Global Tech Leaders of the Diaspora: 10 African Innovators to Watch In 2016

NIGERIA: Juliet Ehimuan, Country Manager, Google

Ehimuan was appointed as Google’s Country manager for Nigeria in 2011 and as head of the search giant’s operations in the region she represents the company in business development initiatives and partnerships there. Though there are still Web access and infrastructure issues in the region, the growth numbers are tremendous in mobile search.

She describes the success metrics and future in a recent interview: “In Nigeria, for example, we have deployed IT facilities in 50 universities,” she told AllAfrica.com. “And we are not relenting on the efforts to bring local contents online. It is only through the Internet that local contents gain global relevance with less stress. Therefore, Nollywood contents are gaining global attention via the Internet, especially the YouTube channel.”

“We have been uploading Nigerian maps online too. We have mapped about 250,000 meters of roads (maps) and over 200,000 special locations. Google is focused on impacting lives in Africa; that is the bottom-line of the gestures.”

“More than 10,000 developers and SMEs have been inspired through Google programmes in the past years,” she continued.