Mark Anthony Essien (born 18 December 1980 in

Ikot Ekpene Ikot Ekpene, also known as The Raffia City, is a historic town in south-southern state of Akwa Ibom. It is the political and cultural capital of the Annang ethnic group in Nigeria (Nair, 1972). The town is located on the A342 highway that par ...

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered on the east by Cross River State, on the west by Rivers State and Abia State, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe ...

) is a Nigerian entrepreneur, software developer and startup investor. He is the founder and CEO of

Hotels.ng Hotels.ng is a Nigerian online hotels booking agency which was launched in 2013. The platform was founded by Mark Essien who hails from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and claims to list over 7,138 hotels from 320 cities in Nigeria. History In 20 ...

, one of the first online hotel booking websites in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Before he founded Hotels.ng in 2013, Essien had previously built a file sharing software called Gnumm (acquired by Snoopstar.com), followed by a language learning startup called Ingolingo.

Career

Hotels.ng

In 2013, Essien founded Hotels.ng. Spark.ng made an initial investment of $75,000 and another investment of $150,000. In 2015, the company secured additional investment funding of $1.2 million from international investors EchoVC Pan-Africa Fund, a seed-stage technology fund, and

Omidyar Network Omidyar Network is a self-styled " philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5billion to ...

, the investment vehicle of

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

founder Pierre Omidyar. Essien stepped down as the CEO of HNG Internships, a programme he founded to solve the Nigerian software engineering talent problem. He handed over to Seyi Onifade

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Essien made the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

list of the 30 youngest entrepreneurs in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. He has also been nominated for the Nigeria Future awards amongst others.

Family

On 8 April 2018 Essien married Jenni Naiaretti, who is also a developer.

Investments

In 2016, Hotels.ng co-invested with

Jason Njoku Jason Chukwuma Njoku (born 11 December 1980) is a British-Nigerian businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv, a video-on-demand service for Nigerian movies. A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, iROKOtv was Njoku's 11th attempt a ...

and Spark in OgaVenue, an events booking platform. Essien serves as a director on the board of OgaVenue.

Public talks

Essien is a frequent TEDx speaker. He has delivered talks on leveraging networks to build a business and how Africa can lead in the global technology space, speaking at TEDxEuston and TEDxGbagada respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essien, Mark Living people 1980 births People from Akwa Ibom State Nigerian technology businesspeople Nigerian company founders 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Free University of Berlin alumni Nigerian venture capitalists