Jason Njoku

Co-Founder & CEO, iROKOtv

Jason Njoku is a London-born Nigerian entrepreneur and investor focusing on technology and entertainment. After graduating with a degree in chemistry from University of Manchester, Jason tried out a couple of businesses which failed. In his early thirties, he saw an opportunity in online distribution of Nigerian movies to a global audience. This opportunity led him to his move home to Lagos, Nigeria, to understudy the industry. Jason Njoku and Bastain Gotter, who funded the idea to travel to Lagos, first started a YouTube channel that streamed African movies for Africans. This platform became profitable in a couple of months, and they subsequently purchased online access of Nollywood movies and worked tirelessly to make their business work.

This marked the beginning of iROKO Partners that led to the launch of movie streaming platform iROKOtv in 2011, after a $3million investment from the US-based venture capital firm Tiger Global. iROKOtv offered majority of its content for free and later monetized through subscription service called iROKOtv Plus. As the business grew, they secured an additional $22million investment from some international venture capitalists. The new investment helped iROKO Partners to improve their technology resources, increase their film catalogue and expand across Lagos, London, and New York. iROKO’s online distribution also launched a free Nigerian music service platform, iROKING in 2011 where selected African music can be streamed. Over the years, the company has grown and diversified its distribution model from streaming content to the linear TV market. Iroko Partners launched its first TV channels, iROKO Play, and iROKO Plus on Star Times in 2015.

After recording success in Nigerian entertainment industry, Jason co-founded SPARK, an investment company with Bastain Gotter and Mary Remmy Njoku in 2013. The company invests, supports, and develops aspiring Nigerian tech and internet entrepreneurs. SPARK’s approach to investment is not the typical approach used by Venture Capitalist. The company provides legal, marketing, technical and administrative assistance to their funded companies. SPARK has invested in technology start-ups, some of which have packed bus while some are waxing stronger and stronger. The company’s portfolio includes Drinks.ng, Hotels.ng, Tolet.com.ng, OgaVenue, Paystack, and others.