The story of e-commerce in Nigeria can never be told without putting in the story of Sim Shagaya. He is the brain behind what has been described as the biggest e-commerce website, Konga.com. Named as one of the 10 Most Powerful Men In Africa in 2014 by Forbes, Shagaya has made a lot of accomplishments in both his personal and professional life. Here is all to know about him.
Sim Shagaya Biography
The entrepreneur was born Simdul Shagaya in 1976 to a father, John Nanzip Shagaya who was a Nigerian military officer and then later a politician who served in the Nigerian senate before he died in 2018. Sim who was raised alongside a good number of siblings if from Lanthang in Plateau State. Being raised in a military family, Shagaya spent his childhood in different places because the family was always on the move.
Sim Shagaya had his earliest education in Nigeria where he attended the Nigerian Military School (NMS) and from here, he proceeded to George Washington University, Washington DC from where he graduated with a BSc in Electrical Engineering. He moved to Dartmouth College where he obtained a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management. Sim also got an MBA from Harvard University, Boston Massachusetts.
Before proceeding to the further his education in the US, Simdul Shagaya served with the Nigerian army just as his father and some other members of his family. He served as a private for two years after which he realized that he was not cut out for the military.
While Sim Shagaya has a wife and children, he has kept them very much away from the public. Nonetheless, his wife is also running her own business and in 2017, she started a business in South Africa.
Professional Life and Konga
His first love with the computer began when he was just 11 after he was gifted a PC by his father’s friend. By the time he had graduated from the university, the internet was already becoming the center of attraction for business people and people with various ideas. He decided to take a part in it.
With a never say die spirit, Sim Shagaya started a number of businesses in the past that all failed including alarina.com which was a dating site, a job placement website, jobclan.com, and a classified site, Gbogbo.com. Also, he started a streaming service called iNollywood.com which also failed because he believed the timing was wrong. It was after all these that he began what would later be his biggest mark thus far when he created Konga.com.
It is important to realize that after his businesses failed and before going to found konga, he founded Dealdey in 2011 as a lifestyle website which allowed people to buy things they needed including fragrance and shoes and even food. Before too long Dealdey was already pulling in many customers to the platform.
With the relative success on his first major platform, Sim decided to go for the giant kill in 2012 by founding Konga.com thanks to capital from Swedish investment firm Kinnevik. Konga rose steadily and at a point, was the most popular website in Nigeria.
He has a very impressive resume that includes his work with West African Principal for Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa, and he was also able to get experience in New Media and Investment Banking. In addition to this, he once worked with Google serving as its Africa
Through his years as an entrepreneur, Sim Shagaya has received a lot of highly revered accolades. He was named the Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 at the CNBC/All Africa Business Leaders Award in West Africa and in 2014, he was named Leadership CEO of the Year at The Leadership Conference/Awards. Also, Konga was selected as one of the African technology startups of 2013 by HumanIPO.
As earlier stated, he was listed among the 10 most powerful men in Africa in 2014 on a list that had people like Tanzanian Deputy Minister of Communication, Science & Technology and Member of Parliament January Makamba; Ghana’s Komla Dumor who is a Lead Presenter on “Focus On Africa” and BBC World News’ European morning segment; and Founder of Hopstop.com and Tripology.com, Chinedu Echeruo.
Challenges and Konga Deal with Zinox Group (Yudala)
While he seems to have had a smooth ride, it has not always been that way for the entrepreneur most especially in his early days of starting Konga. According to him, if he had started the business in the US, he would have given Amazon a good run for their money considering the effort he has put into it to work in Nigeria. He revealed that there was a point when Konga store was shut down because his landlord had failed to pay a loan he acquired.
As a result of that, the store was closed and he could not make deliveries for a number of days. In fact, Konga was only days from going out of business before he was able to get help from some top government officials to finally have the store reopened. This, he said, was only one of the few challenges among many that he has had owning and running a business in Nigeria. More so, he stated that one of his greatest challenges with running a business in the country has been the corruption of the government.
In 2018, Zinox Group acquired Konga in a rather shocking deal that was said to be worth between $10m-$15m. Following the deal, Yudala finally dissolved into Konga to build what is now regarded as one of the biggest e-commerce platform in Africa alongside other top competitors like Jumia.
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After the deal that had left many shocked, Jason Njoku who is a close friend to Shagaya and the founder of iRokoTV revealed that there was a lot that had happened behind the scene leading to the sale of Konga which Shagaya had once said he wanted to run for a lifetime. According to Njoku, he believes that one day, Sim was going to tell what happened as it was not for him to tell it.
Sim Shagaya Net Worth
Shagaya has not only become a massive source of inspiration to millions of people all over the world, he has in the process, also made himself a great deal of fame and fortune, standing in the elite class of people that run the internet in Africa such as Linda Ikeji, Seun Osewa, Jason Njoku, and a few others.
For his net worth, while what he actually has remains unknown, he is believed to be worth millions of dollars which he has made from all his dealings.
