Anie (Aniefiok) was born in Eket; the second largest city in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. She grew up in Calabar before moving to the United States at age 10.
Anie Akpe holds a bachelors degree and MBA from Dowling College in Long Island, New York. She is a passionate reader, traveler and bike rider. Anie lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Her Work:
Anie Akpe is a business professional and entrepreneur with more than 15 years experience in the banking industry. She is the Vice-President of Mortgages (currently managing a $700 million portfolio) in a banking institution.
Working in the Financial sector, Anie found it very needful to start IBOM LLC when people kept inquiring from her about their small businesses. Hence, she Founded IBOM LLC.
IBOM LLC focuses on educating Africans in the Diaspora, by providing the best consulting services for their small and medium sized businesses. Anie Akpe provides remarkable and output-oriented services to her clients. She achieves this by linking her global experience and culture as a Nigerian with skills from stellar corporate America leadership.
Anie Akpe is also the Founder of Innov8tive, a subsidiary of IBOM LLC. Innov8tiv is a dynamic Web source for technology news, resources and innovation, with a special focus on the entrepreneurial advances of Africans on the continent as well as in the Diaspora.
In addition, Anie is also the Founder of Networq App. Networq App enables users to create & exchange business cards while networking in real-time. NetWorq app was developed with one thing in mind—one-click connectivity. It helps users to master the art of networking and follow-up. It also provides location and event-tracking information, so one can easily remember when and where each card was gotten. In addition, the app tells users who is nearby using the phone’s GPS. How cool is that?
In recognition of her numerous achievements, Anie Akpe was named one of the African women leading in business by “Black Enterprise” magazine New York.
Why We Love Her:
Anie Akpe understands the crucial role technology plays in our everyday life. She is also one of the leading ladies creating tech-enabled platforms, and advocating for more women-centred careers in STEM.
When asked what keeps her going? Anie Akpe says, "Passion! I can’t do what I don’t like doing. If it involves something I am passionate about, the result is boundless. My creativity has no boundaries, if I have passion for what I’m doing".
We totally agree with Anie. We can all achieve so much when we are passionate about our goals and dreams.
About Her
Funke Opeke is Nigerian by birth. She is the Founder and CEO of Main One Cable; an Internet solutions company in Nigeria that built a sub-marine cable system which provides advanced network, voice, data, and cloud services to locations across West Africa.
Funke was born into a lovely family and has six siblings; she grew up in Ibadan, Oyo State. Her father was the first indigenous Director of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria and her mum once worked as Head Teacher of different Catholic private schools in Ibadan.
She attended Queen’s School, Ibadan for High School, and graduated with a B.Sc in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University in 1981. She also has a Master’s Degree in the same discipline from Columbia University, New York; she got that in 1984.
Her Work
She started her career as a Systems Engineer, then joined PA Consulting Group where she held several senior positions at Allied Signal and Telcordia Communications.
Part of Main One Cable’s mission is to start a cyber revolution that would connect the whole of Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Funke Opeke has a keen interest in identifying and utilizing opportunities, and this shines through all the projects she gets involved in.
In 2012, Funke was recipient of the CNBC All Africa Businesswoman of the Year Award. She is a member of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, USA and the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
On the 20th of January 2015, Funke Opeke was appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director to the Board of Atlas Mara, a top notch investor relations firm.
Why TechHer Loves Her
She’s a rare Amazon and epitome of hard work for women folk and a result-oriented Engineer. She’ s a woman with great foresight, and has excellent work ethic. She sees problems as surmountable challenges, which is perhaps one of the reasons she started Main One in the first place. Beyond being shocked at the abysmal level of internet connectivity, she did something.
Prior to Main One Cable, she advocated for the fair treatment of subordinates, especially junior employees in her work places.
Funke Opeke is known to have said "While the developed world was fully connected, here in Nigeria the average young person didn't know what the internet was. We can’t leave an entire generation of young people without prosper access to the internet." We agree, and are inspired by her achievements.
Information gleaned from the Internet.
