Jason Njoku, Nigerian businessman and co-founder/CEO of video-on-demand service for Nigerian movies iROKOtv, was recently stopped and questioned by policemen in South Africa. His Uber was stopped on the way to the airport in Johannesburg and they asked him which African country he was from.
Finding out he was Nigerian, they carried out a thorough search. “When they saw my dozens of SIM cards and several phones they were 100% convinced I was into cybercrime. Apparently, it’s illegal to have so many SIM cards,” he says.
After trying and failing to convince police that he was a product manager testing different mobile money services across Africa, he says: “I literally had to force them to Google me to see I wasn’t up to anything nefarious. I wonder what story I would have told if I didn’t have that option.”
Njoku is fortunate enough to be well-known and therefore findable on Google. Other
There's more to this story
Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.
cancel anytime
Already a a subscriber Sign In
