Early life
Born December 11, 1980 to a single mother in Deptford, south east of London, Jason Chukwuma Njoku grew up to value Hardwork and be a businessman with a heart. He and his siblings, four brothers and a sister were raised by his mother who was working then in the National Health Service. Jason schooled in London till the age of 12 before moving back to Nigeria where he remained till he was 15. However he returned back to London and completed his BSC in university of Manchester.
In the year 2005 Jason launched a magazine publication which lasted for two years before it took a nose dive. He ventured into other enterprises but all was unsuccessful till his 11th attempt which birthed Nollywoodlove, a YouTube channel where people were able to stream licensed Nollywood movies for free.
Career;
The idea of Nollywoodlove was planted during Jason’s forced move to his mother’s house due to lack of funds on his part. He discovered that his mother encountered difficulties in finding Nollywood films online and it inspired him to research the industry and come up with ideas on how to fill in the gap.
With the help of his university friend Bastian Gotter, Nollywoodlove was launched and in no time became popular and profitable. Enjoying press coverage from various media houses like CNN, Nollywoodlove landed a $3 million funding from Tiger Global and this birthed IrokoTv.
This was his starting point and it made room for every other success he has today .The idea to start licensing and developing their own content through a web platform launched in 2011. The site drew in viewers from 178 countries around the world and still counting.
IrokoTv recorded over 500,000 registered users within 6 months of it’s launch and Today Iroko is one of largest YouTube partners in Africa. Having over 500,000 movie licenses purchased and more than 800,000 registered users, it has become the largest distributor of Nollywood content globally.
Njoku decided to focus the company’s attention on the android mobile app in 2015 rather than continue with streaming platform and this was to combat broadband infrasture problems faced by Africa. Ever since Jason launched IrokoTV the company has grown and birthed new businesses including the successful production house, ROK Studios.
He is an investor who has a special interest in supporting startups, his funds have contributed to the growth of some in Nigeria. Most of which are no longer in operations because they failed. Some of these startups still in operation include Drinks.ng, ToLet.com.ng, and Hotels.ng.He is currently the Executive chairman and Advisor at BlackBet and Betty Bingo.
Jason Chukwuma Njoku believes in the institution of marriage & family and is happily married to his wife and colleague Mary Remy Njoku. They are blessed with three children, two girls and a boy.
His achievements include;
He was cited by Forbes Africa as one of the “Ten Young African millionaires to watch” in 2012, he was also Entrepreneur of the year (technology) at the future awards in 2012. Young leader of the year for west Africa at CNBC all Africa business awards in 2013 and 1000 most creative people in business in 2014. He is currently the Executive Chairman and Advisor in BlackBet and Betty Bingo.
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