Haven introduce B.O.SE in which we agreed to from time to time discuss the biography of successful entrepreneurs to help motivates us for if they can do it you too can. here we will learn about the biography of Linda Ikeji, owner and editor of www.lindaikejisblog.com , a great name as far as Blogging is concerned in Nigeria and Africa at large.
Born on September 19, 1980, Linda Ikeji was born very far from what you would call a silver spoon and if she had any spoon in her mouth at all, it would have been a wooden one. The young Linda was the second child in a family of seven and she started out as a Christian in the catholic denomination. From her formative years, around the age of 10, Linda discovered her love for writing and literature and began to put down some children fiction which was read and praised by all and sundry.
This is what inspired her to write more and as she began to grow, she realised that she had the love and passion for news writing too so instead of following the ways of her peers to party, play and club, she took time to stay back home and watch the news, studying how it was always being reported.
When it was time for university, Linda chose the university of Lagos and put in to study mass communications but much to her dismay, was given the English language course instead.
Not letting this small problem set her back, she set to work and decided to make the best of her course. To further support herself due to the humble background she had, Linda took up a job as a waitress, usher, bartender and even, part time model, to make ends meet. None of these business ventures were money makers back then and in the end, she had to bring the curtains on her modelling career in 2005. She picked up a little experience in bogging while holding a column for a celebrity magazine which packed up along the way also.
Despite all of these, Linda failed to give up.
After her university education, Linda Ikeji had still not given up on the journalism dream despite all of the side attractions and launched a business brand called the Black Dove entertainment (inspired by Silverbird) but at this, she failed again. She even meant for the business to be a kind of modelling agency on the side but the plan never did take off.
Instead of getting discouraged, this spurred Linda on to try her hands in new parts of the industry. She tried her hands at the magazine industry, launching FM & B but after just two editions, the costs of production caught up with her and she could no longer fund the project. At this point, any ordinary entrepreneur would have resigned to fate but Linda was not ordinary.
In 2006, Linda started her blog and when Bella Naija featured her on their own blog once, a new wave of opportunities started to crawl out towards her. By 2007, she had left her other gigs to fully focus on the blogging business and today, she owns one of the most visited blog in the world, the adjudged number one news blog in Nigeria and the most visited blog in Nigeria.
The influence of the Linda Ikeji Blog does not only stay within the shores of this country with other African and world countries too catching some of the frenzy.
From the blogging business, the former model has now made enough money to sustain her for a very long time, recently acquiring a #500 million mansion and having an impressive garage to go with that. She has risen above all their setbacks, defied all odds and braved all storms to become one of Nigeria’s finest online entrepreneurs.