When the name LINDA Ikeji pops up, the Banana Island mansion, the multi million naira cars and luxury private jet trips come to one’s mind. But y’all don’t know that before all the glitz and glamour, there was a broke, hungry and struggling Linda Ikeji.
The foremost African blogger and media mogul has become a household name. Her blog, Linda Ikejis Blog is one of the most visited sites in Nigeria, and her online TV, LITV is doing well.
It will be almost impossible for the name “Linda Ikeji” not to come to mind when blogging is mentioned because she has shown that you can find a way to create value out of your passion and ultimately monetize it. Linda Ikeji has indeed shown that you can make blood money out of the internet lol.
As a Nigerian born into a struggling background, Linda Ikeji also had her fair share of financial struggle while growing up. In fact she “suffered” in the hands of POVERTY!!! In a bid to assist herself through school and support her parents as well, Linda started working from age 17, from modelling and bartendering to waitressing and ushering and any other legitimate job just to make ends meet.
After her University education in UNILAG, Linda Ikeji worked hard to break into journalism by launching her own media company which specializes in modeling and events management, Blackdove Communications. The company wasn’t doing well, She also started a magazine called FM&B which released its first issue in 2006. After so many years of struggle without getting anything out of it, she decided to give up on them.
“I gave up on the office (Black Dove Communications) in 2010 when I couldn’t afford the rent anymore and moved my business back home. About a year later, the blogging I started in 2006 changed my life.” Linda Ikeji said in an interview.
She published her first magazine in 2006 called FM&B magazines. She successfully published her 1st, 2nd and 3rd magazines until she was stuck on the 4th publication. However, she had to borrow 350k from community bank to complete her publication. “I needed N350k and I was determined to print this magazine. I wanted it to succeed by all means so I decided to do something I’d never done before. I went to the bank to get a loan.” She said.
She eventually got this loan but couldn’t pay up at the appointed time. Consequently, she was arrested and detained by Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi. According to her story;
“They said they were men from the Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, and they had been sent to bring me to their office to answer for a loan I took from a community bank and refused to pay back. I was going to ride in their marked anti-fraud unit car – sandwiched between two men. I didn’t want my parents to know what was going on (it would have killed my mum) so I quickly went back in, put on more appropriate clothes, told Sandra to follow their car in my car so she would go with me to their office. I remember sitting in that vehicle as they took me to their office in Ikoyi, and wondering how I got to that point. It was like a nightmare. I couldn’t believe it was happening. I got to their office and they made me sit down in front an officer who was handling the case. (Sandra was allowed in but she was sitting in another area.). The officer brought out my case file, and said I was owing the bank N190k for almost a year and I wasn’t going to leave their custody until the money was made available. You know, I’ve had bad days in my life…I mean, who hasn’t? But up until that point, I’d never felt worse in my life. Nothing I’d ever experienced up until that day, sitting in front of this man, and beside other offenders/debtors, was anything close to this. Nothing! Even now, I can’t even express how I felt that day, what was going through my mind. I felt like a failure. I remember my eyes welled up, because I knew I didn’t have N190k and I didn’t know anyone who could loan me. I started to explain to the officer, then I began to beg…and I talked and talked and then I began to cry. I couldn’t believe the situation I was in. I knew it would break my parents hearts if they found out where I was.”
Fortunately for her, she was able to pay off the debt through her friends.
Since 2006 Linda Ikeji started blogging, she has sustained it till today which is a testament to the kind of commitment it takes to be an entrepreneur especially in the creative industry.
In 2010, Linda had her financial breakthrough with her blog, after it started getting juicy adverts from paying brands and companies.
Today, millions of people visit her site on a daily basis. According to Alexa, the blog is one of the most visited websites in Nigeria and 3,800+ in the world. She owns an over 500 million naira mansion in Banana Island, Lagos, owns a Bentley Mulsane, worth over 100 million naira, and other expensive cars, flies around the world with her family in private jets and above all, a mother to a handsome son.
Indeed God’s blessings are ever green. Hard work and dedication truly pays. May our breakthrough come at the appointed time.