Some may argue that Mark Shuttleworth doesn’t count as a bona fide internet-made billionaire (given his venture capital interests), but he certainly is a good benchmark for the current batch of African internet entrepreneurial frontrunners to aspire to. Almost everyone on this list has already made sizeable personal fortunes with online ventures, but some of them, like Heunis and Apteker seem to be biding their time. With internet commerce projected to be one of the fastest growing African industries in the next 10 years, these are 10 people who have the expertise and the industry know-how to exploit an African internet boom.
1. Abasiama Idaresit, Nigeria
Business: Digital marketing agency, Wild Fusion
Idaresit is the founder, CEO and sole shareholder of Wild Fusion, one of the continent’s top digital marketing agencies. The company was established in 2010 and had no external funding. Today it has annual revenues of $6 million and is aiming to increase that to $10 million (R99 million) this year. The agency offers internet marketing and digital strategy solutions to international companies. International clients include Unilever, Visa and Samsung. The digital marketing agency was also the first in West Africa to be a Google’s Adwords certified partner.
2. Justin Clarke & Carey Eaton, South Africa and Kenya
Business: One Africa Media
Clarke and Eaton are co-founders of One Africa Media. The company is the continent’s largest online classifieds group. Included in their online property portfolio is PrivateProperty.co.za, Jobberman.com, Cheki.com and SafariNow. An Australian recruitment portal, Seek purchased a 25% stake in the company for $20 million (R198 million). This acquisition increased One Africa Media’s value to $80 million.
3. Jason Njoku, Nigeria
Business: Nigerian movies, iRokoTV
iRokoTV is the largest distributor of Nigerian films in the world and is a free service that streams Nigerian and Ghanain movies. Users pay a monthly subscription fee of $5 for access to the latest content. With more than 500,000 registered subscriptions, the online streaming service has secured over $10 million in capital from Tiger Global Management, as well as $2 million from Kinnevik, a Swedish firm.
4. Herman Heunis, Namibia
Business: Messaging service, MXit
Founder of Africa’s first instant messaging service and largest social network. To date some 20 million people all across the globe use the instant messaging service. Heunis sold the company in 2011 to an investment company, World Of Avatar for $50 million (R 496 million).
5. Adii Pienaar, South Africa
Business: WordPress themes, Woothemes
Woothemes, founded by Pienaar develops and designs customised themes for WordPress. Today the company has annual revenues in excess of $3 million (R29 million). The company also provides Tumblr with themes.
6. Ronnie Apteker, South Africa
Business: Internet services, Internet Solutions
Internet Solutions was South Africa’s first service provider. The service provider services more than 70% of companies listed on the JSE. The internet service provider was sold to Dimension Data in 1997 for $65 million (R646 million). The 45-year-old now uses his millions to invest in South African online startups. Apteker has also added movie producer and writer to his CV.
7. Gary Levitt, South Africa
Business: Email marketing, Mad Mimi
Levitt founded the company in 2008. Mad Mimi is an email service enabling users to create, send and share branded emails and newsletters. With more than one billion messages sent monthly and 150,000 corporate users the company has an annual revenue of $6 million (R59 million).
8. Ayisi Makatiani, Kenya
Business: Internet services, Africa Online
Makatiani is the co-founder of Africa Online, an internet service provider in Africa. He sold the majority of his shares in 2000 to African Lakes Corporation, but still has a stake in the company valued at $10 million (R99 million).
9. Njeri Rionge, Kenya
Business: Internet services, Wananchi Online
Wananchi Online was the start of Rionge’s fortune. She co-founded the internet service provider which today is East Africa’s leading cable, broadband and IP company. A 50% stake of the company was bought by Emerging Capital Partners for a reported $26 million (R258 million).
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