The African Giant Experience
The African Giant experience is one of many initiatives that we have implemented to provide a platform for the economic empowerment of Africans in the Diaspora. Every month we highlight an outstanding individual in our community.
Kemi Omolaja
Nigerian
IG: @_._kemi_._ / @_._nubianessence_._
Entrepreneur/ Businesswoman
Elizabeth Omolaja (aka Kemi) is the CEO of Nubian Essence. Her business sells bonnets, scrunchies, headbands, headwraps, and now pillowcases made from authentic ankara material lined with beautiful soft satin material. All handmade by Kemi with love and care.
Adetola Ajayi
Nigerian
IG: @quiestest__storm / @ase_amaka
Corporate Attorney/Intrapreneur/Entrepreneur
Adetola Ajayi is a corporate attorney, intrapreneur, and an entrepreneur. She founded Ase&Amaka in late 2020. A&A offers professional writing and development services such as resume editing, cover letter editing, professional statement editing, mock interviews, mentorship, and more! This business also has a professional clothing line for men and women.
Praise Asalu
Nigerian
IG: @king.asalu
Model/YouTuber
Praise Asalu is a student at RCBC who is studying towards a B.S. in Communications to go into the career of brand and social media management. He has spent the last couple of years working seriously on his career as a model. Along with school and modeling, he runs his own YouTube channel that serves as another creative outlet besides Instagram.
Kenneth Chukwuocha
Nigerian
IG: @r0ckthed0c/ @kc.4pv
Doctor/Former Athlete
Dr. Kennedy Chukwuocha is a Doctor of Physical Therapy. His mission is to add value to the people around him. He founded Prolific Value as a vehicle to help cultivate success within our communities through health and wellness.
Winston Nwanne
Nigerian
IG: @winnie_black_
Cloud Architect/ AWS Solutions Architect II
Winston Nwanne aka Winnie is a follower of Christ, a husband, a son, a brother, cloud and solutions architect, and so much more. His brand is named TheDrivenYouth and they equip the motivated millennial with the methods and mindsets required to actualize success. Alongside TheDrivenYouth, Winston is also into the business of real estate property and AirBnb rentals.
Franklin Tyler
Liberian
IG: @franklin.t.photog
Entrepreneur/Photographer
Franklin Tyler was born in Ivory Coast to Liberian parents and raised in New Jersey. He is a photographer, a father, and an entrepreneur. With photography, he loves to capture moments of bliss. His love for photography comes from his love for people and who they genuinely are.
Lelai Givens
Liberian
IG: @l0velee_g / loveleetribe / loveleeproductions
Entrepreneur, Producer, Designer
She is the founder of LoveLee Productions. Through LoveLee, she produces film and video, builds websites, designs merchandise, and coordinates events designed to foster a community of rising entrepreneurs and creatives. She’s had the opportunity to showcase award-winning shorts in film festivals all over the U.S. and host events such as the annual Notes of Hope Benefit concert and A LoveLee Brunch.
Ibukun Soyemi
Nigerian
IG: @ibukunsoyemi / @simplyibk_makeupartistry
Entrepreneur/MakeUp Artist
Ibukun Soyemi is the CEO of SimplyIBK Makeup Artistry. Being a makeup artist has been her dream since she was 17 years old but fortunately had the courage to start it up 1 year ago all thanks to God. With SIMA, she has been able to not only enhance her clients beauty but build long lasting relationships.
Ngĩma Wambugu
Kenyan
IG: @djogprincess
DJ
Aka DJ OG Princess she is a part of the young Diaspora population that was born in Kenya and moved to the United States at a young age. It was a culture shock for her, as she endured a lot of challenges but gained a lot of wisdom on the way. She graduated in 2019 from Rutgers University-Newark with my Master’s in Public Administration degree. Her burning passions, love for arts/music, cultural background, travel, and educational background all shape the kind of work she continues to do. In 2017 she started a podcast called Share Some Mo’ Radio show. It started out as a live college radio show, then transitioned into a podcast that focuses on connecting and sharing real-life experiences of the young Diaspora(primarily from Africa and beyond). Her main goal is to have a multimedia platform that builds a network, connects, and shares the diasporic aka immigrant experience in its right way, which is by telling our stories. She wants others to feel empowered to pursue their dreams, recognize their purpose and use their voices because it matters, definitely check out her dope podcast and be on the lookout for our live!
Nayamah Kolliegbo
Liberian
IG: @honeycombpoetics
Entrepreneur/Poet
Honeycomb Poetics is a nonprofit organization centered on youth empowerment through poetry and the creative arts. Honeycomb Poetics was founded by Nayamah Kolliegbo, with the aspiration to spread the arts and empowerment in her community. Nayamah values mentorship and enjoys writing and sharing her poetry, spoken word. She has shared her work at churches, universities, school organizations, and conferences. Her goal is to impact the community and to continue being who she needed when she was younger.
Chidi Iloka
Nigerian
IG: @oga_chidi
DJ
He goes by the Dj Chidi which is fitting because he has been DJing for about 5 years now. He was raised in Trenton, Nj. He is a Versatile DJ and very passionate about his craft.
Daniel Adeyemi
Nigerian
IG: @dussedan
Rapper/Songwriter
DusséDan is more than just rapping about liquor over some dope beats. He chooses to go by this name because it just fully reflects his personality and approach to music. He loves to make all types of rap. Whether it be party, conscious, afrobeat, drill etc. Balance with that is the key to longevity. That’s what he strives for. At the same time it’s a marathon; he refuses to compromise authenticity. He’ll sound like him no matter the style of rap. His main mission is to represent the ones that suffer in silence and feel there’s no outlet to really express how they truly would want to. Music for him was always like a divine healing type of thing. It’s all he ever thinks about honestly. He is really obsessed over it. He’s confident in what his music will do. He can see it impacting millions of people in the next few years to come.
Mariam Hisseine
Chadian
IG: @bounceblacc_
Founder of @bounceblacc_
Bounce Blacc LLC was founded in July 2020 to be in the business of providing healthy natural hair products to those interested in growing their hair. Mariam Hisseine, founder of Bounce Blacc LLC, is a Muslim Chadian African American women who graduated with a Bachelors degree in Arts & Sciences from Rutgers University- Camden. She was born in Newark, NJ and is one of 14 siblings. As a child, although she could not show her hair for religious beliefs, at home hair care was very important. It was why she and her sister’s hair was so long and healthy. From high school to college, Mariam did friends hair all the time and taught many girls how to maintain their natural hair, which was great, because it made Mariam realize that after graduating college she wants to become an entrepreneur and start her own hair care line. Like most businesses, funding and marketing is difficult for Bounce Blacc LLC, it is no different. All funding currently comes from the founder’s employment, but in the future, she anticipates funding from grants, loans and business credit opportunities. This will allow for more products, necessary machinery, ingredients and other needs. Bounce Blacc LLC isn’t the only business venture Mariam is interested in traveling to, there will be more to come and she couldn’t be more excited!
Adebola Ekundayo
Nigerian
IG: @bolaskitchen
Founder of @bolaskitchen
Bola’s Kitchen is a family owned and operated catering business that aims to share love through food. The CEO and Head Chef, Adebola Ekundayo started Bola’s Kitchen 13 years ago in a small apartment. Her inspiration being her own mother who was also a caterer in Nigeria, this led to her own unique passion for cooking at an early age. To Chef Ekundayo, cooking became a way to spread love, she would always cook for friends, family gatherings, and also used food as a form of gift giving.
She spent her free time in the kitchen while also working a full-time job as a nurse. A number of people advised her to turn her passion into a business to generate some more income. Despite being hesitant, she went for it. Within a few months, support for her business grew exponentially through word of mouth.
Today, the works of Bola’s Kitchen has been and continues to be enjoyed from the East Coast to the West Coast of America. Not knowing what would become of this business, Chef Ekundayo clung to her skills in the kitchen and the strength and support of the people she loved and the rest, as they say, was history.
Eugenia Boateng
Ghanaian
IG: @auntyeugenia
Founder of @bolaskitchen
Eugenia Boateng popularly known
“Aunty Eugenia” is a Ghanaian model, host, brand
ambassador, fashion influencer, co-host of
upcoming talk show and podcast “AfroBeats
Unscripted”. Her resume extends to modeling for
New York Fashion Week, Harlem Fashion Week, and
Fashion Week Brooklyn. She has 4+ magazine
publications. Modeling has opened doors to different
opportunities as well as expanding her brand and
audience in social media. Her self-confidence,
creativity, and dedication towards her brand helped
her gain attention of a large number of individuals,
majority from the African diaspora as well as
representing and embracing the Ghanaian culture.
Aside from modeling and influencing, she is a
marketing major at Rutgers University.