Nigeria’s Odusan Becomes MD at Africa.com

Teresa Clarke, chairman and CEO of Africa.com has announced the appointment of Ope Odusan as managing director of Africa.com Domain Services, the largest Africa-related website with over 3 million visitors per month from over 200 countries around the world.

Since 2011, Odusan has served as Chief Operating Officer of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), driving the strategy and operations of the .ng domain, the official domain of the country of Nigeria, which also includes .com.ng, among other domains. 

As the head of the organization, Odusan is credited with aligning the .ng domain with global market practices.

Clarke, said, “Following a comprehensive search that considered a broad list of highly qualified candidates, Ope’s unique combination of knowledge of the African internet market, management skills, professional experience and African domain name industry connections make him the ideal choice to serve as Africa.com’s Managing Director of Domain Name Services.  We are launching our domain name business this month. We are very impressed at how Ope’s vision is confluent with that of the organization, and how he plans to lead Africa.com into the future.”

Odusan said, “I am honored to have been selected as Africa.com’s new Managing Director of Domain Name Services and am excited to drive its mission of bringing African small businesses online.  I look forward to working with the Africa.com staff towards an exciting future focused on helping African SMEs bring their products and services to the global online community. Together, we will advance African small business to improve economic development, and create jobs, for Africans across the continent.”

Odusan has over 20 years of experience in computer and biological science.  Since Odusan joined the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, he has become a leader in the African domain name industry, and in addition to running one of the continent’s largest domain names, is a frequent contributor to regulatory and policy development for African domain names.

Prior to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, Odusan served as Manager of the Johnson & Johnson QA Laboratory Computer Systems Group in New Jersey, USA.  

Odusan held previous positions as a Senior Research Scientist in Laboratory Computer Systems at Centocor Ortho Biotech in New Jersey, USA, as well as a software application scientist at global software development firm in California.

Odusan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, a Master of Science degree in Biotechnology from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Master of Science degree in Technology Management from the University of Maryland.