Official logo of SME100 Africa | |
SME100 Africa | |
Private | |
Industry | Enterprise Development |
Founded | May 2015 in Lagos State, Nigeria |
Headquarters | Ikoyi, Lagos State , Nigeria |
Key people | Charles Odii (Executive Director) |
Website | sme100africa |
SME100 Africa is a Social Enterprise company located in Ikoyi, a district of Lagos. Founded in 2015 by Charles Odii, [1] it provides a platform empowering young entrepreneurs and small or medium scale enterprise to successfully scale and thrive in Africa. [2]
SME 100 Africa host the annual 25Under25 Awards and Lagos Small Business Summit. [3] [4]
At SME100 Africa, innovations by young entrepreneurs are supported through advice, mentorship and funding through series of workshops, events and skill development programs. [5] [6] The SME100 Africa happens to be one of the few enterprise development hubs in Africa partnering with other organisations to provide early stage business support programs and initiatives to thousands of Nigerian startups. [7]
The 25Under25 Awards by SME100 Africa is designed to recognize and celebrate young entrepreneurs for scaling their innovations and achieving growth, cooperation and investment readiness. [8] The programme is being implemented in Nigeria annually for individuals under the age of 25. Notable Honorees of the award include DJ Cuppy, Tobi Bakre, Gloria Oloruntobi, Joeboy, Rema (musician), Young John, Yasmin Belo-Osagie amongst others. [9] In 2019, Airtel Nigeria partnered with SME100 Nigeria to celebrate the 25 Nominated entrepreneurs and businesses for the fourth edition. [10] [11]
The Lagos Small Business Summit launched by SME100 Africa is an annual 2days event to commiserate the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Nigeria with masterclasses, seminars, business advisory, pitch competition and exhibitions. [12] [13] [14] The winner of the pitch competition receives a combined funding of up to one million naira, and will be supported by SME100 Africa. [15]
Audu Maikori is a Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur, social activist, public speaker and creative industry professional. He is the co-founder and President of the Chocolate City Entertainment. He is well known as Founder of Chocolate City, Entertainment lawyer and regarded as the "Simon Cowell" in Nigerian Idol's first season. He won multiple awards during his career, including the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007.
Shuga, also known as MTV Shuga, is a television drama series that was first aired in November 2009 on MTV Base as part of an initiative dubbed "MTV Staying Alive Ignite!". Its first two seasons were commissioned by MTV Networks Africa in association with The MTV Staying Alive Foundation, PEPFAR, the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation (HFG) and the Government of Kenya, as part of a multimedia campaign to spread the message about responsible sexual behaviour and tolerance. It later became a hit and was aired in 40 different African countries before it was aired internationally in over 70 television stations. It was thought to be a very controversial series by the senior generation of Kenyans because it contained some scenes that contained sexually explicit content. It received a Gold award in May 2010 at the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany in the Public Relations Health category for its focus on love, emotions, and sexual behavior amongst Kenyan youth.
YNaija is a Nigerian online content publishing platform, founded by Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams of RED Africa media group. YNaija launched in May 2010 with columnists and various news sources. It offers news, original content and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy and healthy living.
Chidinma Ekile, known professionally as Chidinma, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. In 2010, she rose to stardom after winning the third season of Project Fame West Africa. Following the release of the music video for her "Emi Ni Baller" single, she became the first female musician to peak at number 1 on the MTV Base Official Naija Top 10 chart. In 2011, she released the Sound Sultan-assisted single "Jankoliko". Her eponymous debut album Chidinma was released through the music platform Spinlet; it was supported by the singles "Jankoliko", "Carry You Go", "Kedike" and "Run Dia Mouth". The album features guest appearances from Sound Sultan, Tha Suspect, Olamide and Muna. Chidinma won Best Female West African Act at the 2012 Kora Awards and performed "Kedike" at the ceremony.
Toke Makinwa is a Nigerian radio personality, television host, vlogger, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. She is known for hosting The Morning Drive on Rhythm 93.7 FM and for her YouTube vlog series Toke Moments. She released her book On Becoming in November 2016.
Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and human development expert whose work cuts across entrepreneurship, education, youth development and public leadership. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Rise Networks, a Nigeria-based private and public sector funded Youth Interest social enterprise focused on using tech innovation to create advocacy and learning opportunities for the inclusive growth of youths with the core objective of preparing them for leadership and social change. She is also the founder of Passnownow, a mobile learning portal with access to curriculum-based education content with standardized assessments and exam review questions in digital format distributed via web and mobile to underserved high school students and teachers.
BellaNaija is a lifestyle, entertainment and fashion website in Africa. Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, its social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month.
Uche Pedro is an award-winning Nigerian entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of BellaNaija, a media tech brand known for entertainment and lifestyle content. Under her leadership, BellaNaija's social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month.
Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and UK-trained economist and information technology expert. She is the founder and executive director of Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a non-profit organisation that empowers women and girls socially and economically through education in Information technology. W.TEC was established in the year 2008. She is a fellow of Ashoka and a recipient of the Anita Borg Institute (ABIE) Change Agent Award.
Agatha Amata, is a Nigerian media entrepreneur, talk show host, speaker, TV presenter and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show Inside Out with Agatha, which is the longest running television talk show in Nigeria which has aired for over twenty years.
Ade Abayomi Olufeko, is a designer, technologist, and entrepreneur primarily active in West Africa. His multidisciplinary work in the creative industry has been leveraged by consortiums, NGOs and noteworthy personalities.
Adenrele Sonariwo is a Nigerian entrepreneur and art curator. She is the founder of the Rele Art Gallery on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria. She was the lead curator of the first Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
Efe Paul Azino born in Lagos is a Nigerian writer, performance artist and poet, regarded "as one of Nigeria's leading performance poets." He has also been regarded as one who has "played a pivotal part in lifting the words from the page and giving them life" in the Nigerian spoken word performance space.
Tokini Peterside is a Nigerian entrepreneur and business woman. She created ART X Lagos, the first international art fair in West Africa.
Mfon Ekpo 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.
Sylvia Nduka is a Nigerian model, beauty queen and entrepreneur. She was the winner of Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2011 and was the Nigeria contestant at the Miss World 2011 pageant. She is from Anambra State.
House on the Rock is a prominent multi-ethnic Christian Church headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. The ministry was founded by Paul Adefarasin in 1994, well known for its annual musical concert, The Experience, which features local and international gospel musicians.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, founder and partner at Ingressive, a firm that provides market entry, technology research and market operations services for firms and businesses expanding into Africa. She also founded Ingressive Capital, a venture capital fund investing in Africa-based technology companies. She co-founded the High Growth Africa Summit, a two-day conference on how to launch a high growth African business, and founded Tech Meets Entertainment Summit, a deal-focused event for African celebrities and tech companies to build revenue-generating partnerships.
Nkem Okocha is Nigerian social entrepreneur and activist who founded Mamamoni, a FinTech social enterprise that empowers poor rural and urban slum women with free vocational skills and Mobile Loans,. She is the 2016 winner of the LEAP Africa Social Innovators Programme (SIP) by Union bank.
Onyeka Akumah is a technology entrepreneur with focus on the agriculture, real estate, and transportation sectors. He is popularly known as the founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy Limited. Prior to founding his company in 2016, Onyeka Akumah is credited to have been involved in the success of various tech and e-commerce companies in Africa where he held top positions and played major roles in contribution to their growth.