Nairaland forum took its chance in 2005 when Oluwaseun Temitope Osewa (Seun Osewa) took to internet business. Since its launch in 2005, Nairaland has become one of the most accepted internet forums in Nigeria and the largest in Africa. It is without a doubt that many find its services very appealing as it ranges from fashion to lifestyle, and news amongst others. As the forum continues to grow, many wonder who founded it and how the platform works.
Seun Osewa is one of the very few Nigerians, who have successfully made millions of dollars at an early stage. He didn’t allow his love for internet and entrepreneurship die, but nurture these dreams to become a reality even beyond his own imagination. Here are some of the things you need to know about the webmaster, site owner, and entrepreneur.
BIOGRAPHY AND PROFILE OF SEUN OSEWA
Born on the 17th of July, 1982 in Sango Ota of Ogun State in Nigeria, Seun Osewa didn’t allow where he hails from to define who he wanted to be. At the time of his birth, what would come to be Africa’s biggest online forum of another generation was birthed as well.
Business became one of his likes ever since he discovered the internet and some ways to use it. Internet and technology have always been part of what Seun was attracted to and wanted to build. Like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, Seun dropped out of school (the prestigious University of Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to pursue his dream of programming. Lucky enough for Mr. Osewa, his dream, hard work and the huge decision of dropping out of school has been able to yield him a big name, a big brand and a fat account.
CAREER
Following his dropping out of the university where he was studying electrical engineering, Seun started his journey of web hosting in 2003 but ruefully like many businesses, it didn’t live to see the light of half a year as it lasted only three months. The business did not only crumble be he ran out of capital to manage other hosting requests.
Upon the death of his first online business of hosting, Seun didn’t let the light of his candle go off. He believed in his dream and continued to pursue it. Many advised him to get a certificate and start a normal job as many, but he knew exactly what he wanted and was bent on getting it. Like many successful entrepreneurs, he started making research about business ideas. The business ideas didn’t stop in his mind but he allowed his mouth to table them to family and friends.
Since a dream alive can be made a reality, Seun kept his dream of becoming a webmaster. Fortunately, a family friend paid a $15 per month VPS for him to start an online forum which will one day turn the young dreamer into a multi-million dollar rich. In November 2003, he created 3 forums which covered different areas of the higher institution (mainly for students); IT discussions and another to cover the area of the fast-rising GSM industry (the Mobile Nigeria Forum at MobileNigeria.com).
With the contributions and assistance of Mr. John Sagai Adam and Mr. Yomi Adegboye and the hard work of young Seun, the mobile forum became a success and was launched to Nairaland in 2005. In about the span of a month, the site could boast of 300 members but Mr. Osewa wanted more.
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Mobile Nigeria gave birth to Nairandland which at that time was the only Nigerian online forum that gave home based Nigerians voice since most sites owned by Nigerian outside of the country dealt with their issues outside of home. He broadened Nairaland by covering other topics of romance, jokes, etc. Being a man with lots of dreams, Seun took the bull by the horn when he started to deal with general issues on the site. Seun thought that broadening the site to deal with more issues would attract traffic to make good money from Google adverts.
In time, Nairaland got traffic more than the expectations of Seun, and his initial hope of making 60 thousand per month was dashed as he made even more. Traffic became high and spammers began flooding, so he got moderators to help control the forum.
The work and persistence of Seun began to pay him with both money and fame. In 2013, the young entrepreneur got himself to enter the Forbes list of best African Successful entrepreneurs under 30.
At the initial stage of Nairaland, the site was making good millions through Google ads but Seun decided to start selling adverts space in 2014.
The site boasted of ranking the most expensive site in Nigeria in 2011 by a site ranker with the worth of 512milllion naira. People and companies started to see the potentials of Nairaland and was alleged that a group of company opted to buy the site for a million dollar which was rejected by Seun Osewa. It has been reported that Nairaland boasts of 2,052,908 registered accounts and one of the top most visited sites in Nigeria.
PERSONAL LIFE
Despite his wealth and fame, Seun is alleged to still be single and without a child and still lives in his hometown of Sango Ota, Ogun State.
It was said that Seun was born to a Christian home but later in life, he chose to become an atheist
With all to his credit, Seun Osewa is said to be a humble person. His social life is not as that of many wealthy and successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Scarcely does the face of the young webmaster appear in social events and red carpet as many celebrities in the country. Many believe Seun to be an introvert.
One interesting thing about Seun is his ability to recognize empowerment and smile to hard work. His bank account might not be as large as Dankote’s of even Zuckerberg’s but he has been able to give back to the community through charity. On Nairaland platform, he has severally organized entrepreneurship competitions and has promoted upcoming Nigerian Internet entrepreneurs as well as designers.
AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
Nominated for few awards and was listed as one of the 100 best Nigerians. To his credit, Forbes named Seun as one of Africa’s under 30 entrepreneurs. YNaija also listed him as one of the most innovative Nigerians in technology. In 2015, TIN Magazine listed him as one of the top 10 most influential Nigerian online entrepreneurs.
NET WORTH
It is speculated that Seun Osewa is worth between $8,737,200.00 (N 1,602,839,340.00) to about $ 9,076,842.
In as much as the Nairaland founder is one great and young entrepreneur, he has kept his personal life away from the public. Little or nothing has been documented about his parents, siblings, and relationship. However, many have written that Seun is still single and has no child.
What has made Seun a remarkable and outstanding entrepreneur is the fact that he identified what he enjoyed doing and took his chances. He didn’t allow failure to weigh him down but was persistent until he got the exact thing he wanted (success).
