The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies .(August 2023) |
Michael Ugwu | |
---|---|
Obiora | |
Born | |
Other names | Magic Mike |
Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur Investor Media Proprietor |
Known for | Pioneer GM for Sony Music Entertainment in West Africa, the first major label to open up shop in West Africa, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria General Manager, Sony Music Entertainment, West Africa ContentsFreeme Digital |
Michael Ugwu is a British music industry executive, investor and entrepreneur in Nigeria's music and entertainment industry. He was formerly the General Manager of Sony Music Entertainment, West Africa. [1] He is the founder and CEO of Freeme Digital. [2] Prior to this, Ugwu was the CEO of iROKING Ltd [3]
From 2010 to 2013, Ugwu was the CEO at iROKING, an online digital music platform focused on the Nigerian Entertainment Industry. [4]
He founded Freeme Digital limited in 2013 [5] and in 2020, he became the first Nigerian to be appointed to the board of the Merlin Network. [6] [7] He was reappointed to the board of Merlin in January 2022. [8]
Ugwu has investments in multiple start-up companies including Shecluded, [9] Coin Profile, Buycoins Africa, Atide Solutions and Spendify. [10]
Ugwu has been accused by YCEE of unethical or unfair business practices. [11] [12] [13] He was dismissed from iROKING allegedly over issues involving working with a competing service. [14] [15] [16] Ugwu has disputed iROKING's claims. [17]
In 2020, Ugwu announced that he had been acquitted of all charges brought against him by iROKING, at the Federal High Court and Industrial Court. [18]
In 2019, Ugwu married Onyeka Udechukwu. [21]
Merlin is a digital rights music licensing partner for independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders around the world. It was founded in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota stepped into the role of Merlin CEO. The company is a member-based organization representing the digital licensing rights for hundreds of independent labels and distributors in nearly every country around the globe. As of 2019, Merlin has paid out over two billion dollars.
Frank Nnaemeka Nweke Jr is a Nigerian Politician, Entrepreneur, Teacher and Social Innovator. He is a two-time Federal Minister in Nigeria and former Director General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG). He is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and is currently vying for the position of Governor of Enugu in the 2023 Nigerian General Election, upon emerging the party candidate at the primary election in May 2022.
Polaris Bank Limited is a commercial bank based in Nigeria. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the country's banking regulator. In October 2022, the bank was acquired by Strategic Capital Investment Limited (SCIL).
Ogui is an autonomous community in Nike, in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State in the southeastern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It comprises Umunevo Village, Ihewuzi Village and Onuato Village. Ogui Nike, as it is usually called, is a major landlord to the administrative, political and economic hub of Enugu City, in that major public and private institutions, shopping malls, hotels, banks and so on are situated on Ogui land.
iROKO Partners is an online media distribution company focused on the Nigerian entertainment industry. The company was established in September 2010 and is headquartered in Lagos, with a branch in London, United Kingdom. The company is led by its co-founders Jason Njoku (CEO) and Bastian Gotter along with major investor Nazar Yasin. iROKO Partners offers a range of online media products including its movie streaming website named IROKOtv focused on Nollywood Film productions, and 'iROKING', a Nigerian music streaming platform. Other web brands are NollywoodLove and YorubaLove which operate on the YouTube video platform.
irokotv is a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand. It is one of Africa's first mainstream online movie streaming websites, providing access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles. irokotv is a part of iROKO Limited, which is one of Africa's entertainment companies.
Spinlet is a digital media company, focusing on Afro-Centric content. Spinlet’s primary service is music streaming and downloads available globally via web browsers, and the Spinlet app on iOS and Android. The Spinlet platform provides the largest music catalog of licensed African and International content from content licensers such as Content Connect Africa, Africori, Symphonic Distribution, TuneCore, La Cupla Music, Deliver My Tune, and many other indies. It allows the users to purchase, listen, share and discover music while offering integration and storage of the user's music library on their mobile device. As at October 2015, the Spinlet app had been downloaded nearly 2 million times.
Jason Chukwuma Njoku is a British businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv, a video-on-demand service for Nigerian movies.
Oludemilade Martin Alejo, known professionally as Ycee, is a Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter. He gained popularity after his single "Condo", which features vocals by Patoranking, earned him two nominations at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. He was also nominated for Best Artist in African Pop at the 2015 All Africa Music Awards and for Next Rated at The Headies 2016. Ycee signed a record deal with Sony Music in October 2016, but terminated his contract with the label in February 2018.
Okechukwu Oku, also known as Okey Oku and nicknamed "the Oracle", is a Nigerian film producer, director, cinematographer and occasional musician. He is best known for directing the movies Love and Oil (2014), Burning Bridges (2014) and Bambitious (2014) which featured Belinda Effah and Daniel K Daniel.
Nnamdi John Okonkwo is the immediate past Chief Executive Officer/ Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Nigeria, a position he was appointed to January 2, 2014, from his former role as the executive director of South Directorate at Fidelity Bank Nigeria. He also was the Executive Director of Commercial and Consumer Banking South Directorate. Before joining the bank, he occupied the chief operating officer position in the United Bank for Africa subsidiary in Ghana.
Ade Abayomi Olufeko, is an American-born designer, technologist, and entrepreneur primarily active in Lagos. His international work in humanities has been leveraged by Consortiums, NGOs, and high-impact leaders. He is the founder of Visual Collaborative, an American festival, and publishing platform that partners with artists, scientists, lawyers, and innovators on socio-economics. In 2003, he became a recipient of the IBM Gerstner Award for exceptional service during a malware epidemic.
Mfon Ekpolisten is a Nigerian entrepreneur and author. In 2017, Ekpo was named one of the most inspiring and influential women in Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa and shortlisted for the British Council Alumni Awards for Social Impact in Nigeria. Ekpo serves as an Executive Director with The John Maxwell Team.
Remi Dada is a Nigerian architect and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Spacefinish, which designs innovative workspaces and offices.
Mary Remmy Njoku(born 20 March 1985) is a Nigerian actress, producer, content creator and founder of the ROK TV Channels and CEO of ROK Studios, which she founded in 2013. With a catalogue of over three thousand (3000) hours of original content produced, that includes movies and TV series, ROK has in a short span become a leading producer of family friendly content and entertainment.
Adewale Mayowa Emmanuel, known professionally as Mayorkun, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and pianist. He released a cover of Davido's "The Money" single and was discovered by the singer on Twitter. Mayorkun was signed to Davido's record label DMW from 2016 to 2021; his debut single "Eleko" was released under the label. Mayorkun released his debut studio album The Mayor of Lagos in November 2018. After his exit from DMW in 2021; he released "Let Me Know" and his second studio album Back In Office in October 2021, under Sony Music West Africa division.
Olatunbosun Tijani is the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was appointed to the role by the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on August 16, 2023.
Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. also known as CFA is a Nigerian journalist, technology entrepreneur, business coach, public speaker and television presenter at Channels TV where he hosts the show Tech Trends. He is also a columnist for The Punch called ICT clinic. He is the co-founder of godo.ng, director of Innovation Support Network Hubs and Director of Founder Institute Lagos, and the founder of CFAtech.ng.
Olukorede Adenowo is the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, Nigeria. He was previously the bank's Executive Director of Corporate, Commercial, and Institutional Banking, responsible for Nigeria and West Africa. He is also an executive director on the board of the bank. He was also previously the managing director and chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Gambia and Senegal; the deputy managing director and deputy CEO for SCB, Cameroon, a non-executive director at SCB Gambia and Sierra Leone, and vice president of the Gambia Bankers Association and trustee of the Institute of Bankers of Gambia.
Babajide Oluwase is an adviser to the European Union (EU) Delegation in Nigeria and West Africa, through its Youth Sounding Board, on Green and Digital Economy.