SUCCESS STORY; CO-CEO of IROKOtv.

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What did you hear about Africa?  It is not a country but a continent blessed with natural and human resources. Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. What did you hear about Africans? we are not criminals; we are intelligent, culturally and morally endowed. What did you hear about Nigerians? we are not corrupt; we are smart, brilliant and diligent.

Mr. Jason Chukwuma Njoku

Meet one of the sons of the soil, Jason Chukwuma Njoku (born 11 December 1980) is a Nigerian entrepreneur, film magnate and African start-up investor. He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv, one of the early video-on-demand movie platforms for Nigerian movies (also known as Nollywood).

A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, iROKOtv is Njoku's 11th attempt at starting a business. He came up with the idea of launching a new distribution platform for Nollywood whilst living at home with his mum, aged 30, after a number of failed enterprises.

As the founder of iROKO Partners, and iROKOTv, Jason Njoku’s principle is  to make people happy. Njoku admits in his interview with Helen Okoye that starting on YouTube in 2010 and building a successful global media empire has brought its challenges. “I make more mistakes than I make good choices. My only saving grace is that the choices that I make are better and more significant.” Now a venture capitalist, his current obsession is funding local entrepreneurs.  “I want to help young entrepreneurs build the next iROKOTV”, he told Helen. 

After a number of failed enterprises between 2005 and 2010, which included a blog network, a T-shirt business and a web design company, Njoku moved back home into his mother's house in Deptford. It was there that he came up with the idea of starting a Nollywood online distribution business, "The West had Hulu and Netflix – Africa had nothing", notes Njoku. Having studied the industry from afar, he flew to Lagos, thanks to the financial help of his best friend Bastian Gotter, a fellow University of Manchester graduate, and started purchasing the online licences of Nollywood movies. He worked from a two-bedroom apartment in Festac, Lagos, and struck a deal with YouTube in Germany to be the official channel partner for Nollywood company.

In 2010, Njoku and his former partner, Bastian Gotter, launched NollywoodLove, a YouTube channel, which was profitable within two months of launch. That same year, thanks to an article by Sarah Lacy who worked at the time for Tech Crunch, NollywoodLove caught the attention of US-based venture capital fund Tiger Global, early investors in Facebook, who were interested in expanding their reach in emerging markets.

You can do just great if you keep the focus and goals. Age is a not barrier and you are not too old or young to climb the hills. Do not be spurred to join multitude to do evil, be the face of Africa and be positive about your dream. Let the world tell your story in a unique way.

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