Nigerian Internet Entrepreneur Chidi Nwaogu has won the first prize in the ‘Entrepreneurship’ category at the 2019 Africa 35.35 Awards. The Awards aim to recognize 35 people under 35 from Africa or the African diaspora who have made outstanding achievements in their communities. Other winners in the Entrepreneurship category are Kimberly Addison of Ghana, Saif EddineLaalej of Morocco and Jorge Appiah of Ghana.
The other Laureates of the Award include Elijah Amoo Addo of Ghana, Funkola Odeleye of Nigeria, Halimatou Gadji of Senegal, Affiong Williams of Nigeria, Ansoumane Mory Mara of Guinea/Morocco, Fatoumata Coulibaly Koné of Côte d’Ivoire/Burkina Faso, Daraja Haidara of Mali, Chinemenma Umeseaka of Nigeria, Kuami Eugene of Ghana, Isabelle Vovor of Côte d’Ivoire, Aline Savadogo of Burkina Faso and Modou Njie of Gambia.
Nwaogu is one of the 35 young people from 16 African countries that made the list of laureates of the Africa 35.35 Awards that celebrate African youth and afro-diaspora excellence. The awards were previously known as the Francophone 35.35 Youth Awards which expanded to include both French and English-speaking African nations. The Awards recognize and celebrate young people aged 18 to 35 on the African continent and its diaspora who have achieved exceptionally over the course of the year.
Nwaogu and the other laureates will be awarded during a ceremony on the 25th of November 2019 in Accra, Ghana. The event is said to be improved by the presence of leading figures of the host country. Nwaogu will receive a trophy and first prize in the Entrepreneurship category as will the other laureates. A super prize of the “Young African of the Year” will also be awarded at the ceremony.
Many laureates will be awarded the opportunity to present their innovations before a gathering of 300 participants during the special “Inspiration Africa” event. Nwaogu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Publiseer, a digital publisher for African Creatives. It has been described by Konbini as “one of the largest digital publishers in Africa.” IFC has identified it as one of the startups that could “that could speed up innovation in Africa,” and has been listed twice by ModernGhana as one of the “10 African Innovations ” in 2019.
Over the course of 2019, Nwaogu has achieved numerous accolades, including the winner of the Young Leaders Award 2019, winner of the Biz Business Excellence Award 2019, winner of Startup World Cup Nigeria Regionals 2019, winner of the ITU Innovation Challenges 2019, two-time recipient of OD Young Person of the Month and the first place winner of OD Impact Challenge 2019.
Nwaogu began his entrepreneurship journey at the age of 16 with the creation of 9ja Boi Interactive, a video game development company after which he co-founded, grew and sold two Internet companies including LAGbook, a social network that has garnered over 1 million registered users within three years. He has been described as one of the “Young innovators making Africa great in 2019.”
Edited by Kojo Essah
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