Founders of the future awards , a project to celebrate young nigerians globally
http://www.thefuturenigeria.com
They are proudly naijaborn
Emilia Asim-Ita
(Marketing Director)
Emilia continued her successful streak as the presenter of Youth Talk with Emilia on the NTA Network, completing five years on the beat in 2008. Emilia was also Lifestyle Editor of Variety Magazine, editor of Sleek magazine and is presently the Editor of Tour Nigeria, a publication of the federal Ministy of Tourism. As an event anchor, she has been the emcee of the UNITeS concert, the Guardians of the Nation International and was a facilitator at the RISE Magazine “Dare to be Different” seminar. Co-presenter of Rubbing Minds on Channels Television, Emilia was selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders at the African Business Forum in Ghana, she was also one of the 12 winners of the highly coveted Leap Africa Youth Leadership Awards. She is presently a Mass Communications student of the University of Lagos.
Adebola Williams
(Operations Director)
Easily the voice of RedSTRAT, the Operations Director, Adebola, continued this year to set new standards with the rave TV show, Nigeria International, which shows on the NTA Network, AIT International, STV, MBI, and Ben TV. He left the employ of the show mid-2007 to concentrate full time on RedSTRAT, retaining a position as Consultant Producer.He also proved his mettle this year as Consultant Producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Commission, and Consultant Producer with Lifestyles in Africa with Mnet. Debola was a Human Resource Consultant with the Close-Up Salsa Challenge, as well as Consultant Partner with testify Music, being one of the key organizers of the Naija Facebook Carnival, as well as working briefly with The Apprentice Africa in Publicity. He is presently a Producer with the Amstel Malta Box Office reality TV show.
Chude Jideonwo
(Creative Director-at-large)
Chude has in the past one year written for True Love Magazine, Time Out Nigeria, Thisday, The Guardian, Made, Takaii amongst others. Chude was in the same period consultant editor to a number of magazines including an official magazine of the Nigerian Airforce and Tour Nigeria. Chude was called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2007, and was soon after selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders by the African Business Forum. He also became arguably the youngest receiver of Nigeria’s most respected media award, the Nigeria Media Merit Award, when he was announced as Entertainment Journalist of the Year.Co-presenter of Rubbing Minds on Channels Television, Chude was also until June 2008 the Publicity/Website Manager for The Apprentice Africa, a project of Bank PHB. He recently completed his National Youth Service in the External Relations department of the Nigeria LNG, and is presently a managerial executive with a leading Nigerian airline.
Recently naijafeed.com had an interview with me about naijaborn.com. I found the interview interesting so I decided to post it on our blog too. Below is an extract from the interview and a link
Our current generation is beginning to shape the future of Africa. And from the looks of things so far, it's going to be one pretty face. With the inherent creativity and ingenuity ingrained in most Africans DNA, a crop of very internet savvy Africans have taken the internet by storm. I had the privilege of chatting with one of the creators of the new social network that's about to hit the interwebs and here's how the interview went down:
NAIJAFEED How far, can you tell us who you are and what Naijaborn is all about?
Interviewee My name is Mambe Churchill Nanje. I'm a 23yr old African who is currently the CEO/Creator of AfroVisioN Group www.afrovisiongroup.com. I'm also the co-founder and president of technology at Naijaborn. I've been in the software development business for four year.... click here to read the full interview
Mike Adenuga Junior (April 29, 1953) is the Nigerian chairman /Chief Executice Officer of Globacom.
Adenuga's rise to wealth and accompanying fame is an interesting story. His resolve to succeed against all odds started when, while in America, he worked as a taxi driver and security guard to sustain himself in school.
Born on April 29, 1953, Michael Adeniyi Isola Adenuga had his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, Oyo State, before proceeding to the North-Western University in Oklahoma and Pace University, New York, both in the United States where he studied business administration.
At age 26, Adenuga had already become a millionaire with connections in high places. With his unique flair for risks and sheer tenacity of purpose, in no time he started reaping profits in billions.
He owns Equitorial Trust Bank and Consolidated Oil, which carries out crude oil drilling, refining and marketing.His first shot into the consciousness of Nigerians was when his company, Consolidated Oil became the first indigenous company to strike crude in December1991.
He recently made foray into the telecommunications sector. With his Communications Investment Limited, CIL, he was issued a conditional licence in 1999 and frequencies to operate the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM).
The licence was later revoked. Again, when in 2002, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), organised new auction for the GSM licence, the CIL participated and was one of the four that won the bid.
He paid the $20 million mandatory deposit.However, in the process of effecting the release of the balance payment of $265 million, the company was adjudged to have failed to pay within stipulated time.
CIL lost both the licence and $20 million deposit. He later went on to bid for the Second National Operator (SNO) licence, and deposited another $20 million. This time, he was lucky.
He won the bid in August 2002 through his Globacom Limited. The SNO has a wider range of operations as Globacom has the right to operate as a national carrier, operate digital mobile lines, serve as international gateway for telecommunications in the country and operate fixed wireless access phones.
Adenuga's estate business and company shares traverse several countries in Western Europe, North America and the Middle-East.
A Mentor to Nigerians globally.He is proudly naijaborn
Naijaborn a social networking startup for Nigerians from Francis Omokhape Oghuma and Mambe Nanje Churchill has just launched the site publicly.. I have been keeping a tab on the site ever since i found out about it and i am glad they have finally launched. I know what you are thinking, not ANOTHER social network.
However i think naijaborn is different for a few reasons:
read up the article on his blog :
Find the post by clicking this link
http://www.startupafrica.com/2009/06/naijaborn-nigerian-social-network/
Qubestreet Media and the AfroVisioN Group have partnered to produce NaijaBorn.com, a playground that connects Nigerians & friends all over the world. The site launches this month in its first beta release.
Through this platform, Nigerians can connect, interact and share their best experiences in Lagos, London, Lisbon or anywhere they should find themselves.
With the vision of Qubestreet Media's Franics Oghuma (NaijaBorn.com CEO and co-founder) and AfroVisioN's Mambe Nanje Churchill (NaijaBorn.com CTO and co-founder), NaijaBorn.com features a custom built social networking engine that will create a searchable, detailed, user-generated database of the global Nigerian community.
While in beta, NaijaBorn.com features profiles of active members, a public user-generated blog, and a place for users to upload music, art and other media from their experiences. So far, over 100 members have joined the budding site from places such as Iwate, Japan, Sugarland, Texas and of course Lagos, Nigeria. Members are established and novice entreprenuers, medical and pre-law school students, software developers and more.
This website will be a valuable way to network for people looking to reach out to the Nigerian audience, as large and diverse as it is. There are plenty of other resoruces and features coming to the site in the near future. Don't miss out on this opportunity to connect! Sign up today at www.naijaborn.com
By Ann Daramola
Community Manager
NAIJABORN
www.naijaborn.com
On behalf of Team Naijaborn we welcome Ahmad Mukoshy as our associate developer.Ahmad would be working in close contact with Mambe Nanje churchill in developing the Naijaborn platform.
He developed the activity feeds on the platform.(credits so far)lol
Professional Biography:
I am a young and enthusiastic entrepreneur in the making, building strong business portfolio over the internet.
Some of my products include, the pioneer Nigerian web hosting company - http://www.aimtechng.com
and The first Nigerian domain market place - http://www.nairaparking.com
For more information about me, you could visit me at http://www.ahmadmukoshy.com
Born in 1982 is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her stage name "Asa" means "Hawk" in Yoruba.Born Bukola Elemide, Asa was born in Paris, France to Nigerian parents. She was two years old when her family returned to live in Nigeria. Asa grew up in Lagos, in the south-western part of Nigeria.
She states that the city is "buzzing with energy but also home to a deep-rooted spirituality. Islam thrives shoulder to shoulder with Christianity in an atmosphere of tolerance, and the turbulent city moves endlessly in an infernal and yet harmonious ballet of love and hate, laughter and violence, poverty and wealth." However twenty years later Asa returned to Paris, which is where her life as an artist took wing. Asa was twelve when her mother sent her to one of the best schools in Nigeria.
But educational excellence had a bitter taste : five years of studies and hardship. When she came home, she discovered Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, Femi Kuti and Angélique Kidjo, in whose footprints she dreamed of following. At 18, Asa was very familiar with frustration.
The university was on strike, the choirs were snubbing her. During these frustrating times, Asa used to lock herself in her room and sing; this she said was very comforting.
Nevertheless, she managed to get her voice heard on a few radio talent shows and her first applause brought her boundless pleasure. She then signed up, in secret, for the Peter King’s School of Music and learnt to play the guitar in 6 months.
Background
Asa was the only girl in the family and had to share her parents with her three brothers. At a tender age she began to look after the house during her father and mother’s frequent absences.
That is when Asa started to sing. The desire to sing came to her and didn’t go away, carving out a permanent place in her soul. She preferred singing to talking, improvising endlessly until her mother made her stop.
Over the years her father had built up a fine collection of records featuring soul classics and Nigerian music, including Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and Lagbaja and went on to draw inspiration from them. Asa said "I was a tomboy and when I was a teenager I became very shy because people made fun of me … in my own way, I was already attracting attention !
I got in the habit of never doing anything like everyone else.
People didn’t understand my low-pitched deep voice, the choirs didn’t want anything to do with me. I had to get to church first if I was to have any chance of getting near the mike"
In 2004 Asa met her manager, Janet, who introduced her to Cobhams Emmanuel Asuquo, who in turn became her musical partner. He enabled Asa, the free spirit, to find her bearings : songs in English and Yoruba, music falling somewhere between pop and soul, inspired by her musical heritage — with particular care paid to the melodies — and reflecting the feeling she puts into it.
Her texts talk about her country, the things in life, the things in her life, all delivered with feigned naïveté and real irony.
She states "I like writing or thinking about my texts on the bus, or the molué, as we call it. 49 seats, 99 passengers standing up, as Fela described it.
Everyone’s squashed up together and mini-dramas break out all the time. And, at the end of the day, we still manage to laugh, that’s where our strength lies..." It was at this stage of her life that Asa finally returned to Paris.
This was her chance to test out her talent on the French musical scene, playing with artists such as the Nubians, Manu Dibango, Doctor L and Tony Allen.
In the meantime, back in Nigeria, her first single, Eyé Adaba, then Jailer, were beginning to get airtime.
MTV chose her as the ambassador for South Africa. Her popularity became big, that when she came back to Nigeria she opened for Akon, John Legend, Beyoncé and Snoop Dogg amongst others.
Asa soon signed to the 'Naïve label'. Partnered by Cobhams, and with the new involvement of Christophe Dupouy, she produced a magnificent debut album, ASA.
R&b rubs up against pop, with reggae also making an appearance on 'Fire On The Mountain', the first track released from the album, an impertinent and barely-disguised metaphor for an ignorant and indifferent world. "Jailer", another highlight of the album, reinterprets the old adage “you reap what you sow”.
This emblematic song with its irresistible refrain opens the album by denouncing modern slavery in all its forms.Asa's song Eye Adaba featured in the 3rd episode of series 3 of the E4's teen tv show, Skins, in which congolese youngster Thomas is forced to return to Congo from Bristol, where he was living in a flat owned by Johnny White, and made new friends in Pandora, Effy and the rest of the cast. The song is used for the scene in which Thomas is told be pack his bags by his mother and he is upset at having to leave.
Naijaborn like every social media platform needs to have a system to inform users on what their friends have been doing on the naijaborn.com platform. We have developed an internal activity tracking system that detects when users do just about anything and lets their subscribers read it in real time. Right now on naijaborn.com, if you visit someone's profile, just below the pictures you will see a button that reads 'ADD TO MY NETWORK', clicking on this button will subscribe you to that user's activity on naijaborn.com, and whenever you check your network, you will be able to know what the user has been up to. Keep checking and stay up to date with what naijaborn's world wide have been doing on naijaborn.com.
To test the platform, please send a mail to info@naijaborn.com for instructions
thanks
