Most people know about iRokoTV, but what many don’t know is the brain behind it all, Jason Njoku. He is a Nigerian entrepreneur who has become very famous for founding one of the most popular video-on-demand movie platforms for Nigerian and in fact, African movies as a whole.
Jason Njoku Biography and Education
It was on December 11, 1980, that he was born as Jason Chukwuma Njoku in Deptford, South-East London. Although he is originally from Mbaise, Imo State in Nigeria, he was raised in Deptford. While nothing is known about his father, it is known that he was brought up alongside his 4 siblings by their mother who worked National Health Service.
Although it was in London that he was raised and it was also there that he had his early education, he later moved to Nigeria when he was only 12 and remained there for the next 3 years. After returning to London, Jason Njoku continued with his studies and after his college, he got admitted into The University of Manchester.
It will be easy for one to assume that the entrepreneur studied something relating to business or the movies, but on the contrary, he studied chemistry and even graduated with a second class upper.
Business Enterprise and IrokoTV
Instead of going on to become a scientist, he decided to take a delve into the business world and movies in particular. His drive into coming up with an online movie streaming platform was driven by his bow hard it was for his mother who was in London to access Nollywoood films. He believed there would also be many people like his mother who would also have the same issue.
Before long afterward, he founded the Nollywood Love which would soon turn to Iroko Partners. Even before he decided on starting the company, he got involved in a number of other things in the past such as a magazine which he started shortly after he graduated from Manchester University. Although he loved the Magazine, it was soon to fold.
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Between 2005 and 2010, he got involved in running a blog network, but that would soon be out of business and in the same period, he also got involved in other things such as T-shirt business and a web design company. Unfortunately for him, it all folded leaving him no option but to move back to Deptford and start living with his mother.
That was when he saw the plight of his mother who wanted to watch Nollywood films but there was nothing like Hulu or Netflix for the African market. With the idea and no funds, neither did he have any means of raising funds through loan because his bank account was not in a good shape. It was his best friend, Bastian Gotter, who saw what he was up to and decided to inject his personal money into the venture.
Soon, Jason Njoku was on the plane to Lagos and he met with film producers and other stakeholders, getting the license he needed to run the business. That became the birth of IrokoTV which will come to be referred to as the NetFlix of Africa.
Njoku and his business partner, Bastian Gotter got to raise $3 million from Tiger Global Company in 2010 and then $22 million from international venture capitals including Investment AB Kinnevik and RISE Capital. From then on, the company has ever kept growing and has remained the biggest streaming platform for African movies. In January 2017, Bastian Gotter left the company.
Accolades and achievements
While starting and running a successful business is an achievement, his efforts have been recognized with a number of awards. In 2013, the entrepreneur was named CNBC All Africa Business Awards Young Leader of the Year for West Africa and was also among Fast Company’s Top 1000 Most Creative People in Business in January 2014.
In addition, he got listed by Forbes Africa among the Ten Young African Millionaires to Watch. Also, he has a City People Movie Special Recognition Award to his name and an Outstanding Industry Achievement Award at the West Africa Mobile Awards. There are other awards to his name.
Wife and Children
In 2012, he got married to popular Nollywood actress, producer, and a television personality, Mary Remmy Njoku. The couple is thus far blessed with three children: Obi, Nwakaego, and Nnenna.
Net Worth
For a man who has worked as hard as Jason Njoku, one will easily expect him to have a good net worth. Much earlier, he revealed that his goal was to have a net worth of $100 million before he is 40. While his actual worth is not known, he has been said to have a net worth that is over $40 million.
Other Facts About Jason Njoku
- Although he now represents everything that success is, Njoku has started more than a couple of businesses that have all crumbled in five years before starting Iroko. Before then, he struggled with his bank account.
- Jason is actually the first person from his family to not only graduate from the university but to go to one.
