BN Trailblazers & Tastemakers: iROK, iROKO, iROKING! Meet Jason Njoku …
Over the years, BellaNaija has interviewed and profiled a select group of African entrepreneurs, scientists, academics, activists and advocates. The positive reaction to these features has been amazing. We have decided to brand these profiles and interviews as BN Trailblazers Tastemakers. These young Africans are literally “changing the world”! Read and be inspired…
Five years ago, Jason Njoku, was just a graduate of Chemistry with entrepreneurial tendencies. He had failed at some attempts at business and would still stumble severally in the following couple of years. Life was really hard, but he was determined to turn his failures into stepping stones. He had the light bulb moment when he moved back with his mum at a point and observed her viewing pattern. Then, he got a flight back to Lagos, paid people to watch and select the best movies, and started buying rights to local movies for online streaming to the Diaspora. NolywoodLove, as it was called, soon became YouTube’s biggest African partner and recorded a whooping 152 million views in its first year. Then, they decided to build their own platform for streaming Nollywood films, hence the launching of iROKOtv in January 2012 which now has a library of over 5,000 films. “We have 570,000 registered users in only seven months and this figure is growing every day”, he says. The company, which was entirely financed with cash flow from operations and founder’s funds in the initial stage, has now attracted big investors (8 million US Dollars from an American Venture Capitalist and, most recently, 2 million US Dollars from a Swedish firm). Just yesterday, he was announced as one of the 2012 Future Awards nominees for Young Person of the Year. In this interview with Gbenga Awomodu, Jason talks about his humble
Category: Entertainment
