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 consulted for several small and mid-size companies 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.
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.”
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 small and mid-size companies and has trained individuals and corporate bodies on personal and organizational effectiveness. Loy is a conference speaker and his speaking engagements are as follows:

- The New York Forum Africa, Libreville, Gabon, June 8 – 10, 2012
- Open Innovation Africa Summit – Nairobi, Kenya, May 28 – 30, 2012
- Mobile Web West Africa 2012, Lagos, Nigeria, April 25 – 26, 2012
- 9 Ideas Conference – Douala, Cameroon, March 16 – 17, 2012
- Africa Web Summit – Brazaville, Congo, September 17 – 18, 2011
- Consumer Engagement Workshop – Lagos, Nigeria, July 21, 2011
- 9 Ideas Conference – Douala, Cameroon, March 6, 2011
- Mobile Web West Africa – Lagos, Nigeria, February 2 & 3, 2011
- Mobile Web Africa – Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2010
- Barcamp Nigeria 2010 (Moderator, Panel Session) University of Lagos, Nigeria – May 22, 2010.
- Nigeria Digital Sense Forum (Internet Governance Forum) Lagos, Nigeria – April 16, 2010.
- Technology Times Outlook 2010 Business Summit (Web 2.0 Forum) Lagos, Nigeria – February 23 – 25, 2010.
- Mobile Web Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa - October 13 – 14, 2009.
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:)]
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 | Flickr | FriendFeed | YouNoodle
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