth and increase their market share against other competitors.”
One of his leading clients is the Tecno Group, which has multiple companies under it, such as Tecno Mobile, Infinix Mobile and PalmChat. Syracuse Digital assists with Tecno’s marketing in both Nigeria and Ghana.
According to Ola, his company employs eight people (all under the age of 25) and earns US$4,200 in monthly retainer fees, with additional revenues from other activities.
“Financially we are steady, and by securing one or two more A-list clients, we will easily be able to draw the talent we need and grow faster.”
ASSISTING STUDENTS WITH UNIVERSITY ADMISSION- CHIJIOKE UKWUEGBU (NIGERIAN-21)
Chijioke Ukwuegbu, a recent business administration graduate from the University of Lagos, co-founded of LagTutor.com in 2009, an online portal aimed at assisting students with admission into university.
The website provides candidates with access to post University Tertiary Matriculation Examination’s (post-UTME) past questions and answers, online tutorials, admission tips and other relevant information that will enhance their chances of gaining admission into university
“Every year, over two million youths compete for just 400,000 enrollments into Nigerian universities. This competition is fiercer for “Ivy Leagues” where 100 students could be competing for just one slot,” explained Ukwuegbu.
“Through LagTutor, we advise candidates to focus on certain emphasized topics, create personalized reading plans, and provide up-to-date information. Prior to their entrance examination, online mock exams are conducted to assess their preparedness.”
To make LagTutor commercially viable, the company has adopted a freemium and gold membership pricing strategy. According to Ukwuegbu, last year the company recorded over N800,000 ($4,928) in revenue.
DELIVERING SOLAR LIGHTING IN RURAL AREAS -ADEDAYO LAWAL (NIGERIAN -21)
Adedayo Lawal grew up in a rural area in Nigeria and spent a lot of time designing mini-wind turbines with his dad and siblings. In May 2012 he started Talkers Energy, a for-profit solar product distribution enterprise in Lagos.
“We chose distribution because many good products that could solve lighting problems for rural dwellers, like myself, have been designed, but the problem is the products finding their way to the last-mile,” explained Lawal.
“Our enterprise has sold more than 1,400 pieces of solar lanterns which is providing more than 5,000 individuals clean light every night, different from kerosene or candles, in the past 22 months.”
The company sells, delivers and provides after sales services for solar lanterns and mini-solar home systems to rural communities through a network of independent local entrepreneurs.
“Our vision is to increase the market penetration of solar products at the last-mile – where it is needed the most among rural dwellers – through an innovative sales and service distribution model, in order to eradicate completely the use of kerosene or candles as a lighting source in rural households in Nigeria.”
According to Lawal, the company currently makes roughly $242 a month. His goal for the next eight years is to deliver over 200,000 solar lanterns in rural area.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Finalists for The Anzisha Prize have not been announced. The entrepreneurs profiled above have been selected randomly and are not necessarily winners.
Acknowledgement: How we made it in Africa
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