15, December 2014

Founder’s story: how to capture an emerging market with an online travel agency

In 2012 entrepreneur Mark Essien launched a hotel booking platform in Nigeria called Hotels.ng. He had only about $70,000 in capital. Now Hotels.ng says it has 60,000 monthly visitors. It claims ...

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01, January 2016

Startups that made waves in 2015

Yetunde Oladeinde and Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf in this report profile some of the major startups that made tremendous impact in the outgoing year With the growing unemployment crisis, Nigerians are f...

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23, February 2012

Bringing online travel to West Africa, a place where the big brands fear to tread

When Hotels.com.ng, West Africa’s first hotel listings site, launched in Nigeria at the start of 2012, it entered a business environment without many of the things peers in the US and Europe take fo...

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October 2018
01 Aug

Mark Essien On The List of Africa’s 100 Most Influential Young Africans (#MIYA100)

[Download brochure by clicking here: 100 Most Influential Young Africans E-Brochure] Africa Youth Awards, the continent’s biggest honour for young achievers with annual participation from over 140 countries has announced its inaugural list of 100 Most Influential Young Africans. The list which has representation from 27 African countries has a gender equity of 62 men and … Continue reading Mark Essien On The List of Africa’s 100 Most Influential Young Africans (#MIYA100) →

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14 Jan

This Is How Mark Essien Thinks Africa Can Lead The World’s Tech Space

Sometimes, being the underdog is a good thing. As long as you’re not that way forever. Being the underdog means you can do things that the bigger guys can’t do. It means you can approach issues from angles that they can’t. In September 2015, Mark Essien, founder and CEO of Hotels.ng, spoke at the inaugural … Continue reading This Is How Mark Essien Thinks Africa Can Lead The World’s Tech Space →

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08 Aug

African Startup Employs Twitter For Job Applications To Screen, Interview Candidates

Twitter may be struggling to elect someone for its CEO vacancy, but other organizations worldwide have used the microblogging site to find and recruit new talent. For example, Mark Essien, CEO of Hotels.ng, has used Twitter to post job applications and interview candidates for positions with his Nigerian hotel booking startup. Through the social network, he’s … Continue reading African Startup Employs Twitter For Job Applications To Screen, Interview Candidates →

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28 Jul

Nigeria’s Hotels.Ng Is Asking Developers To Create An Algorithm That Predicts User Behaviour

Lagos-based hotel booking website, Hotels.ng is organizing a hackathon to develop a machine learning algorithm to predict users who will cancel hotel bookings. “Some users are more likely to cancel their bookings than others, depending on several factors/conditions,” the company said of why it is organizing the hackathon. “A person who books five different hotels … Continue reading Nigeria’s Hotels.Ng Is Asking Developers To Create An Algorithm That Predicts User Behaviour →

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02 Jun

Interview: Nigeria’s Hotels.ng To Cover Most Of West Africa This Year

Hotels.ng, Nigeria’s leading hotel booking website, plans to cover most West African countries by the end of this year before venturing to other regions of the continent, but it will not raise any more funds anytime soon after it got a financial boost from venture capital funds Omidyar Network and EchoVC. Last week hotels.ng, which … Continue reading Interview: Nigeria’s Hotels.ng To Cover Most Of West Africa This Year →

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26 May

Nigeria’s Hotels.ng Grabs $1.2M To Expand Listings Across Africa

Hotels.ng, which claims to be the largest hotel booking site in Nigeria, has raised $1.2 million to expand across Africa. Investors include EchoVC Pan-Africa Fund and Omidyar Network, a venture capital firm launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The site will launch new operations in Ghana first, says founder Mark Essien, and then move on … Continue reading Nigeria’s Hotels.ng Grabs $1.2M To Expand Listings Across Africa →

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20 Mar

Hotels.ng Offers Nigerians Free Hotel Reservation After Voting On March 28

It’s ‘selfie o clock’ time, come March 28 and April 11 2015, two separate days that will mark future events in the Federal Republic of Nigeria –the days for the presidential and gubernatorial elections. Hotels.ng wants to make the day memorable in the minds of Nigerians that will be going to the polling booth by … Continue reading Hotels.ng Offers Nigerians Free Hotel Reservation After Voting On March 28 →

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