Jason Chukwuma Njoku is a Nigerian entrepreneur, film magnate and African start-up investor. Born 11 December 1980 He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv, one of the early video-on-demand movie platforms for Nigerian movies (also known as Nollywood).
A resilient Entrepreneur who despite several failed attempts in enterprise between 2005 and 2010, iROKOtv became his 11th attempt at starting a business.
Jason was born and raised in Deptford, South-East London, and has described himself as ‘solidly working class – a council estate kid if ever there was one’. His mother raised him and his four brothers and sisters by herself, whilst working a full-time job in the National Health Service.
He attended school in London, then moved to a village in Nigeria from the age of 12 – 15. After he returned from Nigeria, he attended college to complete his A Levels, before securing a place at The University of Manchester where he read Chemistry. He graduated in 2004 with a first class and launched Brash Magazine, a student publication which ran for two years, before it closed in 2005.
In 2010, Njoku and his former partner Bastian Gotter launched NollywoodLove, a YouTube channel, which was profitable within two months of launch. That same year, NollywoodLove caught the attention of US-based venture capital fund Tiger Global, early investors in Facebook, who were interested in expanding their reach in emerging markets.
Series A investment of $3 million was secured from Tiger Global in 2010 and the company launched a stand-alone video-on-demand movie platform, iROKOtv, on 1 December 2011.
The site drew in viewers from 178 countries around the world.
In 2015, Njoku decided to focus the company’s attention on an Android mobile app, rather than a streaming platform to combat broadband infrastructure problems that Africa poses.
In July 2012, he was cited by Forbes Africa as one of the ‘Ten Young African Millionaires to Watch’. On 29 August 2013, Njoku was named as the CNBC All Africa Business Awards Young Leader of the Year for West Africa.
