Nigeria’s maverick entrepreneur and Group Chief Executive Officer of Konga, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh, last weekend made history for himself and Nigeria when he stood before the whole world to be honoured with two global awards of distinction by Forbes and Euro Knowledge.
The Oxford-trained Prince Ekeh was bestowed with the Distinguished Euro Knowledge Award for Emerging Leadership in Digital Transformation: e-Commerce, Digital Infrastructure and Financial Technology, as well as the Forbes Best of Africa e-Commerce Leadership Award 2025, for his extraordinary contributions to Africa’s digital economy.
He is the first African of his age to receive such double honours in one night.
The upscale audience at the House of Lords, London, went rhapsodic when Prince Ekeh’s illustrious profile was read that memorable day of October 25, 2025.
Forbes had done a comprehensive due diligence on the young tech entrepreneur right from his early secondary school days, during which his numerate skills began to manifest, earning him the second position in a National Mathematics Competition in Nigeria, up to Switzerland where he completed his secondary education at Leysin American School, Switzerland (2008-2010); and through his A levels/Foundation at Warwick (2010-2011); then to University of Lancaster (majoring in Economics and Politics, with a minor in Entrepreneurship) from 2011-2014, before capping his brilliant academic career with an MBA at the University of Oxford (2021-2022).
His leadership skills have received international recognition, with features in Forbes Africa and his inclusion among the Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD).
Beyond business, Prince Ekeh drives social impact through the Leo-Stan Ekeh Foundation, which deploys digital infrastructure in educational institutions, offers scholarships and has improved the lives of over 250,000 people in Nigeria by extending to them access to education and digital inclusion.
He founded Yudala when he was serving his fatherland as a corps member in the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. The company has grown, becoming a beehive of commerce employing over 250 staffers.
Despite his father’s fat purse and the comfort around the family, Prince Ekeh has stayed humble, teachable and always given to hard work. After several years of switching positions and learning from the best professionals within the Zinox Group, the young Ekeh deployed his experience to engender growth for Yudala. To achieve this, he led his team to beat off competitors to acquire Konga in 2018, and has since turned the once floundering firm into the fastest growing e-commerce firm on the continent.
Dignitaries who attended the event included Dragons’ Den star, Richard Faileigh and Reebok Co-founder, Joe Foster, who also received awards.
The Nigerian contingent at the event included the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; NAFDAC DG, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye and the wife of Kwara state governor, Professor Olufolake AbdulRazaq, among others.
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