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The Ekehs: Digital Father and Son Shine at Thisday Awards

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By Sola Odumosu

 History was made on the evening of Monday, January 27, in Lagos at the colourful Thisday Awards ceremony when serial digital entrepreneur, Leo Stan Ekeh, shared the same podium with his son, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh, as winners in different categories of the much-coveted awards. The awards commemorated the 30th and 12th anniversaries of Thisday Newspapers and Arise News, respectively.

While the father, who is the Chairman of Zinox Group, was honoured as CEO of the Year, his Oxford-trained son, Prince, the CEO of Konga Group, was decorated with the Young Global Leader Award for his transformative role in navigating Konga as a foremost composite e-commerce giant in Nigeria and Africa. It was historic, being the first time ever that a father and his son would be honoured on the same night in the nation’s Infotech ecosystem.

Who is This Prince?

Prince Ekeh was 19 and a student at University of Lancaster, United Kingdom, when he birthed the idea of Yudala, a brutally ambitious e-commerce outpost. Majoring in Economics/Politics with a minor in Entrepreneurship, young Ekeh was not going to leave the idea merely as a paper concept. He was in a hurry to birth it to life. And while back home to serve his fatherland under the auspices of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Yudala was born, becoming a place of activity employing over 250 staff at that time. And ever since, he has navigated the company to the crest of e-commerce players in Africa. He would later top up his academic kit with an MBA from Oxford and numerous entrepreneurial certifications from Lagos Business School, Leysin American School, Switzerland, and Harvard, among others.

Yudala was the first composite e-commerce outpost in Nigeria (a hybrid of the online-offline one-stop-shop). This idea has caught global attention and is now being replicated across the continent. Smart and endowed with bullish strength and uncommon intuition to sniff the next opportunity, Prince in 2018 achieved what many thought impossible. His start-up, Yudala, acquired Konga, a top player in Nigeria’s e-commerce space, in a landmark merger that became effective May 1, 2018. The young whiz has since expanded Konga to a leading e-commerce house in Africa, retaining the composite character of Yudala. He has creatively expanded the market share value and networth of Konga by building its business verticals to include logistics, fintech, travel, and leisure.

Young Prince Ekeh is not new to awards. He had been nominated for the prestigious Future Awards for Business Excellence, and featured as Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in response to the proclamation by United Nation’s General Assembly Resolution 68/237, and had been awarded Icon of Human Transformation by the National Association of Nigerian Students. The Thisday award is, therefore, another feather to the decorated cap of the savvy entrepreneur in a hurry to make his mark.

Leo Stan, a Peculiar Breed

His father, popularly called Leo Stan, was honoured with the CEO of the Year Award in the private sector, the only CEO in the highly competitive and sometimes treacherous private sector to be so honoured. The historical and symbolic moment was not lost on him. He recognised the honour of sharing the same platform with his son, both being rewarded for their peerless contribution to Nigeria, nay Africa, digital economy. It was a rarity, more so, as they shared the same podium with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was voted Thisday Man of the Year for his bold reforms and leadership exemplum on the African continent.

Leo Stan deserves the honour, and he has seen many in his over three decades of entrepreneurship and unrelenting promotion of digital democracy in Nigeria. It was no coincidence that when Thisday turned 30 years, it could not find any Nigerian more worthy than Leo Stan for the award of CEO of the Year. It’s both instructive and divine especially when you consider that Leo Stan was the man who computerized newspaper houses, advertising agencies, and printing presses in Nigeria in the late 80s and early 90s when many Nigerians were still in awe of the computer and all its magical, even mythical, wand.

Since returning from the United Kingdom to start his entrepreneurship odyssey in IT over 30 years ago, Leo Stan has stood out as a bustling serial digital pioneer with an elephantine ambition to computerize Nigeria — a mission he has achieved on many fronts.

His zeal and passion have placed him at the cusp of the competition with many firsts to his badge. The first internationally certified indigenous computer brand in West Africa and the first computer brand in the world to incorporate the Naira sign (₦) on its keyboard. First Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in sub-Saharan Africa to receive Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Lab Certification (WHQL); first Microsoft Prime Production Online Automation Partner in Sub-Saharan Africa with the OA Version 3.0; first Intel Premium Partner; first OEM in West Africa to attain the ISO 9001-2015 Certification; first to acquire the Google Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) in West Africa; first OEM in Nigeria to introduce renewable energy and lifestyle products and attaining the status of Intel Platinum Partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

When he launched the Zinox brand in 2001, it was not just an addition to the crowd of indigenous-branded computers. It was a fitting counterfoil to the dominance of foreign computer brands in Nigeria. Zinox has since become an African brand.

Zinox has proven both competence and capacity at home and in other parts of Africa. It was the preferred technology that powered several mega projects including the 8th All Africa Games codenamed COJA 2003; the 18th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Nigeria in 2003; the All-Africa University Games held in Bauchi in 2004; the 7th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Africa Union (AU) held in The Gambia in 2006. It has also undertaken critical interventions by transforming the Nigeria and Guinea Bissau electoral systems from analogue to digital. The conduct of Nigeria general elections in 2007 and 2011 using digitally produced voter register for the first time in Nigeria was because of Zinox. It has also fully provided the technology for the postponed first ever national digital census in Nigeria.

Leo Stan is an intentional family man who has built a digital family. His wife, Lady Chioma Ekeh, a mathematician and chartered accountant oversees the biggest tech distribution company in sub – Saharan Africa, TD Africa. His first son and co-awardee, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh leads Konga Group. His first daughter, Mrs. Gozy Ajogun (nee Ekeh), an alumnus of London School of Economics (LSE) oversees Task Systems, an ICT solutions firm under the Zinox Group. The second daughter, Miss Chidalu Ekeh, with a Masters in Digital Marketing from Imperial College, London, is a Fintech whiz. At the same time, his other two younger sons also play in the tech space. He has added digital value to Nigeria and Africa. He deserves his award and the historical honour of being garlanded with his son. It’s double congratulations to Africa’s dominant digital family. It was indeed their night.

Odumosu, an ICT media connoisseur, writes from Lagos.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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FG Asks Nigerians to Brace for Fresh Electricity Tariff Hike

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Federal government has said that it plans are ongoing to increase electricity tariffs “over the next few months”.

FG Asks Nigerians to Brace for Fresh Electricity Tariff Hike

The government however, said that the planned increase needed to be balanced by subsidies for less-affluent electricity users.

Olu Verheijen, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, , as giving this hint at the Africa Heads of State Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where Nigeria presented a $32 billion plan to expand electricity connections by 2030.

According to the presidential aide, Nigeria is trying to resolve the transition to a cost-efficient but cost-reflective tariff to attract private investors.

She said: “One of the key challenges we’re looking to resolve over the next few months is transitioning to a cost-efficient but cost-reflective tariff.

“So the sector generates revenue required to attract private capital, while also protecting the poor and vulnerable.”

Last year, the federal government approved a threefold increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.

The fresh move to raise tariffs comes amid mounting pressure from Nigeria’s debt-burdened electricity distribution companies for tariffs to be cost-reflective so they can improve their finances.

 

 

 

 

 


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NAICOM Issues Fresh Annuity Rules to Insurance Firms

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The National Insurance Commission has issued fresh regulations on annuity business with effect from February 1, 2025, in a bid to sanitise that segment of the market.

An annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company that requires the insurer to make payments to you, either immediately or in the future. You get a fixed amount of money for the rest of your life in return for a lump sum payment or a series of instalments.

In a statement over the weekend, NAICOM released circular outlining additional regulatory requirements for life insurance companies carrying on annuity business in Nigeria.

The circular, dated January 29, 2025, signed by Director (Innovation & Regulation) A.I. Adamu, issued to Managing Directors/CEOs of all life insurance companies, aims to enshrine best practices in the management of annuity portfolios by insurance institutions.

The new rules mandate that insurance companies are required to have at least one qualified actuary responsible for assets-liability matching analysis and implementation of its adoption by the investment team of the company.

A part of the guidelines read, “An insurer that does not have an in-house qualified actuary shall make arrangements for a qualified one from an external actuarial firm to take on the ALM responsibility on its behalf for an interim period of no more than two years, subject to the Commission’s approval for an extension for two or more years thereafter.

“The appointment of an in-house or external qualified actuary, who shall sign off all ALM reports as required by the provisions of paragraphs 3.4.3, 7.3.1, and 8.1.5(m) of the Prudential Guidelines, shall be subject to the prior approval of the commission.

ALM Reports: Companies are required to submit ALM reports to the commission quarterly, with requirements outlined in the circular such as required actions by insurers depending on the results from specific analysis applying guidance provided in the NAS Standards of Actuarial Practice.”

NAICOM said that insurance companies are required to comply with the new requirements, with the board of directors responsible for ensuring strict compliance.

Also, the regulator said that companies that are unable to cover the additional expenses imposed by the circular are required to transfer their annuity portfolio to another suitable insurance company within 180 days.

On the mandated ALM reports, the new guidelines read, “The ALM report shall be submitted to the Commission not later than 15 days after the end of every quarter in line with the reporting requirement stipulated in paragraph 3.4.3 of the Prudential Guidelines.

“Without prejudice to paragraph seven of this circular, where the annuity portfolio of an insurance company has more than 1,000 (one thousand) annuitants or the portfolio is valued at N5bn or more, the company shall submit to the commission the prescribed ALM report monthly, not later than the 15th of the succeeding month.”


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FG Launches Tech Initiative to Train 10,000 Nigerian Youths

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The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, in partnership with Humanity Advancement Innovation Network (HAIN), has launched an innovative initiative to unlock the immense potential of Nigeria’s youth.

The Minister, Chief Uche Nnaji, while signing the Memorandum of Understanding in Abuja, said the partnership represents a significant milestone in the journey to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem across Nigeria.

He added that the partnership aligns perfectly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly in the areas of job creation, economic diversification, and inclusive development.

According to the minister, the Innovative Science and Technology Programme (ISTEP) will train and certify 10,000 innovators across 200 local government areas in the next two years.

“It will be establishing 2,500 youth-led innovative enterprises to drive economic growth and competitiveness,” he added.

“Also, developing six Innovation Academies and three iSTECH City Hubs as centres of excellence in technology and innovation. Creating 5,000 new jobs, contributing to national efforts to tackle unemployment.”

He stressed that the programme underscores the collective commitment to leveraging innovation and technology to address pressing challenges in key sectors such as agriculture, energy, and industrial development.

“It will enhance food security through agricultural and green innovation and promote inclusive economic development by fostering innovation-driven enterprises.”

The minister, who urged youths to seize the opportunity, added that the future of the nation depends on their creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit.

On his part, the Team Lead of Humanity Advancement Innovation Network (HAIN), Daniel Olasetemi, said the group will provide training and market access for young entrepreneurs to thrive.

He added that Nigeria is currently facing economic challenges due to its dependence on imported goods, saying this can only be addressed through the grooming of young entrepreneurs.

 


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