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Loy Okezie is a digital media strategist and founder/editor of TechLoy.com, a leading African technology news and analysis site. He is also the co-founder of Sowambe, an emerging social media lifestyle brand.

He has advised several Internet companies (both local and foreign) as well as entrepreneurs and helped start-up CareersNigeria.com in 2007. Loy was hired in 2009 to help start-up an information search portal for Nigeria similar to Yahoo! and AOL.

Career Life

Loy worked at NEXT, where he was part of the digital content team and wrote about business and technology for the news site. Previously, he wrote a weekly column about internet companies and startups for Technology Times iWeek.

He’s one of the contributors at Memeburn, a technology site that tracks web trends, innovation, mobile, social media, culture, business, startup news and tech entrepreneurs’ stories from the emerging market sector.

One of Loy’s biggest career moments was when some of the world’s biggest blogs VentureBeat and GigaOM, tried to break his servers by linking to this blog after he broke the news about the Encipher Inye, Nigeria’s first tablet PC.

In this blog, Loy shares thoughts about living in the age of digital media as well as strategies that can drive usage of local content.

In several local and foreign media sites, he has been featured and quoted many times.

The Huffington Post said:

Digital media entrepreneur Loy Okezie was one of the first to notice: “Why’s Zuckerberg not wearing his wedding ring? #TCdisrupt”

VentureBeat said:

“Nigerian blogger Loy Okezie, a marketing consultant in the fast-growing New Lagos area on the country’s Atlantic coast, broke the story last week…”

BellaNaija said:

“In this In-depth interview with BN Editorial Assistant, Gbenga Awomodu, Loy tells us more about his passion, how to make money legitimately from the internet, and web technology prospects in 2011.”

CNN said:

“Okezie notes that Nigerian consumers with reliable internet access are still skeptical about shopping online, since there’s a feeling that such transactions are risky and prone to fraud.”

CP-Africa said:

“It is virtually impossible to think of startups and Nigeria without thinking of Loy Okezie. As a pioneer in the space, Loy Okezie has been one of Nigeria’s most vocal startups advocates profiling Nigeria’s evolving tech ecosystem with consistency and insight.”

This site is designed (from the scratch) by Anibe Agamah as a blog, hosted under WordPress.org The blog was founded on June 1, 2009 and will be:
- profiling tech-savvy startups, companies and ISPs in Nigeria as well as review and analyze the technologies, softwares and applications that are being used in high-growth industries such as banking, telecoms, aviation and media. From time to time, there’ll be interviews of top executives and major players as well as the hottest gossips and up-to-the-minute gist around those industries;
- previewing the trends of social media as well as review and analyze with statistical data from various sources how companies and organizations are using social media in Africa. In the future, a french version of this blog will be created to cater for the french-speaking social media community in Africa, Canada and Europe;(www.fr.loyokezie.com)
- providing useful tips and tricks on how to effectively use social media tools to build brand awareness, interact with existing and potential customers, encourage consumer participation via communities, and build customer loyalty for your products and brand. With time, I’ll be collaborating with partners to organize corporate social media workshops and trainings for small businesses, mid-size and large companies around Africa.
In one sentence: “the blog is about companies and their use of new and emerging technologies.”
If all these sound interesting to you, why not grab the blog’s feed while it’s hot and sizzling or subscribe to the weekly email round-up served chilled and tasty.
If you would like to contact me for news tips, contributions, suggestions or questions, kindly send me an email via buzz@loyokezie.com
ABOUT Loy
I’m an e-marketing strategist and digital media consultant now based in Lekki Bay Area, Lagos. I was born in Lagos and grew up in a small town along Badagry Expressway, but have travelled around Africa and Europe with a passion for technology, startups and new media communication tools for business success.
Right after my bachelors degree in business administration, I worked with management and recruitment consulting firms in Lagos, Abuja, Paris and London where I learned and demonstrated skills in corporate training, professional speaking, strategic planning & marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and recruitment sales amongst others.
Since 2007, I started blogging and getting involved with social media communities while following influential technology bloggers such as Micheal Arrington of TechCrunch.com, and eventually founded Startups Nigeria in April 2008, a technology blog about start-ups, e-nnovations and netpreneurship with an international focus on Nigeria. Today, the site is gradually becoming Nigeria’s largest business start-up community on the web.
On the lighter side, I love fotography and football. I’m also fascinated by fancy cars and flashy phones. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t own any of them:-) And yeah, I’m engaged to Ree and we’re both planning our wedding;-) And maybe, just maybe, you could follow our wedding plans and updates via Twitter. @RL10. I currently live in Ajah and Abuja.
Meantime, you can connect with me via:
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | MySpace | Xing | Ning | Flickr | YouTube | FriendFeed | Zoopy | YouNoodle | Mashable | NaijaPulse | NaijaBorn | GatorPeeps | BuddyPress | StartupsNigeria | GTalk | Skype | Mobile

Corporate Life

Right after his B.Sc (Hons) Degree in Business Administration, Loy worked with management and recruitment consulting firms based in Nigeria, France and the UK where he learned and demonstrated skills in corporate training, professional speaking, strategic planning & marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and recruitment sales amongst others.

He has consulted for several Internet companies and has trained individuals and corporate bodies on personal and organizational effectiveness in the past. Loy is a conference speaker and his speaking engagements are as follows:

If you or your company are finding it difficult to engage with customers on the social web, you can click here to learn how your brand can succeed better online with a digital media strategy.

Startup Life

Since 2007, Loy started blogging and getting involved with social media communities while following influential technology bloggers such as Micheal Arrington of TechCrunch.

In April 2008, he founded Startups Nigeria, a technology blog about start-ups, e-nnovations and net-preneurship with an international focus on Nigeria. Today, the site has re-branded to TechLoy and he’s now focused on growing Techloy into a technology information and research company.

He also co-founded Sowambe, an emerging social media lifestyle brand in 2010 and has invested interests in other online ventures and start-ups. [No disclosures yet:)]

HIRE Loy
Thank you for your interest. Forgive me since I’m speaking to you via the web instead of a face-to-face conversation. That’s the least I could do for now:-)
Now, if you or your company are finding it difficult to reach out to more customers or build your brand awareness, then your traditional marketing strategies are probably not working. Perhaps you’re simply not doing what other successful companies are doing to attract more customers, drive consumer responses and generate more sales and revenue.
Hey Boss! You are probably very comfortable using the marketing channels that have worked for 50 years, so trying to convince you to adopt new marketing channels might be a waste of time. But, the reality is that the game of marketing has changed substantially over the last 10 years, as consumers are spending more and more time in a digital world. So companies need to shift in that direction, don’t you think?
As Phillip Kotler, a highly-renowned authority on Marketing, said:
“If CEOs are to serve as company visionaries, they must sense where markets are moving and where their firm should be moving.”
Especially in this economic recession, it’s easier for companies to focus on employee lay-offs as well as cut costs, than on their most important goal of doing business: creating a customer and satisfying the customer’s needs.
For companies that are customer-centric, they need an online community that fosters interaction and participation. Customers like to participate in such a community that allows them to interact easily with other potential customers and where their views and opinions can be heard by the company and are most likely to stay on your website and support your product brands when their opinions are appreciated by the company.
Simply put, they want you to listen to them. Are you listening? Are you with me?
If so, what would your new business strategy likely be?
Well, I don’t want to guess, but it’s probably best to hire an e-marketing strategist or digital media expert to teach you new, easy and cheaper ways you could connect with prospective customers, massively increase your brand awareness, build a larger and stronger (loyal, if you like) customer base and enhance your consumers’ experience with your unique products and services. And yes, drive more sales leads and generate more revenue.
If you would like to discuss with me further, kindly send me an introductory email via: speak@loyokezie.com
My goal is to help individuals, companies and organizations to learn the tools and trends of social media and how they can effectively use them to build their brands both locally and globally.
Once again, here’s my email speak@loyokezie.com and thank you for your inter

Early Life

Loy was born in Lagos and grew up in a small town along Badagry Expressway where he had his early educational training, before studying at the University of Abuja, Nigeria and University of Le Havre, France.

He has traveled around Africa and Europe with a passion for technology, start-ups and new media communication tools for business success.

He currently lives in Lekki Peninsula, New Lagos with his wife.

Social Life

Loy spends his free time playing games (especially Angry Birds on his Encipher INYE tablet) and watching movies.

He occasionally hangs out with his family and friends at local bars and restaurants – and at decent clubs too;-).

On the web, you can socialize with Loy via:

Google Plus | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | FriendFeed | YouNoodle

 

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