Meet The People Who Popularized Blogging In Nigeria
Blogging has been in vogue for a while now, but Nigerians only recently started keying into the development. The rate at which Nigerian create blogs is now on the increase, because of the widespread opinion that blogging is one of the most lucrative online businesses and can be a cash-spinner. But blogging did not just come into Nigeria like an ex machina or wake-see. It was started and popularized by people we today recognize as the faces of blogging in Nigeria. They brought about the belief, practiced it and used their blogs to inform Nigerians. Only sometime after these from-scratch entrepreneurs were dominating the scene, did other similarly informed Nigerians began logging on WordPress. These people may not necessarily be the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Nigeria, but their doings have made substantial impacts in the lives of the country people at home and in the diaspora. In no particular order, these are the content-sharing specialists on our list.
Linda Ikeji
Model turned blogger, Linda Ikeji is the first blogger Nigerians can remember, having the fashion industry less than a decade ago to start her lindaikeji.blogspot.com, which fast became one of the most popular blogs in Nigeria. The online entrepreneur shares entertainment gist and gossip from different angles of Nigeria. Though her posts are sometimes controversial, her blog attracts several thousands of hits on a daily basis. Her empire grew, and she launched the Linda Ikeji mobile app to further her blog and make it easier to gain access to her daily wealth of information. From there, her entrepreneurial journey spun off into Linda Ikeji TV, creating employment opportunities for Nigerians. From just sharing local gist and gossip, this die-hard lady scratched and became the face of Nigerian blogging.
Uche Pedro
Another woman who has succeeded in creating her benchmark by blogging in Nigeria is the owner of Bellanaija, Uche Pedro. She runs one of the leading entertainment blogs in the country, creating and sharing information that covers style, TV, and fashion. With a vast subscriber base and attraction of thousands of daily page views, the blog is a hot potato. She started the blog in 2006 – from scratch- and has since then been putting effort into growing it tremendously. By sharing content that the everyday Nigerian would love to consume, Bellanaija has become a household name in Nigeria.
Omoyele Sowere
He is a Nigerian political activist and founder of the popular Sahara Reporters, which is a news site that has been named the Wikileaks of Africa by The Daily Beast. From gathering and sharing clandestine information and activities in the nation, she was able to start a controversial platform that has become the destination for enthusiastic and aspiring conspiracy theorists, as well as lovers of government secrets and scandals.
Sahara Reporters is based in New York City, supported by grants donated by the Ford Foundation and the Omidyar Foundation. Her blog turned dot-come site stands as a well-known and ever-consistent first-hand sharer of insider information and conspiracy reports without the fear of being sanctioned or penalized by the government. Though Sowere’s platform has received several direct threats, most of them from illegal individuals whose illicit activities have been exposed on the platform, the website had no doubt thrived and continued to be the watchdog of Nigeria. Similar frantic steps to shut down the site by the government have been experienced, but Sahara Reporters blogs nonetheless.
Chude Jideonwo
This online entrepreneur is the CEO of RED Media Group and the owner of YNaija. The blog, coined from “Young and Nigerian,” has been nicknamed and christened as the High Priest of the Nigerian Culture, due to its culture-driven posts and featuring of Nigerian-depicting content. The content on the blog informs about and epitomizes the rich Nigerian culture, creating an online destination that hoisters of the nation’s yet united diversity learn about their country home. Chude Jideonwo sorted, sifted and organized Nigerian cultural information and heritage – from scratch- and turned them into blog posts that now form a youth orientation platform, the go-to place for the ins and outs of the countryman. He provided a job aggregation section that displays job vacancies, continually helping Nigerians land employment. The blog has segments for daily news, politics, opinion, enterprise, TV, teen and a myriad of more.
Loy Okezie
This Nigerian easterner is a graduate of Business Administration who chose to carve out an online niche for himself in the sphere of technology. Businessman turned bloggers; he runs the Techloy, one of the best tech-related blogs one could find in Nigeria. Featuring authentic breaking news from all over the world, sharing product reviews and tech market trends among many other contents, Techloy is to go-to to learn about almost anything that is replete with technology. Loy Okezie started this blog in 2008 as Startupsnigeria, and shares tech posts on new businesses to Nigerians and the world. Seeing the exponential development, Loy changed the brand name to Techloy.
Mola Ogundele
A Western Nigerian and lover of music, Mola Ogundele started Notjustokay.com, which is today known as one of the best music brands in Nigeria. Featuring the trendiest and most interesting news in the Nigerian music industry, Mola’s blog has become to destination for the more significant percentage of Nigerian musicians and rhythm-loving folks. What has majorly helped the blog gain popularity in recent times is its partnership with the leading musicians and producers. Nigerians, unarguably, love music and anything related to it. Who doesn’t? As Mola Ogundele is giving it to them consistently on a platter of notes, just as they want it, Notjustokay.com keeps growing by leaps and bounds. Amalgamating and putting this information out there right from day one, Mola Ogundele now seems to be the face of music blogging in Nigeria.
Blogging, in as much as it seems fun and entertaining, is yet serious business. As a Nigerian, be inspired by these online entrepreneurs and start your own empire – from scratch.
