The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Entrepreneurship, Chalya Shagaya; Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, and several stakeholders on Wednesday praised the entrepreneurial feats of Sim Shagaya, the founder of the popular e-commerce platform for online shopping, Konga.

The tributes took place on the 50th birthday of the former University of Lagos and Harvard graduate in Abuja.

Aside from Konga, Shagaya has since gone on to build other innovations such as the uLesson Education platform, DealDey, and Miva University, one of Nigeria’s few successful open institutions of learning.

While praising his sibling on Wednesday, Chalya described him as a brilliant entrepreneur, tech visionary, and bold thinker.

The presidential aide said, “Today, Sim is widely known as one of Nigeria’s most influential tech entrepreneurs. He founded Konga, which redefined online shopping in Nigeria. He built U-Lesson, an edtech platform that brought classrooms into homes across Africa.

“As a senior special adviser to the president on entrepreneurship, I can assure you that this administration, under the Renewed Hope agenda, deeply appreciates entrepreneurs like Sim, who continue to work tirelessly to drive economic development and contribute meaningfully to our great nation.

“We’re equally committed to advocating for implementing entrepreneur-friendly policies that create an enabling environment for innovation, enterprise, and inclusive growth. As we reflect on leadership and innovation today, remember, the greatest success isn’t in what you build for yourself, but what you create for others.”

Suleiman, on the other hand, described the celebrant as an innovator who is way ahead of his time.

The Sterling Bank boss admitted that the reason he agreed to join the board of his tertiary institution, Mivas Open University, was because he has grown fond of his brilliance and innovation, especially when it comes to finding solutions to some of the nation’s problems.

He said, “What makes great men is that you get to a point in your life where your options are many. I didn’t think twice before saying yes when Sim invited me to be on the board of Mivas Open University. And it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

“At some point, I may make reference to my thoughts around education and why Miva University, the last project that Sim did or is doing, is one of the most fundamental things that we’ve ever done in this country. Today, I look at Sim and I think of three different aspects of his life. At some point, he acted like a poet. He is someone full of creativity.

“His ideas were crazy. They were not easy for people to reconcile with. Something that kept coming up when you looked at Sim’s life online was that it was like he was ahead of his time. If he waited five years, he would have had his own one-billion-dollar company. That’s the thinking of a poet, somebody who doesn’t operate under existing limitations.”

The Vice Chancellor of Miva University, Prof Tayo Arulogun, also hailed the Konga founder, describing him as a selfless personality.

According to him, the school established by Shagaya is setting the standard for what an ideal open varsity education should look like.

Mivas University is striving hard to ensure our graduates have the necessary skill set. One of our pillars is for them to get a degree that will make them relevant and employable. Aside from seeking paid employment, we also want many of them to become entrepreneurs.

“We have introduced them into many of our courses. And you must pass that course as well as the one on artificial intelligence. So we are not just an online university but an important higher school of learning,” he stated


https://punchng.com/tributes-pour-in-as-stakeholders-celebrate-kongas-founder-at-50/