By: Temitayo Famutumi
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: A VERY SUCCESSFUL BLOGGER |
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 c*m 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 r*pe 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 path she took 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.
Source: Punch ng
