Whether Yahoo or No Yahoo guys are really making
it online. I stumble upon that post on the punch newspaper and l was shock
there. I know a lot of us are don’t still believe that they can make it online
successfully. There are some stories of successful Nigerian boggier who are
really making it big online.
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.
Below are few success story of some of the top
Nigerian blogger’s when they were interview by TEMITAYO
FAMUTIMI’s close-up from punch newspaper.
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 from from TEMITAYO
FAMUTIMI’s close-up, 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.
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.
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!”
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 road she travelled 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.
If you have read it to the end here you will notice that
this people also face that problems you are facing and till today they thank
God that they were able to accomplish it. My dear brothers and sisters and
fathers or mothers, you need to start from somewhere, if its through blogger or
wordpress. Just think on a niche to work on and you are good to go.
The reason put this post here is to inspire you with there
success stories. A lot of people want to be like Seun Osewa but they don’t know
how he got started. They think he did it in jut one day. They want to emulate
him. And l think they know now. This is just a few out of the many successful bloggers we have in Nigeria, you can click
HERE to read more.
Thanks.
In my next post l am going to expose to you some of the ways
you can make real money online in Nigeria.
Forget all the rubbish you have been told, and wait for this post.
Be Real, Be Smart, make things Happen….
Enjoy!a
Taiwo
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