How A Former Nigeria Programmer Turned His Online Hotel Booking Idea Into A $10+ Million Dollar Venture

Opportunities are everywhere, but their benefits are rarely ever just handed to you.

It takes time, hard work and effort to get your idea to the point where everyone takes you seriously, and this is something every entrepreneur knows.

The road to discovery is a tough one, but the persistent emerge successfully.

This is the story of an ambitious programmer who successfully built Nigeria’s largest…

Hello BellaNaijarians,

After a stellar first season featuring industry leaders like Mark Essien, Oby Ezekwesili, Marek Zmyslowski, who are writing a new narrative of Africa, the 2nd season of Building the Future Podcast with Dotun Olowoporoku has started.

This new season continues in the same fashion, with entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and founders of startups who are writing the narrative…

#BellaNaijaMCM: Mark Essien of Hotels.ng is helping Nigerians find & book Hotel rooms with Ease

Mark Essien‘s – our #BellaNaijaMCM this week – company, Hotels.ng, does not have a hotel to its name, but it is one of the biggest hotel businesses on the African continent.

After his primary and secondary education in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state, Mark moved to Germany, where he obtained his Bachelors (Computer Engineering) and Masters (Computer Science) degrees.

While undergoing a…

Nigeria’s hotel booking company launches online platform

Nigeria’s hotel booking company Hotels.ng has rolled out a new service, online flight bookings – on its website. This new service has been designed to provide users from all over the world with an affordable and an all-inclusive travel platform from where all travel arrangements can be made. According to Mark Essien, the company’s CEO, the inclusion of affordable flight solutions is a move that…

Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state born, Mark Essien is an engineer at heart and a passionate entrepreneur. He built Hotels.ng to help solve the problem of hotel bookings in Nigeria and has since been interviewed by countless media outfits.

In this interview at #Startupsouth, Mark reveals figures and behind the scene details of his company’s success story like he probably may never do again to anyone. 

10 wisdom nuggets on running a successful Nigerian Startup

So you really want to quit your whatever you are doing now and startup your own (online) business?  Your very own Nigerian startup. But do you have any idea what it takes to be an entrepreneur, especially in such a peculiar environment? Here are 10 gems of wisdom — from the horse’s mouth — to guide you through the journey:

First of all, what is your motivation?

You have to do it for the right…

Mark Essien, Iyin Abojeyi, other Leaders and Investors to speak at #StartupSouth in Port Harcourt

Startup South is a one-day educational and networking conference for small  business owners, investors and their clients who currently operate out of the South-South and South-East Geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The event is free for participants and scheduled to take place on the 28th of November, 2015.

Speaking on what this workshop hopes to achieve and participants should expect from the…

Top Richest In Nigeria and Top 5 Must Have

Top Richest In Nigeria and Top 5 Must Have

A thought about the top richest in Nigeria got us curious, having richest ranking across various field, sectors, gender and profession. We decide to list some and try to uhhmm, like mention some couple of attributes and choices that sets them apart from the majority. So we brought to you the Top richest in Nigeria {Part 1}

Going through the list of the…