There is no doubt that when Blogging is mentioned in Africa, one of the top names that come to mind is Linda Ikeji, a Nigerian blogger, who has shown that you can create value out of your passion and ultimately monetize it. Linda Ikeji has indeed shown that you can make blood money from the internet.
Linda Ikeji is a writer, an entrepreneur, and a successful blogger, though she has had her fair share of controversies. She has mastered the art of feeding people the type of news they want to hear through Linda Ikeji’s Blog, and she makes cool cash while at it. Many youths, especially young ladies are inspired by her success story and believe they can achieve anything they put their heart to.
Let’s leap at how Linda started.
Linda Ikeji was born on 19th September 1980, to Catholic parents from Nkwerre, a local government area in Imo State, South- Eastern Nigeria. She started writing fictional stories at age 10, her fascination with news and interviews endeared her to pursuing a degree in Mass Communication. Unfortunately, she was admitted to study English at the University of Lagos, instead of Mass Communication.
Linda Ikeji received an honorary doctorate on the 8th of August 2018, from the Trinity International University of Ambassadors in Atlanta, Georgia, for her contribution to African media and business. Below are other awards and recognitions she has received; All those awards and wealth did not fall from the sky, as an average Nigerian born into a humble background, Linda Ikeji also had her fair share of financial struggles while growing up. In a bid to assist herself through school and support her parents as well, Linda started working at age 17, she modeled, worked as a bartender, waitress, and usher. Her background never fazed her, rather she saw it as an opportunity to explore and sharpen her talent, which is paying off for her today.
After her university education, Linda Ikeji worked hard to break into journalism by launching her own media company, Black dove Communications, which doubled as a modeling agency and events management outfit. She also started a magazine called FM&B, which released its first issue in 2006. In the same 2006 that Linda Ikeji started blogging as a hobby using blogger.com, with her blog name as lindaikeji.blogspot.com. She started blogging when the internet was not as prominent as it is today and she made her posts than from a cybercafe.
After struggling with both businesses, she decided to quit. For FM&F, she struggled to get advertisers on board and also discovered how time-consuming and capital intensive the project was, she was only able to produce two more editions.
Concerning Black dove, Linda Ikeji had this to say, “I gave up the office (Black Dove Communications) in 2010 when I couldn’t afford the rent anymore and moved my business back home. About a year later, the blogging I started in 2006 changed my life.”
Linda Ikeji had no set goals for her blogging hobby and blogged for many years, before making any money from it. She later obtained lindaikejisblog.com which is a viral platform today. The media entrepreneur is now a celebrity blogger, who is considered to be one of the most successful bloggers in the world.
Linda Ikeji has successfully sustained her blogging from 2006 till date, which is a testament to the deep commitment one needs to succeed as an entrepreneur, especially in the creative industry.
One of the attitudes of successful people is the ability to remain true to a particular course until it yields results. Linda Ikeji has displayed this attitude a great deal with her blog.
Today, millions of people visit the site daily. The blog ranks 25 in Nigeria, and 3,738 in the world, as of the time of writing this article.
Linda Ikeji also owns other platforms such as the Linda Ikeji Social. The social media platform was launched on 1st November 2016, with the domain name lindaikejisocial.com. She started the platform to combine blogging with social media. Six days after the launch, 86,000 accounts were live on the platform.
Also, the Linda Ikeji TV Network was launched on June 9th, 2018. LITV is a home of entertainment where different categories of programs are streamed live. The platform has six categories; TV Shows, Reality Shows, TV Series, Movies, Original and Live. Subscribers are expected to pay a monthly fee to gain access to a variety of programs.
Another one is the Online Radio Station. Linda Ikeji is a multitalented young lady with so much gut. She keeps exploring different media industries and gets her spice of cake in each of them. It’s no surprise that she also operates an online radio broadcast from Linda Ikeji’s media office. Most of the programs are streamed live on Linda Ikeji TV. She launched her first book titled “It Takes You – A book of Inspiration” on 5th May 2010, at Genesis Deluxe Cinema, Lekki. The book contains 30 inspirational and life-changing articles. Our estimates reveal that her blog and social media channels bring in about ₦72 million monthly, from a combination of Google Adsense of $1,443 (₦549,061.50) daily, and other local ad placements. With all these achievements put together, it’s no news that she is a multi-millionaire, or even billionaire, who bought herself a house worth millions of Naira. Linda Ikeji also has several investments in real estate in addition to her legendary Banana Island mansion which is located in Ikoyi, Lagos. She had purchased the house for ₦500 million in 2016. Today, Linda Ikeji’s Banana Island mansion is estimated to be worth ₦2billion. She also recently got a Bentley Mulsanne worth $310,395. Linda Ikeji’s net worth in 2021, is estimated at 45 million dollars, making her the richest and most successful blogger in Africa.
Linda Ikeji carries out her philanthropy engagement through the ‘I’d Rather Be Self-made, No Thanks’, project. A non-profit project aims at assisting young girls within ages 16- 25, who have great business ideas and are willing to venture into entrepreneurship. She parted ways with ₦10,000,000 in the first phase of the project. She has always mentioned that it is a project she wishes to continue.
