Sim Shagaya
Sim Shagaya is a Nigerian media and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of uLesson Education Limited - an app built to make education available to a learners across Africa. He is the founder and former C.E.O of one of West Africa's largest electronic commerce website Konga.com and founder of E-Motion Advertising - a leading out-of-home media company acquired in 2019 by Loadstad Media. In 2014, he was named in Forbes' list of "10 Most Powerful Men in Africa".
In August 2019, Sim Shagaya was invited to and accepted to serve as a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Executive Governor of his home town, Plateau State, Samuel Lalong.
Early life and education
Sim Shagaya was born in Nigeria where he served in the Nigerian Army after completing the Nigerian Military School. He completed most of his education in the US. He is a graduate of George Washington University and Dartmouth College, he also holds an MBA certificate after graduating from Harvard Business School in the early 2000s.Career
Early career
Prior to the establishment of DealDey and Konga.com, Sim worked as a banker in South Africa under Rand Merchant Bank. He later moved to Nigeria where he became Google's head for Africa and went on to found a Lagos-based billboard advertising business called E-Motion in November 2005. Sim sits on the Economic Advisory Council of Plateau State, Nigeria. He cites Hakeem Belo-Osagie as the "biggest impact" in his career.DealDey and Konga.com
Before Sim started DealDey and Konga.com, he created several websites like Alarena, Jobclan, Gbogbo and iNollyWood which were relatively unsuccessful. In March 2011, DealDey was launched after he convinced the board of the billboardcompany he owned to invest in DealDey. On 3 July 2012, he founded Konga.com with a capital from Swedish investment firm Kinnevik. According to Sim Shagaya, the primary aim of Konga.com is to "aggregate the youngest and fastest-growing market that was dispersed, under-served and that traditional retailers were simply failing to reach".
'''uLesson Education Limited'''
He founded the uLesson educational platform in 2020. The application was to aid underprivileged African student get education resources relating to their subject for study. uLesson's mission is to utilize every tool available to deliver high quality, affordable and accessible education to Africans. The Company creates personalized learning experiences for learners in senior secondary school to encourage their deep & continued learning and monitor their own path to academic excellence. It also employs an individualistic approach to learning, applying simplified teaching methods designed to amplify each student’s learning ability with quality lesson plans from the best tutors.Officially launched in March 2020, the app offered students in Senior Secondary School lessons in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In July, the Company announced the addition of a Junior Secondary School Library with lessons on Mathematics, Business Studies, Basic Science and Basic Technology.
uLesson also plans to introduce a Live Classes session where students can schedule classes and interact with tutors in real time. Another proposed feature is a Question and Answer feature where learners can send in questions in form of images or text and have detailed solutions sent back to them.
Awards and recognition
| Year | Award ceremony | Award description | Result |
| 2013 | CNBC/All Africa Business Leaders Award in West Africa | Entrepreneur of the Year | |
| 2014 | The Leadership Conference/Awards | Leadership CEO of the Year |