Sim Shagaya (L) and Jason Njoku
Konga’s founder and CEO Entrepreneur of the Year at the CNBC/All Africa Business Leaders Award in West Africa,Sim Shagaya.
Konga announced that Konga had been bought by Leo Stan Ekeh, the chairman of Zinox Group, and it sent shock waves across the Nigerian and African tech/eCommerce ecosystem.
Jason Njoku, the founder of iROKOtv and friend of Shagaya’s has written an inspiring tribute to the business mogul.
“One day, Sim will share the true happenings of what really went down at Konga. I know more than most, but it’s not my story to share,” Jason Njoku wrote on Medium.
Njoku speaks on how Shagaya and former Chief Operating Officer of Konga Shola Adekoya “were always on hand to help out and give a young buck (Njoku) brutal and yet honest advice.”
“Nigeria Inc is shrouded in smoke, mirrors, mud and masculinity. Sim and Shola always opened up. From day zero. Before Konga. Before the tens of millions both of us went on to raise. Sim was looking to build beyond himself. He was always about the wider community,” Njoku wrote.
He also shared a mail he received from Shagaya in March 2012, where the latter was sharing a fund sourcing opportunity with him. Njoku said that was “the start of Kinnevik’s investing relationship with IROKO and my friendship with Sim.”
Sim Shagaya’s mail to Jason Njoku
Thereafter, at least for me, and I am sure many others, Sim and Konga represented the shining light of what community, collaboration and a ‘New New Nigeria’ could be. All my investors used to point to Sim as what a great leader should be. ‘Build a world class executive team Jason’, see what Sim is doing? ‘Partnerships in Nigeria, Jason’, see what Sim is doing. ‘WTH Jason why aren’t you focusing on Nigeria like Sim?’.Njoku says the Nigerian market “which turns dreams to ashes daily, just wouldn’t yield” even after Shagaya and Adekoya gave it their best. “There was overspending on everything because that’s what they felt they needed to do to ‘win this market’. There was no sense of impropriety,” he wrote, saying that Shagaya had 95% of his material wealth tied up in Konga and him and Adekoya “‘went down’ with their ship”.
“The market is pushing back any effort of rationalisation. It may be untameable,” he adds.
Njoku hailed Shagaya for his passion about a “New New Nigeria” and making a difference in the lives of people around him.
“Sim is heartbroken, I am sure…. I have no doubt he will go on to greater successes,” Njoku wrote, concluding “As for me? I am glad he gave me his thoughts when I stole his time with my small problems…. And I will continue to ‘be like Sim’.”
Photo Credit: Medium – @jasonnjokuRäägi sõbrale... #AFRICA ... spill TEA ABOUT THE TOPIC ABOVE.... Easy on Shade #jaiyeorie
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