interview with tech entrepreneur Jason Njoku #ecity_media He is one of the most talked about African Tech Entrepreneurs of 2013 and what makes is story so unique and inspirational is because he has experienced what it means to have nothing. Sitting at the top of iROKO Partners is Jason Njoku, Founder and CEO of one of the most amazing tech brands in Africa. We had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Njoku to find out what inspired him to get into the tech world, the relationship between iROKO Partners, iROKING, IROKTV and iROKOtv, and so much more. ZeN: At what stage in your life did you decide to start iROKO Partners? Jason: I was 29 when I conceived the notion of a Nollywood internet company. ZeN: What brought about the idea? Jason: Having a number of failed businesses behind me, I had moved back home with my mum in London – no money, no job prospects and I was running out of ideas. It was a humbling experience. Living with my mum again for the first time in a decade, I noticed that she would watch hours upon hours of Nollywood movies. She would buy the VCDs from the markets in South East London where she lives and then swap them with her friends/family etc. When she asked me to pick up some movies for her, without hesitating, I looked online. For me, everything begins and ends on the Internet. Everything that’s popular and Nollywood is wildly popular across the Diaspora is accessible online, right? Well, no. So, I started digging and found that no-one had seriously considered the Internet as a mass-distribution platform for Nigerian movies, and that’s really where the story of iROKO started. ZeN: How important is distribution and are you winning the war against piracy? Jason: Sadly, piracy is totally entrenched in African entertainment and this is a war, not a battle. Are we winning against it? I would probably say no – but this doesn’t mean that we won’t fight. In terms of online piracy, we have sophisticated software, and a full time legal team spread across Africa and the US who are working tirelessly to take down online pirated movies. Why fight? Because we simply don’t think it’s right for producers’ work to be taken illegally – why shouldn’t they be paid for their content? They make the investments, it’s their creativity and intellectual property, they pay to market their movies, they take on all the costs….. so it’s madness that someone can steal and profit from their hard work. ZeN: What has been your best moment as CEO of iROKO Partners? Jason: There have been lots of memorable moments over the last two and half years or so, but I think that signing off on the first round of funding from Tiger Global was really big for us. The investment meant international recognition for what we were doing and it also gave us the freedom to grow and build out the company into an international concern. ZeN: What’s the number one challenge iROKO Partners are facing in such a competitive industry? Jason: Our main challenge isn’t competition, it is telecoms infrastructure on the continent. At the moment, more people watch irokotv in London than the whole of Nigeria. Why? Because of restricted access to broadband in Nigeria and the whole of Africa. This means that, at the moment, we’re only able to stream our movies to a fraction of the potential audience out there in the world. This is still a considerable number and we have people watching iROKOtv from over 170 countries, however when Africa comes online, we expect our traffic levels to increase massively. #Ecity{ZeN}: You recently started a new initiative “SPARK” with Bastian Gotter, your partner and friend. What’s the key objective of SPARK to the Nigerian market? Jason: SPARK’s key objective is to act as the catalyst for internet and tech start-ups in Nigeria. At the moment, the eco-system for investing time and money into entrepreneurs in Nigeria is almost non-existent. SPARK is a company that builds companies and we invest in, support and mentor a group of young start-ups in Lagos who are looking to fill a particular void in the Nigerian internet sphere. We want SPARK-network companies to be at the forefront of Nigeria’s dotcom (or dotNG I guess) boom. Billions of dollars of value has been ascribed to Internet companies in Europe, North America, South America and Asia, but not Africa. Yet. The Nigerian Internet industry is currently worth around $200Mn. In the next 3-5 years, we estimate it will be a $1Bn industry, and we want our SPARK companies to be the market leaders. ZeN: Will it be accessible to all or a selected few? Jason: So far, we have 13 companies in the SPARK network and we are looking to fund around 20 companies by the end of the year, so I guess that means it is only available to the select few. SPARK exists to help establish Nigeria’s next generation of tech and internet entrepreneurs, however, we’re a business and not a charity, so we cannot fund everyone. We fund only the very best, the hardest working and the most creative. We are not focusing on any one particular group and we don’t discriminate. If you come to us with an awesome idea for an Internet company in Nigeria, that fills a gap in the market and that we can develop and monetize, then we can have a discussion. Talent wins at SPARK – if you have it in abundance, we can make some magic happen. ZeN: What is the relationship between iROKO Partners, iROKING, IROKTV and iROKOtv? Jason: iROKO Partners is the umbrella company for iROKOtv, iROKING and iROKtv. iROKOtv is our moving streaming site that streams Nollywood movies online. We have a catalogue of around 5,000 movies and viewers from over 170 countries around the world. Not content with providing movies with an awesome online platform, soon after launching iROKOtv, we decided to move into the music world and this is what iROKING is. iROKING is Nigeria’s no 1 music streaming and download platform, and we also organise and monetize many artists’ YouTube pages. iROKtv is a celebrity interview and gossip channel – much like the E! channel – we have interviews with the likes of Tonto Dikeh and Iyanya, as well as coverage of big concerts such as Rick Ross’ show in Lagos and backstage chat on movie sets. #Ecity{ZeN}: Let’s talk about fashion. Any African designs in your wardrobe? Jason: I’m not really into fashion – I’m a simple guy when it comes to clothes. I don’t really do suits or anything corporate. I’m a t-shirt and jeans guy. At the moment, I’m buying a lot of t-shirts from this awesome new company called Giddimint – I love the creativity and boldness of the designs and you can just click a few buttons and have some cool new tees sent to your home. #Ecity_{ZeN}: Your favourite automobile Jason: Everyone knows I’m a Range Rover fanatic #ECITY_{zen}: Which charity organizations presently get your full attention? Jason: I give to charity privately, but I don’t currently patronize one charity in particular at the moment. #ECITY:_{zen} What’s next for your brand? Jason: We just launched a DVD arm of the company and took Mama G to Johannesburg to help launch the new side of the business. It was super-fun and very hectic because she is recognized absolutely everywhere she goes on the continent. Her being there to meet fans, do media interviews and sign autographs really helped to raise the awareness for iROKOtv DVDs in JoBurg and I think it was a great start to this new venture of ours. Watch some of the best Nigerian and Ghanaian movies online in amazing HD quality by visiting irokotv To Listen to some of your favorite Nigerian songs, visit iroking Follow Jason Njoku on Twitter: @JasonNjoku
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 19:41:28 +0000
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