Nigerian geniuses at Facebook

Working at Facebook is one plum job, many would go to great lengths to land such a well-paying job where a software engineer earns between $106, 521 and $175, 597 per annum.  Facebook was established in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, who, according to Forbes is worth $54.4 billion. Facebook employs about 3,000 people, below are some Nigerians making wave at the multinational social media

CHUKWUEMEKA AFIGBO
Chukwuemeka Afigbo joined Facebook from Google, where he served until 2015 b4 being replaced by Aniedi Udo-Obong. Afigbo currently manages Strategic Product Partnerships for Facebook in Sub-Saharan Africa & has been instrumental in Mark Zuckerberg’s Nigeria tour.

IME ARCHIBONG
Ime Archibong is the Director, Strategic Partnerships at Facebook, where he leads a team working to connect Facebook’s products & strategies with various business partners. Archibong & his team have worked on everything related to Facebook including the Messenger app. prior to joining Facebook, Ime was an Advanced Technology Business Development Professional at IBM.

NMACHI JIDENMA
Nmachi Jidenma manages Payments & Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global, right from the heart of San Francisco Bay Area. With previous experiences working at PayPal, Google & JP Morgan, she also happens to be the founder of CPAfrica.

EBELE OKOBI
Ebele Okobi has headed Public Policy for Facebook in Africa for the past 2 years. She was the former Global Head & Senior Legal Director, Human Rights for Yahoo!

LAURENCE ADEREMI
Laurence Aderemi built Moni, a person-to-person money transfer app, which won the 2013 edition of Start with e-novation. Apparently, his competence got the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, who hired him to head Payments & Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global.

MORIN OLUWOLE
Having been raised in Nigeria but lived in 3 continents, Morin Oluwole is a polyglot she speaks about 5 languages. This is probably why she sealed a role as the Chief of Staff, VP Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. Morin Oluwole has since taken up a new position as the Luxury Vertical Lead for Facebook/Instagram.

LAURYN (HALE) OGBECHIE
Lauryn Ogbechie leads a Strategic Partnership team within Facebook’s Global Platform Partnerships organisation in Menlo Park, CA. In this role she partners with mobile developers to help them build, grow &monetise their apps through the integration of Facebook platform products. Prior to Facebook, Ogbechie worked as a digital organiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

FRANCIS EBONG
Francis Ebong joined Facebook in November 2015 where he has since acted in the capacity of Director, Online Operations. Francis is a graduate of George Washington University.

TENIOLA ADEDIPE
Prior to joining Facebook, Teniola Adedipe served in two capacities within Konga, in the space of 14 months. She started out as the Head, Merchandise Planning in January 2014, she then went on to become Associate Director, Retail Operations. Teniola Adedipe is now the Program Manager, Deal Desk & Global Agency at Facebook, New York City area.

MONICA UGWI
Still relatively new at the company, Monica Ugwi works with the Product Operations division of Facebook. Prior to that, she was an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company & an Analyst at Goldman Sachs. A graduate of Computer Science, Ugwi also holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

IBRAHIM SHEKONI
Ibrahim Sekoni is Facebook’s Product Specialist at San Francisco Bay Area. His previous experience no doubt played a huge role in blending him into Facebook. Prior to joining Facebook, he was the Mobile Product Manager at option Xpress where he managed the top-rated mobile trading App across multiple Mobile platforms. He also worked as a Business Analyst at Phoenix bits ltd overseeing various operations. He joined Facebook in April 2015.

OLAOLUWA OKELOLA
Olaoluwa Okelola is one of the few Nigerian-born software engineers at Facebook. Having completed his secondary education at the Int. School Ibadan, Okelola proceeded to Avi-Cenna Int. School & Howard University, Washington DC, to complete his Secondary & University education respectively. He then joined Microsoft as Explorer Intern in January 2005 & left in August the same year for Google where he worked as an Engineering intern from May 2006 until August 2006. Okelola joined Facebook in 2007 & has been there ever since.

BARBARA MBANEFO
Barbara Mbanefo is another Nigerian-born software Engineer at Facebook, where she develops iOS applications that help businesses connect with their customers. Mbanefo completed her Primary & Secondary education in Nigeria b4 proceeding to France to obtain her Master’s degree in Software Engineering. She speaks French fluently. Prior to joining Facebook in May 2016, Mbanefo worked as a Software Engineer & a Mobile App User Experience Designer in France, Canada & Hollywood, California

ALSO SEE: Mark Zuckerberg Is back In Nigeria, meets with Buhari, Osinbajo

KUNBI ADEYEMO
Kunbi Adeyemo has served in 2 capacities at Facebook. Between 2013 & 2014, she was on the Facebook North America Small & Medium Business Team as a Customer Insights Analyst. In December 2014, Adeyemo moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has since served as Facebook’s Diversity Programs Manager Women in Computer Science.

ISAAC NWOKOCHA
After obtaining a 1st Class degree in Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2010, Isaac Nwokocha tried his hands out on entrepreneurship; he co-founded 2 startups, including real-time road traffic web app, TrafficDey. Probably deciding he had had enough of entrepreneurship, Nwokocha proceeded to Stanford for a Master’s Degree in Management Science & Engineering. No sooner had he completed his Master’s Degree than he secured a role as a Product Data Integrity, Community Operations/Project Manager at Facebook.

MICHAEL AWOTEDU
Armed with an MBA in Finance (summa cum laude) from the University Of Tampa John H. Sykes College Of Business, Michael Awotedu works in Risk Program Management at Facebook where he helps to facilitate strategy, & execution for Risk Management on products like FB games, Oculus VR & Ads. Prior to Facebook, Awotedu oversaw Risk Management for Walmart’s $30 billion check cashing portfolio. He is a product of Federal Government College, Odogbolu.

JANE OKPALA
With almost 10 yrs of strategic, analytical, negotiating, presentation, & management expertise, Jane Okpala is the Product Specialist (Social Good & Goodwill), Community Operations, at Facebook. A polyglot in her own right she speaks at least 4 languages Okpala worked previously as an Associate at McKinsey & Company where she served mainly technology & financial institution clients on a wide variety of analytical & strategic engagements

DAPO OLOPADE
Dapo Olopade started her career as a journalist in Washington, covering the 2008 campaign & the Obama era for publications including The Atlantic, The Guardian &The Washington Post. Nowadays, Olopade applies her wealth of journalistic experience on the Facebook Media Partnerships Team, where she helps publishers take advantage of Facebook, from a business & product perspective. She maintains a painstakingly detailed work schedule.