Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Arinze Kene is an actor and playwright. He is best known for playing the character of Connor Stanley in the BBC's EastEnders . Born in Nigeria, Arinze relocated to Hackney, East London with his family in the early 1990s as a toddler. He has also appeared in stage productions such as playing Simba in The Lion King, the short-lived Boney M musical Daddy Cool, and in June 2009 he played strutting lothario Raymond LeGrendre in the musical Been So Long , based on Ché Walker's 1998 play, which opened at the Young Vic. Kene also plays the lead in 2010 UK Film Council feature Freestyle and is currently splitting his time between filming EastEnders in Hertfordshire and rehearsals for his new play Estate Walls which is being staged at the Oval House Theatre, South London. Sources: soulculture.co.uk Thanks Cuz

24 year old Ikenna Orizu is the founder and CEO of Tru Spot! , one of the Africa's few Web 2.0 success stories. Tru Spot! is a social music platform designed to support African artists, fans, local music and the entertainment world at large. Tru Spot! connects users who share similar tastes and brings the artists they love closer to them via interviews and chat sessions. The site also provides live and custom radio streams, music ringtones for your mobile phones and wallpapers. Tru Spot! started off as a web site named NaijaSpace in May of 2006 - a podacst for African DJ mixes. It re-launched as Tru Spot! when Ikenna decided to scale the project upwards and take African music to a global audience. Tru Spot! also features a unique live station with well produced shows and hosts. It has about 750 thousand listeners. Tru Spot! also developed the first African radio blackberry web application. Sources: StartupsNigeria , Wikipedia

One to watch London-based Chibundu Onuzo is a 19-year-old Nigerian undergraduate student who recently signed a two-novel deal with the British publisher Faber, making her its youngest ever woman author. Chibundu Onuzo, a history student at King’s College London, will have her first novel, “The Spider King’s Daughter,” published next year. This novel tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a male street hawker and an ajebota girl whose father is a member of the country’s ‘corrupt elite’. Onuzo is the latest of a new generation of talented young Nigerian writers — many of them female — who have made their mark in the literary world in the past few years. They include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction for “Half of A Yellow Sun”; Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani who published her first novel, “I Do Not Come To You By Chance,” last year, which has also garnered several awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Chika Unigwe , an Afro-Belgian aut...

Eucharia Uche is the head coach of Super Falcons , the current African Women football Champions . Uche entered the history books as the first Nigerian female to hold this position. Previously Uche had served as assistant coach to the national female team from 2002 to 2008. She assisted Ismaila Mabo when the team participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics as well as the AWC which the team won in South Africa that year. She also understudied Ntiero Effiong in 2002 for the country’s Under-20 team that featured in the World Cup in Canada, Her third stint with the national team was as an assistant coach with the Under-20 Women’s team that participated in that version of the World Cup in Thailand. She had coached club sides like Delta Queens of Asaba , Ifeoma Babes of Warri, and Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt. She attended a number of high profile coaching courses within and outside Nigeria. A graduate of Business Administration from the Delta State University, Uche attended the National Insti...

Chidi Obioma Ahanotu is a former American football defensive end in the NFL. Ahanotu was originally selected with the fifth pick of the sixth round of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of California. He spent the first 8 years of his career with the Buccaneers. He then played for one year at the St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and Miami Dolphins before returning to the Bucs for one final year. He is currently ranked 5th all time in quarterback sacks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise history with 34.5 Sacks. Chidi Ahanotu is ranked 6th best ever according to the Top 100 All Time Buccaneers List, behind Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Dave Logan and Dave Pear. Chidi Ahanotu retired from the NFL in 2005. After retiring he became the founder of Magellan Entertainment Inc a full service Talent Management Firm. One the firms biggest clients is World Champion Sprinter and World's Fastest Man Usain Bolt from Jamaica. Magellan Entertainmen...

After a thrilling 91 days in the Brig Brother Africa All Stars house, Nigerian musician/model/actor, Uti Nwachukwu (17/10) emerged as the winner of Big Brother Africa 2010 – Big Brother Africa All Stars. Uti Nwachukwu is a 27 year old model and actor from Lagos, Nigeria. Uti previously competed in Big Brother Africa 3 where he finished in tenth place after becoming the third housemate to be evicted on Day 42. Uti entered the house on Day 1. Uti, who lost his father during his stay in the house, walks away with $200,000, the $1000 cash prize for successfully keeping his ‘secret’, and invaluable popularity across the continent.

Victor Nsofor Obinna (born 25 March 1987 in Jos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a winger for West Ham United on loan from Internazionale. Obinna in Igbo, literally means "Father´s heart". He played for Chievo in Italy's Serie B, having played regularly in Serie A with the club until their relegation in 2007. He made his full international debut for Nigeria at the 2006 African Cup of Nations, scoring once in three appearances as his side were eliminated in the semifinals. Obinna played for Nigerian clubs Plateau United and Kwara United were he was discovered by FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman, he went on trials with Italian clubs Internazionale, Perugia and Juventus before signing with Brazilian club Internacional, but international clearance problems meant that the transfer was never finalised. He rejoined Enyimba to take part in their domestic league campaign and CAF Champions League defence. Obinna was signed by Italian club Chievo on a five-year contract in...