Today we’d like to introduce you to Ike Esedebe.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Ike Esedebe, and I am a 1st generation Nigerian Immigrant. After my family relocated from Nigeria to London, England (where I was born), we finally landed in Dallas, TX, where I primarily grew up. I graduated from the University of North Texas, where I was the President of our African Student Organization. It was there that my interest and curiosity of learning about my Nigerian culture and the African culture as a whole was sparked. I graduated as an Accounting & Finance major, so I have always had a unique interest in Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship. During my time in undergrad and the initial post-grad years, I constantly would brainstorm how can I combine my love for business/entrepreneurship with my curiosity and passion for African culture? Thus, I came up with the idea of my Business Seeking Africa. Seeking Africa is a Business Directory (similar to Yelp) that primarily focuses on bringing exposure to African and Afro-Caribbean business.
Seeking Africa was founded on the idea to connect and invest African Diaspora. We believe by economically empowering our business owners we are helping build a promising future for the Diaspora. I chose to primarily focus of African businesses due to the fact that they lack marketing and exposure most of the times. Even on large business directories like Yelp they are not aware of or market a lot of African-owned businesses.
I believe common factors to integrating a culture is through Food, Fashion, and Music. My future goal is to help make African culture a commonplace here in America. I admire how other cultures like the Latin & Hispanics communities, Asian communities, and Middle Eastern communities have a strong presence here is America. It is very common to eat food from those cultures, attend concert or festivals with Artists from those cultures, and wear clothes from those cultures. My goal is to help jumpstart that same type of commonality for African culture here. We are beginning to see the rise of Afrobeats with global artists like Burna Boy. That is a major step to bringing positive exposure to our culture. Making our businesses well-known and welcome people from all walks of life is the next step. Thank you!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Like anything, is has not always been a smooth road. The biggest challenge I have faced was Covid-19. The idea behind the business model is to go to the places of business, meet the owners, and utilize social media to help bring exposure and market the business. During Covid that, of course, wasn’t possible in most places. I also offer a Semiannual Scholarship to the back at my Alma Mater (University of North Texas), so I also was not able to do that during Covid. It did slow things down, but perseverance is key. You learn to roll with the punches and find new ways to survive.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am also a Real Estate Agent & Investor outside of my Business Seeking Africa. I mentioned my business background earlier. I have always had a love for business, finance, and investing. What I love most about being a Real Estate agent is helping people make probably the biggest financial decision of their lives. I have personally bought and own Real Estate, so I understand the fears and hesitations when making the first purchase. I like to simplify the process and keep clients calm and relaxed throughout the entire process. I believe it’s scary if you do not have knowledge or a plan for your purchase. So, I provide as much knowledge as they need and help devise a plan of action for them.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
The biggest surprise when people meet or see me is one, they don’t believe I am Nigerian/African, and two they don’t believe I was born in London. Those two things take a lot of people by surprise, haha. I guess people have a preconceived notion of what Nigerian or African people look like, and maybe I don’t fit the bill. That was also another driving force of why I started this venture. To show all aspects of Africa. Africa is a huge continent with thousands of cultures and languages. There is no one look for the entire continent. There are beautiful places in Africa and very rich cultures, sometimes we just lack positive exposure and images. I want to help retell that story.
Contact Info:
- Website: Seekafricanow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seekingafrica/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@seekingafrica
