Funke Opeke

Funke Opeke is a Nigerian electrical engineer, founder of Main Street Technologies and Chief Executive Officer of Main One Cable Company, a communications services company based in Lagos State, south-western Nigeria.[1] Her company called MainOne is West Africa's leading communications services and network solutions provider.[2]

Education and early life

Funke Opeke attended Queens School (girls only) in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria.[3] She grew up in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, although, she is a native of Ile- Oluji, Ondo state. Born into a family of 9, her father was the first Nigerian director of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria while her mother was a teacher.[3]

Opeke obtained a bachelor's and a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University and Columbia University, respectively.[4] After she graduated from Columbia University, she followed with a career in ICT in the United States as an executive director with the wholesale division of Verizon Communications in New York City. In 2005, she joined MTN Nigeria as chief technical officer (CTO). She served as adviser at Transcorp and chief operating officer of NITEL for a brief period.[5][6][7][8]

MainOne Cable

After moving back to Nigeria, Opeke started MainOne [9] in 2008, when she noticed the low internet connectivity in Nigeria. MainOne is West Africa's [10] services and network solutions provider. The [11] West Africa's first privately owned, open access 7,000-kilometer undersea high capacity cable submarine stretching from Portugal to West Africa with landings along the route in Accra (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal) in 2019, Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) in 2019 and Lagos (Nigeria).[12][13] Her desire to add value to her home country birthed Africa's biggest cable company. After pledging all her savings, facing more challenges of raising capital for the start-up cable business, carrying out in-depth foundational works, feasibility studies, business plans, and technical plans, Main One Cable Company become more tangible. In 2015, her company started operations of MDXi reputed to be Nigeria's largest Tier III Data Center, also extending a submarine cable from Lagos into Cameroon.[14] Her achievements are a source of inspiration to many.[15] Funke is the inventor of Mainstsreet Technologies, the developers of MainOne cable, a leading provider of network solutions in West Africa.[16]

References
  1. AfICTA. "Hossam Elgamal Speaks During IGF 2015". AfICTA. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  2. "Africa's Leading Women - Funke Opeke |". Motivating Africa. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  3. Oludimu, Titilola (May 5, 2017). "5 things you didn't know about Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne".
  4. The Editor. "Executive Profile". Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  5. Femke, Van Zeiji (24 September 2015). "Funke Opeke: Nigeria's cyber revolutionary". Aljazeera. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  6. "Shittu, Ndukwe, Ovia, others to enter DS-IHUB hall of fame". Vanguard Newspapers. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  7. Emma, Okonji (11 August 2016). "Govt Urged to Leverage Power of Broadband Technology". This Day Live Newspapers. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. Olubunmi, Adeniyi (8 October 2012). "Mainone becomes first west African carrier to connect London internet exchange point". Technology Times. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  9. Oludimu, Titilola (May 5, 2017). "5 things you didn't know about Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne".
  10. https://techpoint.ng/2015/08/14/mainones-premier-tier-iii-data-center-receives-pci-dss-global-payment-license/ leading communications
  11. https://techpoint.ng/2015/09/16/main-one-mdx-i-lagos-tour/ company built
  12. Johnson, Yemi (September 4, 2015). "MainOne partners Microsoft to provide Cloud Computing subscription service in Nigeria".
  13. ""Raising money is the most difficult thing I ever did as an entrepreneur" -- Funke Opeke, MainOne CEO". techpoint.ng. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  14. "Funke-Opeke". Alliance for Affordable Internet. a4ai. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  15. Opeke, Funke (5 May 2020). "Africa's Leading Women – Funke Opeke". motivating Africa.
  16. Opeke, Funke. "These Are Nigeria's Inspirational Women of Tech". Culture Trip. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
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