Funke Opeke Explained

Funke Opeke
Birth Place:Ile Oluji, Ondo State, Nigeria
Nationality:Nigerian
Education:
Known For:Electrical engineering
Notable Works:Founder of Main Street Technologies
Awards:
  • CNBC All Africa Businesswoman of the Year (2012)
  • Africa’s Most Powerful Women In Technology (2013)

Funke Opeke (born 1961 in Ile Oluji)[1] 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.[2]

Education and early life

Funke Opeke attended Queen's School 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]

Funke 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 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, Funke Opeke started MainOne [9] in 2008, when she noticed the poor internet connectivity in Nigeria. MainOne is West Africa's leading communication services and network solutions provider.[10] The company built[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 what is 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 Mainstreet Technologies, the developer of MainOne cable, a leading provider in West Africa.[16]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interviews: Funke Opeke. Harvard Business School. John D. Macomber. 2022-07-11. 2023-11-21.
  2. Web site: Hossam Elgamal Speaks During IGF 2015. AfICTA. AfICTA. en-gb. 2019-03-23.
  3. Web site: 5 things you didn't know about Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne. Oludimu. Titilola. May 5, 2017.
  4. Web site: Executive Profile. Bloomberg. 13 October 2016.
  5. News: Femke. Van Zeiji. Funke Opeke: Nigeria's cyber revolutionary. 13 October 2016. Aljazeera. 24 September 2015.
  6. Web site: Shittu, Ndukwe, Ovia, others to enter DS-IHUB hall of fame. 13 October 2016. Vanguard Newspapers. 13 July 2016.
  7. News: Emma. Okonji. Govt Urged to Leverage Power of Broadband Technology. 13 October 2016. This Day Live Newspapers. 11 August 2016.
  8. News: Olubunmi. Adeniyi. Mainone becomes first west African carrier to connect London internet exchange point. 13 October 2016. Technology Times. 8 October 2012.
  9. Web site: 5 things you didn't know about Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne. Titilola. Oludimu. May 5, 2017.
  10. Web site: MainOne's premier Tier III Data Center Receives PCI-DSS Global Payment License. 14 August 2015.
  11. Web site: Inside MainOne's top secret Data Centre in Lagos. 16 September 2015.
  12. Web site: MainOne partners Microsoft to provide Cloud Computing subscription service in Nigeria. Yemi. Johnson. September 4, 2015.
  13. Web site: "Raising money is the most difficult thing I ever did as an entrepreneur" -- Funke Opeke, MainOne CEO. techpoint.ng. 6 June 2017. en-US. 2017-09-14.
  14. Web site: Funke-Opeke . Alliance for Affordable Internet . 29 June 2018 . a4ai . 4 May 2020.
  15. Web site: Africa's Leading Women – Funke Opeke. Opeke. Funke. 5 May 2020. motivating Africa. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190323131217/https://www.motivatingafrica.com/personality-of-the-month/africas-leading-women-funke-opeke/. 23 March 2019.
  16. Web site: These Are Nigeria's Inspirational Women of Tech. Opeke. Funke. 22 May 2018. Culture Trip. 5 May 2020.
  17. Web site: musajja . 2012-10-29 . Funke Opeke, CEO of Main One Cable wins 2012 CNBC All Africa Businesswoman of the Year . 2023-04-21 . The Habari Network . en-US.
  18. Web site: Editorial Staff . Africa's Most Powerful Women In Technology - 2013 . 2023-04-21 . African Leadership Magazine . en.
  19. Web site: The World's Top 50 Women In Tech . 2023-04-21 . Forbes . en.
  20. Web site: Funke Opeke . 2023-04-21 . Forbes . en.

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