Mark Essien is an innovator who saw an opportunity to apply technology to a traditional industry in Nigeria. Before founding Hotels.ng in 2013, Essien had already built and sold a file-sharing software, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit and technical prowess.
His vision for Hotels.ng was to solve a major pain point in Nigeria’s hospitality sector: the “walk-in culture” and the difficulty of booking hotels, particularly in a market with a highly fragmented online presence.
He created an online travel agency that grew from a simple list of hotels into one of Africa’s largest hotel booking platforms, listing over 27,000 hotels across the country.
The strategic growth of Hotels.ng was methodical and data-driven. Essien’s business philosophy was to “build a product for an existing market and not a market for your product”. He started by creating a dummy website to test market viability before formally launching the company.
This approach attracted crucial early funding from local investors like Spark.ng, followed by an additional $1.2 million from international investors in 2015. Hotels.ng’s expansion into an international booking site, Hotel.africa, and a flight booking site, Fly.africa, demonstrates Essien’s drive for continuous innovation and his long-term vision for the travel industry.
Essien’s influence on the Nigerian tech ecosystem is significant. He laid the groundwork for the country’s e-commerce boom and has been featured in various global publications.
Beyond his company, he founded and ran the HNG Internships program to address Nigeria’s software engineering talent gap, directly contributing to the development of the next generation of tech professionals.
He is also a frequent public speaker, sharing his experience on how Africa can lead in the global technology space.
Essien is a compelling nominee because he is a true innovator who tackled a traditional industry with a digital-first approach. His disciplined growth and commitment to solving the local talent problem make him a crucial figure in the Nigerian tech ecosystem and an executive worth watching.
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