Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Nkechi Okoro is a TV personality, actress, writer and Founder/President of Rock My Soul Productions. Originally hailing from Nigeria, Nkechi was raised in New York, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and England. By the age of 14 she spoke three languages fluently and was performing and training with the Oxford Youth Theatre in England. After returning to the States and performing on stages in New York and Philadelphia, Nkechi became dissatisfied with the roles being written for women of color. Not one to sit idly by, Nkechi started writing roles for herself and producing/directing independent content. She originally started producing for theatre in New York and Philadelphia before finally moving to Los Angeles to make the transition from theatre to film and television. This move resulted in the birth of Rock My Soul Productions. Her productions have been featured in film festivals on multiple continents, including North America, Africa and Europe. Nkechi holds a Masters in International Economics...

Stella Okoli is the CEO of Emzor Industries Nigeria Limited, a multi billion naira Pharmaceuticals business. Emzor Pharmaceutical started off as a retailing chemist shop in January 1977 - with just N5,000 - and has grown to become a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical products as well as other health and medical products. The company, a wholly owned indigenous company, was incorporated in Nigeria in 1984 for the purpose of manufacturing high-quality pharmaceutical products and medical consumables. It currently controls 25 per cent of the analgesic market in the country and produces over 60 time-tested products, which included analgesics, vitamins, haematinics, anti-malarials, anti-tussives, antibiotics, anti-helmintics, anti-histamine, antacid, and cardio-protective drugs in Nigeria and in the West Coast of Africa. Emzor Pharmaceuticals has established offices in India, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Mali. Born in kano, Northern Nigeria, to Felix Ebelechukwu and Margaret Modebelu...

E. C. Osondu is an Igbo writer known for his short stories. His story "Waiting" won the 2009 Caine Prize, for which he had been a finalist in 2007. Osondu's stories have been published in Agni, Guernica, Vice, Fiction, and The Atlantic. Voice of America, his debut collection of short stories was published in 2010. In Nigeria, Osondu was an advertising copywriter. In 2008, he was a fellow at Syracuse University in creative writing. In 2010, he is an assistant professor of English at Providence College, teaching courses in creative writing, Introduction to Literature, and the Development of Western Civilization. "Waiting," published in October 2008 by Guernica magazine, describes life in a refugee camp from a child's point of view. Meakin Armstrong, the magazine's fiction editor, noted that "it isn't pretentious nor rife with literary trickery. It's simply a well-told story about a kind of life most of us couldn't even begin to imagine....

Frustrated by his country’s epileptic power supply, and tired of being mocked by his Ghanaian friends, Abuja-based ICT consultant Amara Nwankpa joined forces with other media-savvy Nigerians to set up Light Up Nigeria. It’s an online protest group advocating an urgent resolution to Nigeria’s chronic electricity problem – a situation now so bad that Nigeria was recently reported to have signed an agreement with neighbouring Cameroon to help provide the “giant of Africa” with electricity. Light Up Nigeria is now a worldwide, online phenomenon with tens of thousands of supporters on Twitter and Face book who are helping to keep the issue of power supply at the top of the political agenda. 32-year-old Amara Nwankpa was recently associated with the youth debate group called What About Us? Source: AfripopMag

Nonso Diobi was born July 17th, in Enugu to the Diobi’s family. Nonso Diobi grew up in Anambra state, Nigeria. He grew up with a family of 5, 2 girls and 3 guys. As the last child of the family, Nonso Diobi always saw himself in the limelight and as an independent individual. He began his own mini business at a tender age, selling clothes to his fellow individual at his high school. His parents exposed him to explore his God given talents by doing stage plays at his local church when he was 15years old. He became one of the best in his church drama group. In the fall of 2001, He decided to take his acting skills to another level by entering into the now famous Nollywood. He featured in his first movie “Border line” which was shot by top director “Adim William”. His first breakthrough movie “Hatred” came right after he did Border line” Nonso Diobi never looked back, as Nollywood keeps calling on this young, handsome, dynamic, and multitalented star with many movies to his credits. As th...

Afam Onyema is the founder and Chief operating officer of the GEANCO Foundation, a non-profit healthcare purveyor. GEANCO Foundation has a simple goal - to save and improve the lives of vulnerable women and children in the African country of Nigeria. They seek to attain this goal by developing world-class medical, educational and athletic facilities. Their projects will improve health conditions and learning opportunities for Nigerians, enriching their lives and empowering them to strengthen their communities. It follows Afam's father's dream of building a world-class hospital in Nigeria. Afam has since recruited Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Kimmel, politicians, Nobel Prize winners, and members of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans as key donors. Afam is a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School. He was recently profiled by Forbes Magazine . Source(s) Geanco, Harvard Magazine , BBC , LinkedIn

Eddie Opara is an interactive and graphic designer. Opara's dazzling multidisciplinary range combines technology-based wizardry with solid graphic chops. He is traditionally-trained graphic designer and a self-taught software developer with a perfectly tuned eye and keenly strategic mind. Born in 1972, Opara grew up in London and attended the London College of Printing. After the London College of Printing, Opara headed to Yale's graduate school of graphic design, where he received his MFA in 1997. He immediately realized that he wanted to reach beyond print design. Opara veered out into the burgeoning field of interactive design, technology and research. He worked for a company named ATG, which was populated by MIT Media Lab grads, then moved to Imaginary Forces, where he focused on electronic environments and motion graphics. He was then recruited by his former professor at Yale, Michael Rock, to work at 2x4, where Opara was finally able to bridge his print and new media pers...