Speakers

Simdul Shagaya

Sim has worked with leaders such as MicroStrategy, Lucent Technologies, Real Networks and Google Inc. Prior to this, he was the West African Principal for Rand Merchant Bank where he drove telecom and energy investments in the region. Sim is a Co-Founder of E-Motion Advertising - one of the fastest growing out of home advertising firms in Nigeria and also started Alarena.com (nigeria’s leading online matchmaking service) and Gbogbo.com (a free local classifieds service). Sim is graduate of George Washington University, Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Chineye Mba

Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu is a successful entrepreneur with proven ability to lead teams to grow revenues and market share through innovation and people leadership. A graduate of Political Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he is the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of InfoGraphics Nigeria Limited with over 20 years of an eclectic career spanning marketing communications, digital design, strategy, change/transformation and software development in private and public sectors.
Chinenye’s hands-on experience in conventional marketing communications practice in Nigeria convinced him of the need to establish what became Nigeria’s first multimdeia software development company. Over the next 10 years he would lead his team to transform the understanding of multimedia technology as a strategic tool for business growth, and in the process, build an interactive software development and services company recognized for pioneering innovative solutions.
In 2005, Microsoft recognised his leadership of InfoGraphics’ to excellence in execution through adherence to Microsoft best-practices, implementation guidance and effective and customer-acknowledged internal process methodology with the two prestigious awards – the 2005 Microsoft Partner of the Year for Enterprise Solutions and Regional Partner of the Year (Nigeria/Ghana). Gobal recognition came also in 2006 with the Regional Winner, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Awards to consolidate its position as a foremost software design firm in the country and the leading Information Worker and Collaborative Portals solutions provider in West Africa.
Chinenye has worked in various roles as consultant and technical supplier to large private and public sector organisations engaged in Change and Transformation projects as well as assisted in the development of corporate IT Strategic Plans. His public sector experience is largely derived from the Nigerian government’s reforms across its ministries, parastatals and agencies.
In early 2007, Chinenye joined Microsoft as General Manager for Anglophone West Africa with a goal to assist the software giant in its mission to achieve local relevance and growth through its partner ecosystem and its demonstrated commitment to the countries in which it operates in West Africa. In this role, he accelerated the company’s growing presence in the country, involvement in corporate citizenship programmes, partnership with public and private sector players in articulating and executing digital inclusive policies and projects, education, employment generation and other capacity-building initiatives.
Curently, he is a Director of a number of inflential ICT and Youth/Leadership Development organisations as well as a key adviser to governments on Information Ecology and Strategic IT. In his words, “a commitment to innovation is the key to leadership and value-creation in the competitive 21st century. Information and Communications technologies offer a unique proposition to me as an individual, to my generation and to the larger Nigerian stakeholder community hoping for quantum change in our development opportunities. And we will succeed because we are deeply convicted that we have a generational mandate for change and the courage to pursue our vision.”
He is blessed with a wife, Wangi and three children. His past and on-going community engagement efforts include amongst others:
• Founding Member, BB&S (Big Brothers and Sisters), a youth development programme
• Co-Founder, The Anthill Cultural Centre, an international centre for literary discourse and the promotion of art and artistes.
• Member, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, the leading conservation NGO in Nigeria
• Founder, The Mentor Project, an executive involvement programme designed to provide leadership/citizenship training by mentoring.
• Fellow and Member, National Executive Council, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)
• Member, Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN)
• Member, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON)

Currently he is the chariman of eShekels