In 2014, Sim Shagaya was named one of Forbes’s most powerful men in Africa. Over the years, he has established himself as a father figure to many Nigerian tech entrepreneurs, having successfully founded prominent e-commerce companies like DealDey and Konga.com, where he is currently chairman, and digital advertising company, E-motion.
BACKGROUND
Sim is one of those people who is ever ready to help, a character trait that has been chronicled by several entrepreneurs like Printivo’s Yomi Ojo and IrokoTV’s Jason Njoku.
Sim Shagaya is a Nigerian 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. He is the founder and former C.E.O of one of West Africa’s largest electronic commerce websites, Konga.com and founder of E-Motion Advertising – a leading out-of-home media company acquired in 2019 by Loadstad Media. Named in Forbes‘ 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.
Sim Shagaya was born in Nigeria where he served in the Nigerian Army after completing the Nigerian Military School. He completed most of his education in the US. He is a graduate of George Washington University and holds a Master of Engineering degree from Dartmouth College. He also graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2003.
Prior to the establishment of DealDey and Konga.com, Sim worked as a banker in South Africa under Rand Merchant Bank. He later moved to Nigeria where he became Google’s head for Africa and went on to found a Lagos-based billboard advertising business called E-Motion in November 2005. Sim sits on the Economic Advisory Council of Plateau State, Nigeria. He cites Hakeem Belo-Osagie as the “biggest impact” in his career.
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 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”.
He founded the uLesson educational platform in 2020.
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