Meet Mark Essien: Nigerian Entrepreneur Revolutionizing the Travel Industry Across Africa

Published 15 August, 2024 by The Trailblazers Africa

One serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple successful businesses and is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of African tech leaders is Mark Essien. He is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria-based Hotels.ng, an online hotel booking agency which is the first and largest of its kind in Nigeria.

Essien, born in Nigeria to entrepreneurial parents who owned several schools, experienced the turbulent period of military coups during his high school years in the late 1990s. After completing his studies, he accepted an offer to study at a university in Germany. Given Germany's reputation as a hub for innovation, Essien quickly noticed the growing demand for digital products during the 'dot com' boom. His interest in technology grew, and though he didn’t have a computer of his own, his older sister, who also lived in Germany, allowed him to use her computer and dial-up internet, further fueling his passion.

Essien quickly became captivated by the internet and dedicated all his free time to learning about it. After gaining a solid understanding of the basics, he bought visual basic software to teach himself software development. His first project was a file-sharing service called Gnumm, similar to Napster, but with an added feature that allowed users to share data across multiple networks. The platform quickly gained popularity, leading to numerous downloads. This success attracted attention, and eventually, Snoopstar, an augmented reality platform under the Bertelsmann group, offered to acquire Gnumm. Following the acquisition, Essien put his studies on hold to join Bertelsmann's software development team.

After a few years at Bertelsmann and having experienced a taste of entrepreneurship with Gnumm, Essien now focused on computer programming. He tried his hand at a number of different projects, writing the code himself from his university dorm. At this time, he had returned to Beuth University of Applied Science to complete his degree. He created a platform named Standard MPEG, which was one of the first MPEG encoder software available for the DirectShow platform. Essien sold his software to a number of notable clients, including Disney and the US military. The income from his endeavours meant he was able to support himself financially through his studies, whilst also developing his entrepreneurial flair.

Essien returned to Nigeria to launch his hotel booking platform. Despite Lagos being Nigeria's commercial hub, he chose to focus on Calabar, a popular holiday spot with a high concentration of hotels, providing a significant pool of potential clients. He balanced his time between developing the website and meeting with hotel managers to introduce them to the platform. The response was overwhelmingly positive, as the platform allowed hotels to market their services and attract new guests. Essien remarked, "no hotel wants fewer guests."

Once the majority of Calabar's hotels were onboard, Essien looked to expand. However, larger cities presented challenges like fewer hotels per area and difficult transportation due to heavy traffic. To secure investment, Essien approached Jason Njoku, a prominent African entrepreneur and founder of iROKO Partners Limited, who had recently established an investment fund. Njoku provided USD 75,000 in seed funding, which, thanks to Essien's lean business model and his ability to develop the website independently, was primarily allocated to hiring sales agents. These agents were crucial in signing up hotels to the platform. As the platform grew, the team expanded to 300 agents, many of whom were recruited via Facebook.

Currently, Hotels.NG employs a team of 150 professionals, serving both hotels and customers throughout Nigeria, with ambitious plans to expand across Africa and eventually provide a complete travel experience. Essien’s journey has been challenging yet fulfilling. One of the toughest obstacles he has encountered is recruitment. Given that Africa's tech industry is still developing, finding skilled talent has been a significant hurdle. This issue is further complicated by the fact that many international companies and startups opt to outsource or hire expatriates for technical roles. Essien, however, was determined to avoid this approach, as he is deeply committed to fostering growth within Africa's technology ecosystem and economy. To address this challenge, he launched an initiative aimed at training local developers, some of whom have gone on to become some of the company’s most valuable team members.