If you have been following our C. Hub Magazine 30 Creative Influencers Under 30, 2017, you will know that it is always an exciting time when we interview these creative influencers!

Today we bring to you an exciting interview with Princewill Ejirika!

Princewill is an expert digital marketer by profession, certification by the Chattered Institute of Marketing (UK) & Google, he bagged a computer science degree from Madonna University.

He is passionate about technology & how it shapes the world, he is also enthusiastic about startups & online businesses. 

Princewill has vast experience digital marketing including but not limited to social media / online communities management for brands on  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google plus & YouTube, media buying & planning, digital analytics, e.t.c 

In addition, he has experience in e-commerce such as operations &logistics management, customer care and community management, having worked with one of the largest e-commerce marketplace in Africa (Kaymu) and another Nigerian e-commerce gaming startup (Topdowngames)

He has worked in some of the biggest foreign tech companies in Nigeria including Rocket Internet & Ringier media and has handled digital campaigns for major players like Indomie, La Casera, MainOne, Nestle, British Council, Siemens, One Lagos, Smoov Chapman e.t.c.

Enjoy our interview with him!

1. What is your inspiration?

I am generally inspired people of great minds and by their great works, especially the ones that have changed the world e.g the Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sim Shagayas..

2. Could you describe what you do, your role?

Basically, I help businesses find, connect and engage with their target audiences online through ROI focused digital marketing.  Right now, I focus on paid marketing which involves using PPC strategies across Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other channels to help businesses reach their digital marketing objectives e.g sales, leads, awareness and website traffic. I also get to connect content creators / social media influencers with brands who will like to work with them on in order to amplify their social media campaigns.

Right now I am charged with the responsibility of growing traffic, maintaining an online presence and getting valuable digital connections for businesses and users on the largest social local search engine in Nigeria.

3. At 40 what do you hope to achieve?

By then I hope to build a new generation company that can operate beyond physical offices, employ talent not judging their paper qualifications and have a community of employees who are stakeholders of the company which they co-own in stakes and vision. Essentially I hope to build a successful company that will give back a lot especially to the youth are the future generation.

I also hope to be able to give back a lot to the world to help humanity at large and to the tech community as well.

4. 5 years back did you see yourself where you are today?

5 years back the future seemed quite opaque so I kept sight on the present knowing that it will make for a clearer future.

5. Tell us more about your journey.

I’ll simply say I started off curious, passionate, humble & adventurous, I remained that way till date. Was just an everyday guy curious about everything digital, remember trying out a lot of things online even though I failed at most that didn’t stop me. I was eager to try out every online/social media platform to see how they worked. I’m grateful to everybody who believed in me enough to give me an opportunity to prove myself. Never thought I would / could make a career out of this.

I started my hustle freelancing as a writer before getting a gig as a digital marketer with an indigenous online gaming store called topdowndeals.com which I helped grow from scratch to become one of the top 50 startups in Nigeria and with a decent customer base. I later moved on to the then Kaymu (now Jumia Market) Rocket Internet to manage their online customer care platform for most of their English speaking countries then moved down South to Port Harcourt for a while to manage their operations and logistics before leaving the company. I worked with SPAR for a while as a digital marketing consultant for a while then joined Ringier digital marketing agency as a senior digital marketer then moved up to head their online marketing team across their Africa-wide branches before joining Vconnect as their head of digital marketing, most recently.

6. Who is your role model?

I don’t really model myself after anyone per se but I have picked a handful of international and local mentors as well as some of my peers whom I learn from e.g Mark Suster, Mark Essien, Gary Vaynerchuck & Victor Asemota.

7. What is your career highlight so far?

Did you mean ‘when I blow?’ Still yet to come.

8. What is fascinating about your job?

The fact that it is a moving target so I have to work hard to stay abreast of the technology I work with & that the more I learn the more I realize I know so little. Sometimes I still marvel at the fact that I was once so curious & perplexed by how the ads I now effortlessly create worked.

There is a lot to learn in the digital world which is very broad and changing every day.

9. What can you tell young people who are still struggling to find their vision?

Find something you are good at and like doing, make sure it’s the right thing, keep doing it, own it, learn how to do it better than anyone else and be passionate about it. The sky is your stepping stone.

Connect with Princewill online: