Sim Shagaya is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

media and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of uLesson Education Limited - an app built to make education available to learners across Africa and founder and chancellor of Miva Open University. He is the founder and former C.E.O of one of West Africa's largest

electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to Commerce, commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling Goods and services, products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on tec ...

website Konga.com and founder of E-Motion Advertising - a leading out-of-home media company acquired in 2019 by Loatsad Promomedia. In 2014, he was named in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

' list of "10 Most Powerful Men in Africa". In August 2019, Sim Shagaya was invited to and accepted to serve as a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Executive Governor of his home town, Plateau State, Samuel Lalong.

Early life and education

Sim Shagaya was born in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

where he served in the

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the largest component of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The President of Nigeria is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Army, and its professional head is the Chie ...

after completing the Nigerian Military School. He completed most of his education in the US. He is a graduate of

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

and holds a Masters of Engineering degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. He also graduated with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 2003.

Career

Early career

Prior to the establishment of DealDey and Konga.com, Sim worked as a banker in South Africa under

Rand Merchant Bank FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group, is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa ...

. He later moved to Nigeria where he became Google's head for Africa and went on to found a

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

-based billboard advertising business called E-Motion in November 2005. Sim sits on the Economic Advisory Council of Plateau State, Nigeria.

DealDey and Konga.com

Before Sim started DealDey and Konga.com, he created several websites like ''Alarena'', ''Jobclan'', ''Gbogbo'' and ''iNollyWood'' which were relatively unsuccessful. In March 2011, DealDey was launched after he convinced the board of the billboard company he owned to invest in DealDey. On 3 July 2012, he founded Konga.com with a capital from Swedish investment firm Kinnevik. According to Sim Shagaya, the primary aim of Konga.com is to ''"aggregate the youngest and fastest-growing market that was dispersed, under-served and that traditional retailers were simply failing to reach"''.

uLesson Education Limited

He founded the uLesson educational platform in 2020.

Miva Open University

Sim is also the founder and chancellor of Miva Open University which was recently launched and received its operating license in May 2023.

Awards and recognition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shagaya, Sim 1976 births Living people 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Harvard Business School alumni George Washington University alumni Dartmouth College alumni Nigerian chief executives Tarok people