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Leo Stan @ 66: Africa’s Technology Miracle Child Comes Full Circle
By Henry C. Ibeakolam
Rarely in this part of the world would you find a man like Leonard Nnamdi Stanley Ekeh, better known as Leo Stan Ekeh.
Leo Stan Ekeh.
For starters, Leo Stan, as he is fondly addressed, is not your regular fellow. He ranks well and truly as an unusual entrepreneur, one who is not only absolutely outstanding at what he does, but a man who also stands head and shoulders apart from his peers.
The story of technology in Africa and in his native Nigeria would decidedly be incomplete without a mention of the many pioneering roles Ekeh played in this domain. But it is in chronicling his amazing journey of well over three decades in the field of technology that some of the exciting qualities that make Ekeh outstanding align in sharp contrast.
Born on April 22, 1956, in the rustic town of Ubomiri in Mbaitoli, Imo State, Ekeh is of the Baby Boomer generation – often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the post–World War II baby boom. Remarkably, members of this generation fall among the most digitally-disadvantaged, especially when compared to their more technology-savvy counterparts in the Millennials or Gen Z generation.
In fact, research by the Pew Internet Project shows that Baby Boomers dominate globally among current Internet non-users. But it goes even beyond that. More than half of the members of this generation say the main reason they don’t go online now is because they don’t think the Internet is relevant. For these ones, take away Facebook or WhatsApp and you cut off probably their only links to the digital world.
Yet, Ekeh, who was recently honoured as the Forbes Best of Africa Leading Tech Icon, remains an outlier.
For decades here in Africa, the man has not only dominated the technology ecosystem, churning out innovations by the dozens in a sector which remains alien to many of his contemporaries, but which for him is a playground where he has continued to find relevance and expression, giving the Millennials and Gen Z something to think about and look up to.
In his words: ‘‘Despite my age, I feel very young. My eldest son will tell anyone who cares to listen: ‘Ha! Chairman is even younger at heart than many of us in the younger generation’. This is very important because I operate in a sector that is dominated by young people. I build products and solutions that are largely consumed by the youths, so I must understand their mindset and reasoning. I have to be like them in order to succeed,’’ he once stated at a public event.
But if his unusual pizazz as a technology guru ranks as a misnomer, it would be in keeping with the rest of his nature.
Restless but blessed with the brains of a genius, Ekeh’s personal life story further demonstrates the peculiarities of a maverick who stands apart and alone; a miracle child or digital orphan, as he often describes himself. He has never tasted alcohol from childhood till date, neither has he ever smoked, be it the regular cigarettes or any of the more exotic stuff that are as varied in their names or configurations that abound today.
It is interesting, while restating the unusualness that distinguishes Ekeh, to observe that unlike many Nigerian entrepreneurs whose little beginnings are often glossed over or consigned to the rubbish heap of history when they emerge, Ekeh’s remarkable rise to the pinnacle of success as a digital entrepreneur is thrown into sharp relief by the obstacles, the challenges, the struggles he faced, all of which he surmounted on his entrepreneurial journey.
It is not a secret that Ekeh used to live in the same apartment that housed his first office, or that his unerring knowledge of Lagos roads comes partly from the fact that he used to drive a commercial bus for fun with his friends.
A devout Catholic and former Mass servant, Ekeh, unknown to many, cheated death early in life, surviving a ghastly accident that left him with multiple stitches in his upper left arm while on the verge of leaving the country for studies abroad – a development which ultimately resulted in him missing resumption in the UK and eventually opting for India where he enrolled for a degree programme in Economics at the highly respected Punjab University. But the entire adventure would appear as if fate was playing a hand in forging the man’s destiny.
India, at the time Ekeh stepped foot there, was a nation struggling to convert its huge potential and undoubted human capital to wealth. Perhaps, not surprisingly, his time in India contributed a great deal in imbuing Ekeh with some of the remarkable fighting spirit and uncommon zeal to succeed he is renowned for. As he puts it, studying in India was “a great turning point in my life because I found the economy of India a realistic economy”.
Lest we forget, it was in that same India that Ekeh met the cerebral Chioma Ekeh, the love of his life and reliable sidekick, the woman who would become his wife and who at the time, turned out to be the only Nigerian studying Mathematics at the university.
Moving on from India and seeking further studies in the UK, Ekeh had his eyes opened to an environment which saw no future for Nigeria or Africa in technology back then.
His tutors at Ireland’s Cork City University, where he elected to study Computer Science, had painstakingly studied his temperament and character, correctly identifying him as a restless, smart and business-minded chap who would probably end up frustrated if he returned to his native Nigeria at the completion of his studies. But Ekeh has never been one to run from a challenge.
Armed with a postgraduate degree in Risk Management from a shared course at Nottingham University and City University, London, he had been faced with the prospect of completing a Masters’ Degree in Business Law at what is known today as London Metropolitan University or terminating the programme after eight months and converting his final school fees to return to Nigeria and launch his first company – Task Systems Ltd.
Ekeh chose the latter and the rest, as they say, is history.
For a man whose early ambition was once to own the largest transport company in Nigeria, Leo Stan Ekeh’s pivot to the technology business, as well as his subsequent dedication to creating a digital identity for Nigeria and putting the country and Africa, by extension, on the global map is the stuff of legend.
Ekeh’s many exploits – pioneering Desktop Publishing and Computer Graphics in West Africa and computerizing over 95 per cent of Media/ Multimedia houses and book publishing houses in Nigeria in 1987 through Task Systems; pioneering digital dispensing fuel pumps in partnership with Elf Petroleum and Schlumberger, France through his company Stanoil after he was cheated by a fuel attendant using the analogue pumps; launch of the first locally assembled and internationally certified computer brand in Sub-Saharan Africa – Zinox Computers; pioneering Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading and biggest technology products distribution company – TD Africa; deployment of the single largest e-Library and Wireless Cloud rollout in Africa; his status as the early pioneer of e-Commerce in Africa with Buy Right Africa DotCom; his sterling role in midwifing the biometric digital revolution in Nigeria, saving the country huge embarrassment by delivering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voters’ registration in 2006 when foreign contractors could not deliver after months of promises; repeating the feat four years later when he supervised the biggest single ICT digital rollout in Africa with the deployment of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) project with INEC in 2010 valued back then at over $170m, among many others too numerous to list out here – are well-chronicled.
But it is to the credit of his indefatigable nature and passion for Nigeria that, at an age when many of his peers were considering calling time on their careers, Ekeh decided to take on a challenge that even the most optimistic of his backers saw as a suicide attempt.
In early 2018, Ekeh and his team had announced the acquisition of Konga, a once-thriving indigenous platform which held the status of being one of the latter-day pioneers of the new wave of e-commerce in Nigeria but which, at the point of acquisition from its erstwhile owners, South African-headquartered Naspers and Swedish-based AB Kinnevik, was almost on its last days.
It was a piece of business whose echoes reverberated around the corridors of the global business world. For many, the acquisition of Konga would be the final straw that would break the irrepressible juggernaut that Ekeh represented. Such was the enormity of the task that lay in resuscitating the brand and restoring its glory days.
Or so it seemed.
Four years down the line, Konga, written off by many, has under new management, not only risen from the ashes of its near exit from the Nigerian e-commerce market, but is now the toast of desirous investors the world over and being touted as the potential leader of e-commerce in Africa.
It is proof of the magic wand that Ekeh wields, that gifted touch he brings to bear and the sagacity/mastermind at work behind his always clean-shaven pate that Konga, which reports reveal was once hemorrhaging about N400m per month, is today the first African e-commerce brand to turn a profit.
No doubt, Leo Stan, as his friends call him, is a national treasure, but he remains a man whom many believe – and rightly so, has hardly received the kind of recognition and acclaim he deserves from successive Nigerian governments. A man of extreme humility and a renowned philanthropist, Ekeh’s massive contribution in promoting digital democracy and ushering millions of Nigerians and Africans into the digital ecosystem remain unmatched across the continent.
As he turns 66 today, Tuesday February 22, 2022, it would appear Ekeh, who has never hidden his ambition of building the first and biggest 360-degrees integrated ICT conglomerate out of Africa, has come full circle on his wish, especially with the addition and impressive turnaround of Konga – now a flourishing e-commerce giant – to a formidable cast of thriving entities in the Zinox Group with proven and advanced competencies in a wide variety of tech-driven deliverables across verticals.
But it is also in keeping with Ekeh’s status as a rarefied, unusual breed of entrepreneur that one would be hugely surprised if he quits innovating, even at 66.
As he succinctly phrased it: “My strategy from childhood as a poor fellow was to cause disruptions, hence the decision to venture into technology which allows room for constant innovation…The only way I can sustain my dominance in the marketplace is through constant innovation and this is tied to sleeping less and eating healthy. It is important that in that hunger to be successful, you institute strong auditable system and structure which sustain your business.’’
At 66, Africa’s technology miracle child remains the poster child of all that is great in humanity.
By Henry C. Ibeakolam writes from Abuja, Nigeria
Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday adjourned the $150 million dollars suit filed by Chianugo Peter, a Nigerian, against Google LLC and GoDaddy.com LLC over shutdown of his YouTubeAudio.com domain name until April 22 for hearing.
The case, which was before Justice Obiora Egwuatu, could not proceed due to the absence of the judge in today’s proceedings.
Although Emmanuel Ekpenyong, Peter’s lawyer, and Mark Mordi, who is counsel to Google LLC, were in court, Justice Egwuatu was said to be in another official assignment.
The matter was consequently fixed for April 22 for hearing.
Peter had filed the suit over allegations bordering on the shutdown of his YouTubeAudio.com domain name after eight years of promotional and marketing efforts in breach of the contract.
Peter, through his lawyer, named GoDaddy.Com LLC and Google LLC as the 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit filed on April 14, 2023 and marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/238/2023.
In his earlier originating summons filed by Ekpenyong of the law firm of Fred-Young & Evans LP, the Nigerian sought a $150 million in compensation from Google LLC and GoDaddy.com LLC for the alleged cyberspace contract breach.
The plaintiff alleged that the defendants shut down his domain and business name: YouTubeAudio.com and transferred the rights over the name to Google LLC, an American multinational technology company.
Google LLC, in its initial statement of defence dated Nov. 9, 2023, and filed Nov. 10, 2023, by its lawyer, Mr Mordi, SAN, of the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode, urged the court to dismiss Peter’s suit as being unmeritorious and lacking in merits.
Justice Egwuatu had, in April 2024, gave Chianugo Peter the go-ahead to amend his originating processes after his lawyer moved the application for same and it was not opposed by the defence counsel.
In his amended statement of claim dated April 29, 2024, Peter sought ten reliefs.
He sought a declaration that GoDaddy.com was wrong to shut down the YouTubeAudio.com domain name on Dec. 7, 2022 and that Google was wrong to remove “YTAudio” with its website youtubeaudio.com from its Google PlayStore on Dec. 25, 2023 without adequate compensation to him.
He said this is notwithstanding that YouTubeAudio.com domain and business name is different and distinct from YouTube trademarks.
Chianugo Peter wants the court to declare that he is entitled to compensation from the defendants for the loss of the YouTubeAudio.com brand and goodwill which has accrued on the brand and domain name for eight years of promotional and marketing works from July 2, 2015 to Dec. 7, 2022.
He sought an order directing the defendants to pay the sum of $50 million to him for promotional and marketing works on the YouTube Audio business name and YouTube Audio.com domain name for eight years from July 2, 2015 to Dec. 7, 2022.
He sought a $100 million in damages for loss of anticipated profits associated with the brand equity and goodwill of YouTube Audio and YouTube Audio.com domain name.
Peter also sought from the defendants, the sum of 50 million naira to enable him to carry out fresh registrations of its new name and secure an alternative domain name to host its application to attract users.
The Nigerian sought an order directing the defendants to pay the sum of 10 million naira to him for prosecution of the suit.
Alternatively, Peter prayed the court for an order for GoDaddy.com to reinstate and hoist the YouTubeAudio.com domain name which was shut down on Dec. 7, 2022 and for Goggle to also reinstate YouTubeAudio.com on its Google PlayStore platform which was unilaterally removed on Dec. 25, 2023.
Chianugo Peter submitted that he acquired rights over YouTubeAudio.com domain name from Go Daddy.com LLC who conducted a search before confirming that he could make use of the name.
The plaintiff averred that he promoted the domain and business name from 2014 to 2022 and even wrote to Google to introduce YouTubeAudio’s services and to partner with it in 2014 and 2021 but received no response from it on both occasions.
He said in February 2021, he applied for and YouTubeAudio.com was registered on Google Adsense platform for displaying advertisement on the website.
Besides, Peter said in August 2021, the domain and business name was registered on Google Playstore.
According to him, the plaintiff consistently paid GoDaddy.com LLC for registration and use of the domain name from 2015 to 2022.
But Google LLC, in its amended statement of defence and counterclaim dated and filed May 31, 2024, averred that its registration of the YOUTUBE trademarks at the Trademarks Registry gives it the exclusive night to the use of the said trademarks.
It submitted that it has incurred expenses in the sum of 24,040 64 dollars in dealing with Peter’s “deliberate infringement of the counterclaimant’s YOUTUBE trademarks.”
The company, therefore, sought a declaration that Peter’s registration and use of the YouTubeAudio business name with BN 2395035 at the CAC is an infringement of its YOUTUBE registered trademarks.
It prayed the court for an order directing Peter to pay the company the total sum of $24,040.64 being the expenses incurred in dealing with his infringement of the YOUTUBE registered trademarks.
It equally sought an order directing the plaintiff to pay the company the cost of defending the suit.
In his amended reply to Google’s amended statement of defence dated 12th July 2024, Peter responded that it is not in doubt that Google LLC owns YouTube trademarks, however, YouTubeAudio is distinct and different from YouTube trademarks.
Chianugo Peter submitted that Google LLC, being a foremost search engine in the world, knew that he had earlier written to it, that he was making use of the YouTubeAudio domain name for the past eight years without any objection or caveat by either GoDaddy.com or Google.
“Hence, Google LLC is estopped from claiming any right over the YouTubeAudio domain name,” he said.
GoDaddy.com LLC had neither filed any process nor represented in court.
LG Electronics has announced the launch of a nationwide campaign aimed at celebrating decades of customer loyalty and technological heritage by searching for the oldest still-functioning LG television sets across the country.
The initiative, themed “The Oldest LG TV”, seeks to honour long-time customers whose LG screens have stood the test of time, while introducing them to the future of home entertainment through LG’s advanced AI QNED TVs.
For generations, LG televisions have been more than an electronic device in Nigerian homes, they have been silent witnesses to family milestones, cultural moments and shared memories.
This campaign bridges nostalgia with innovation, acknowledging the emotional connection Nigerians have built with the brand while showcasing LG’s leadership in AI-powered display technology.
The campaign features a storytelling -driven narrative that highlights community, heritage and the evolution of viewing experiences. Participants are invited to share the stories behind their long-serving LG TVs, transforming everyday screens into symbols of trust, resilience and innovation.
In creative twist, the campaign also introduces LG’s AI-enabled televisions as responsive companions that understand viewer preferences, recommend content and enhance picture quality in real time. This shift from nostalgia to futuristic interactivity underscores LG’s continued commitment to delivering smarter, more personalized entertainment solutions.
To participate, simply visit https://lgsearchcampaign.vercel.app/ upload a photo or video of your old LG TV and share the story behind it – how long you’ve had it and the memories it holds.
The winner walks away with a brand-new LG AI QNED TV, effectively trading legacy for luxury.
At its core, this campaign reminds us that technology is not only about pixels and processors, but about people. It’s about the laughter in the living rooms, the silence during tense match moments and the comfort of family routines.
By celebrating the oldest TVs still standing strong, LG is celebrating the people who kept the on, families who trusted the brand through changing times and evolving technologies. In doing so, LG isn’t just upgrading television, it’s upgrading memories into the future.
According to Mr. Choongbae Seok, General Manager, Media Entertainment Solutions, LG Electronics Nigeria, “The journey from our classic CRT Televisions to today’s AI QNED technology reflects how far both our customers and our innovation have come. Those early sets were built to last, and many are still functioning today, a testament to durability and consumer trust. This initiative allows us to honour that legacy while introducing a new era of intelligent viewing, where the screen does more than show content; it adapts, learns and enhances every moment”.
LG Display 2026 TV Models at InnoFest
LG Electronics (LG), a leader in AI-powered solutions for the home, outlined plans to accelerate growth in emerging markets at LG InnoFest 2026 MEA. The event, held in Abu Dhabi, provided a forum to share LG’s strategic direction and market outlook with regional partners. At the exhibition, LG displayed its premium 2026 AI TV lineup focusing heavily on advanced processing power, smarter picture and sound technologies. The flagship OLED evo G6 and 100-inch Micro RGB evo TVs are powered by the new Alpha 11 AI processor Gen 3 enabling faster and more intelligent performance. The OLED evo W6 Wallpaper TV, an ultra-slim television designed to sit flush against the wall like artwork uses true wireless connectivity, reducing cable clutter and creating a cleaner, minimal setup.
African leaders used the AU Summit in Addis Ababa over the weekend to sharpen the continent’s technology agenda, with Ethiopia positioning artificial intelligence (AI), digital infrastructure and connectivity as pillars of Africa’s economic future.
Opening the 39th African Union Summit, Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed outlined an ambitious vision to place Africa at the forefront of the global AI race, anchored by Ethiopia’s plan to launch what he described as Africa’s first AI-focused university.
“In 2020, Ethiopia established Africa’s first Artificial Intelligence Institute. Building on this foundation, we are preparing to launch an AI university anchored in the philosophy of Medemer, purposeful collaboration, to unite human values with machine intelligence and position Africa as a global leader in the age of intelligence,” Abiy told delegates. “
He framed AI not as a standalone sector, but as a cross-cutting enabler for governance, industry and social development. “Every river we manage, every city we design, and every digital platform we deploy must generate resilience, opportunity and dignity,” Abiy said. He further linked digital transformation to Agenda 2063’s long-term prosperity goals.
Beyond AI, the high-powered AU summit discussions highlighted digital identity, cross-border connectivity and telecom expansion as critical building blocks for an integrated African market. Ethiopia’s Digital Ethiopia 2030 roadmap, including its Faida digital ID ecosystem, was cited as a model for secure, interconnected public services.
Abiy pointed to aviation and telecom infrastructure as key accelerators for economic development across the continent. “Through Ethiopian Airlines, we connect people and markets. Ethio Telecom is expanding partnerships across Africa to bridge the digital divide,” he said.
The Ethiopian leader added that large-scale infrastructure projects are designed to anchor Africa deeper into global value chains.
The broader summit tech agenda also touched on regulatory harmonisation, digital trade and data governance, with leaders emphasizing that continental cooperation is essential to avoid fragmented digital markets.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the need for inclusive innovation, telling delegates that Africa’s digital rise must be “people-centered and opportunity-driven,” while African Union Commission Chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf stressed coordinated policy frameworks to accelerate adoption.
“AI capability, digital infrastructure and unified regulation are no longer optional ambitions, but strategic imperatives shaping the continent’s competitiveness in the intelligence era,” he said.
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