Meet 18 Brilliant Nigerians That Work With Mark Zuckerberg At Facebook

It is no longer news that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and seventh richest man in the world is presently in Nigeria. He came in quietly on Tuesday 30th August, 2016 and his first point of call was Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), Yaba, Lagos. Where he is said to be really touched with the level of energy and commitment of the students and was impressed at the children coding and sharing ideas.

Mark came in to Nigeria from Rome, where he has visited Pope Francis.

That Mark is having nice time in Nigeria is like stating an obvious as he was seen walking the Yaba streets. He was also “spotted” jogging on the Lekki Ikoyi bridge.

This visit of course is a confirmation that Mark has special interest in Nigeri As he has been engaging Nigerian entrepreneurs and startups for  a while. He recently invested $24 million in Andela through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Facebook also launched FreeBasics in Nigeria a few months back.

And, to the technogy watchers, MarK may be in the country to inspect Andela which he recently invested in.  He may also be on the look out for other viable startups which may eventually benefit from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Unknown to many however, there some brilliant Nigerians working for facebook. They are set of people who have proved their skill in the IT sector. Below is the list of those talented brains and hardworking individuals making Nigeria proud all over the world. They are also the brains behind Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to the country. Enjoy it.

Chukwuemeka Afigbo.

Chukwuemeka Afigbo joined Facebook from Google, where he served until 2015 before being replaced by Aniedi Udo-Obong. Afigbo currently manages Strategic Product Partnerships for Facebook in Sub-Saharan Africa and has been instrumental in Mark Zuckerberg’s Nigeria tour.

Ime Archibong.

Ime Archibong is the Director, Strategic Partnerships at Facebook, where he leads a team working to connect Facebook’s products and strategies with various business partners. Archibong and his team have worked on everything related to Facebook including the Messenger app. Prior to joining Facebook, Ime was an Advanced Technology Business Development Professional at IBM.

Nmachi Jidenma.

Nmachi Jidenma manages Payments and Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global, right from the heart of San Francisco Bay Area.

With previous experiences working at PayPal, Google and JP Morgan, she also happens to be the founder of CPAfrica.

Ebele Okobi.

Ebele Okobi has headed Public Policy for Facebook in Africa for the past 2 years. She was the former Global Head & Senior Legal Director, Human Rights for Yahoo!.

Laurence Aderemi.

Laurence Aderemi built Moni, a person-to-person money transfer app, which won the 2013 edition of Start with e-novation. Apparently, his competence got the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, who hired him to head Payments and Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global.

Morin Oluwole.

Having been raised in Nigeria but lived in 3 continents, Morin Oluwole is a polyglot — she speaks about 5 languages. This is probably why she sealed a role as the Chief of Staff, VP Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. Morin Oluwole has since taken up a new position as the Luxury Vertical Lead for Facebook/Instagram.

Lauryn (Hale) Ogbechie.

Lauryn Ogbechie leads a Strategic Partnership team within Facebook’s Global Platform Partnerships organisation in Menlo Park, CA. In this role she partners with mobile developers to help them build, grow and monetise their apps through the integration of Facebook platform products.

Prior to Facebook, Ogbechie worked as a digital organiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Francis Ebong.

Francis Ebong joined Facebook in November 2015 where he has since acted in the capacity of Director, Online Operations. Francis is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Teniola Adedipe.

Prior to joining Facebook, Teniola Adedipe served in two capacities within Konga, in the space of 14 months. She started out as the Head, Merchandise Planning in January 2014, she then went on to become Associate Director, Retail Operations.

Teniola Adedipe is now the Program Manager, Deal Desk & Global Agency at Facebook, New York City area. 

Monica Ugwi.

Still relatively new at Facebook, Monica Ugwi works at the Product Operations division of Facebook. She is a graduate of computer science at Grinnell College, and holds a Master of business administration at Stanford University Graduate School of business.

Olaoluwa Okelola.

Olaoluwa Okelola is the only Nigerian-born software engineer left at Facebook, following Makinde Adeagbo‘s exit in 2011.

Having completed his primary education at the International School Ibadan, Okelola proceeded to Avi-Cenna International School and Howard University, Washington DC, to complete his secondary and university education respectively. He then joined Microsoft as Explorer Intern in January 2005 and left in August the same year for Google where he worked as an Engineering intern from May 2006 until August 2006.

Okelola joined Facebook in 2007 and has been there ever since.

Ibrahim Shekoni.

Ibrahim Sekoni is Facebook’s Product Specialist at San Francisco Bay Area. His previous experience no doubt played a huge role in blending him into Facebook.

Prior to joining Facebook, he was the Mobile Product Manager at optionXpress where he managed the top-rated mobile trading App across multiple Mobile platforms. He also worked as a Business Analyst at Phoenix bits LTD overseeing various operations. He joined Facebook in April 2015.

Kunbi Adeyemo.

Kunbi Adeyemo has served in two capacities at Facebook. Between 2013 and 2014, she was on the Facebook North America Small and Medium Business Team as a Customer Insights Analyst.

In December 2014, Adeyemo moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has since served as Facebook’s Diversity Programs Manager – Women in Computer Science.

Isaac Nwokocha.

After obtaining a First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2010, Isaac Nwokocha tried his hands out on entrepreneurship; he co-founded two startups, including real-time road traffic web app, TrafficDey.

Probably decided he had had enough of entrepreneurship, Nwokocha proceeded to Stanford for a Master’s Degree in Management Science and Engineering. No sooner had he completed his Masters Degree than he secured a role as a Product Data Integrity, Community Operations/Project Manager at Facebook.

Michael Awotedu.

Armed with an MBA in Finance (summa cum laude) from the University of Tampa John H. Sykes College of Business, Michael Awotedu works in Risk Program Management at Facebook where he helps to facilitate strategy, and execution for Risk Management on products like FB games, Oculus VR and Ads.

Prior to Facebook, Awotedu oversaw Risk Management for Walmart’s $30 billion check cashing portfolio.

Morin Oluwole.

Morin Oluwole is presently the Luxury Vatical Lead for facebook/instagram and was formerly the Business to the VP of Global Market Solutions.