Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Christopher Ikechi Ezeh is a Nigerian businessman who was the former chief executive officer of John Holt (1986-1997) and now serves as the chairman of Lonrho Africa and Fidelity Bank plc. Ezeh is an accountant by training and prior to joining John Holt, he worked with Chrysler U.K. and was the chief accountant of Indeni Petroleum Refinery of Zambia. Ezeh entered the workforce of John Holt at a time the firm was consolidating several interests into divisions of John Holt PLC, among the affected concerns were Allens, Holt Export and Leasing services, John Holt ventures and shipping. In 1986, he became the managing director of the firm during the beginning of the Structural Adjustment Programme. For a large part of his tenure as CEO and chairman, the company operated in a rather harsh business climate. Ezeh has been involved with the management of the business school of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology through the school's business council.

Austin Okere is an entrepreneur and co-founder of the Computer Warehouse Group, a foremost Nigerian Systems Integration company Okere started Computer Warehouse Limited (CWL) over a decade ago as a computer hardware vending company. It soon grew to become a group of three companies offering solutions in telecoms and software. CWL retains its primary task of delivering hardware solution while the DCC Satellite & Networks Limited deploys networking and satellite based communication links. The third of the tripod, Expertedge Software & System Limited is a software arm of the Group and has recorded massive success with both its indigenously developed solutions as well as the Finnacle banking solutions. Okere has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Lagos and an MBA from the Lagos Business School. He has nearly two decades industry experience covering system analysis, sales and marketing and corporate management. He has won several awards including Outstanding Persona...

The late Donatus Nwoga was a Professor of African Literature and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Donatus was the Secretary of the Planning and Management Committee of the former Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (1970); member of the Board of the former East-Central State Broadcasting Corporation (1974-76); member of the former East-Central State Library Board (1975-76); and former member of Imo State Library Board (1977-79). Ibeakwadalam passed the Cambridge School Certificate Examination in Division One, with exemption from matriculation in 1950; he passed the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Examinations in English Literature, Latin and Ancient History at a sitting, with exemption from Inter B.A. of the University of London In 1955; and in 1960, when he obtained his Bachelor's degree from the Queen's University of Belfast, he won in the same breath the highly coveted "High Graham Mitchell Bursary" for the...

Antonia Okonma is an actress of Igbo descent. She is best known for playing the role of Darlene Cake in the ITV1 series Bad Girls from 2004–2006. In 2004, Okonma won a GAB award for Best Newcomer and a Screen Nation award for Best Emerging Talent for her work in Bad Girls. Her other work includes roles in the British feature films Screaming Blue Murder and Rabbit Fever and an appearance in the short RUF 992m. She once worked as an extra on an episode of Hollyoaks. On stage, Okonma has acted at the Royal Court and the Riverside Studios. She is currently starring in Torn at the Arcola Theatre alongside Brooke Kinsella and Jocelyn Jee Esien. She has also taken part in the reality TV programmes Strictly African Dancing. She also performed as Tina Turner on celebrity Stars in Their Eyes. In late 2007 she was a contestant on the second series of Cirque de Celebrité on Sky One. Antonia has degrees in Accounting and Finance and trained with the Royal Court's Young People's Theatre for ...

Obi Asika is the Executive Chairman of Storm Media and Entertainment Group; one of the biggest players in music and entertainment in Nigeria Obi started Storm Records with his cousin Olisa Adibua in 1991. The first outing with the name Storm was a club promotion called “Enter the Dragon” in the summer of 1991, and then in 1992 they developed a TV show called “Clapperboard Weekend Raps” on Nigeria’s first private TV station. From the Rap show, they made and discovered several stars including Daddy Showkey and Jimmy Jatt, but the key artists were Trybe of Troubadors, Latee and the Wazobian tribe, Nodeen, Junior and Pretty, Ikechukwu, Naeto C and Sasha. Storm co-produced Big Brother Nigeria, The Apprentice, Ambo and Doctor’s quarters. They also produced Nigeria’s first interactive game show on Silverbird TV and are in the process of going live with several productions for clients. Obi, who is a graduate of Warwick University, is the son of the Late Ukpabi Asika. Source: LadyBrille

Marilyn Chinwenwa Okoro (born 23 September 1984 in London) is an athlete of Igbo ancestry. She received a bronze medal for the 800 metres at both the 2007 and 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. She was on the bronze winning 4 × 400 m relay at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. She represented Great Britain for Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 800 metres and finished 6th (Time: 1:59.53) in the semi-finals. On June 26, 2007 Okoro graduated from the University of Bath with a B.A. degree in politics and French, then starting her first season as a fulltime athlete. She speaks four languages (English, French, Spanish and Igbo) and sings in the jazz band The Felonius Monks. Source: Wiki

Nnedi Okorafor is an American-born writer of fantasy and speculative fiction. Her novels and stories reflect both her West African heritage and her American life. She is the author of The Shadow Speaker (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun) and Zahrah the Windseeker (Houghton Mifflin). Zahrah is the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. It was also shortlisted for the 2005 Carl Brandon Parallax and Kindred Awards and a finalist for the Garden State Teen Book Award and the Golden Duck Award. The Shadow Speaker was a Booksense Pick for Winter 2007/2008, a Tiptree Honor Book, a finalist for the Essence Magazine Literary Award, the Andre Norton Award and the Golden Duck Award and an NAACP Image Award nominee. Okorafor's children's book, Long Juju Man, is the 2007/08 winner of the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa[1]. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines, including Dark Matter II, Strange Horizons, Moondance magazine and Writers of the...