LEO STAN EKEH, OFR, FNCS – CHAIRMAN ZINOX GROUP
B.Sc. (Hons.) Economics, Punjab University, India
Post Graduate Diploma in Risk Management, Nottingham University, England
Pioneer ICT Personality of the year by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)
Fellow, Nigeria Computer Society
Fellow, Nigeria Law School
Forbes Best of Africa Leading Tech Icon
National Award of Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, OFR (2004)
Honoured As Nigerian Icon of Hope by President Olusegun Obasanjo, 1st October,2001
National Productivity Order of Merit Award, 2019
CEO of the Year Award, 2024 by THISDAY
ELITE LEADER’S IT GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT RECOGNITION AWARD, 2024 by the Nigeria Computer Society.
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), University of Jos
Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa), Imo State University
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Doctor of Technology (Honoris Causa), Federal University of Technology, Owerri
Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa), Federal University Birnin Kebbi
Over 15 Honorary Fellowship Awards from Nigerian Federal and State Polytechnics
Leonard Stanley Nnamdi Ekeh (popularly known as Leo Stan Ekeh) is Africa’s foremost innovative serial digital entrepreneur. He is a living legend, an exemplar of visionary leadership and integrity, a serial disruptor endowed with uncommon courage to dare and a knack to anticipate the future. He does not only anticipate the future, he creates the future.
An outlier and first-rate India-trained Economist and former Global Advisor to Microsoft, Mr. Ekeh holds a Post Graduate Degree in Risk Management from Nottingham University, England in addition to several honorary doctorate degrees from highly respected universities for his impactful entrepreneurship and pioneering efforts in the field of Information Technology.
A Forbes Best of Africa Leading Tech Icon, Ekeh is currently the Chairman of Zinox Group, Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest integrated technology conglomerate with its businesses spreading from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
FROM STARTUP TO CONGLOMERATE
With a mindset to disrupt and transition Nigeria from analogue to digital economy, he started out as a desktop publishing company in a flat at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. He has scaled up the startup into a global enterprise comprising Zinox Technologies Limited, Zinox Telecoms Ltd, Task Systems Ltd., TD Africa, Ashour Corporation FZE, Dubai, Infotech UK, among others. Over time, the conglomerate has invested in oil and gas, real estate, composite e-Commerce, Fintech and still counting.
A gifted and futuristic risk-taker, Ekeh runs one of the most structured and tech driven conglomerates in Africa. He has inspired several generations of budding entrepreneurs and startups, many of whom are currently disrupting the technology space in Nigeria and beyond.
PIONEER WHIZ
His business odyssey is a journey of many firsts and pioneering feats. He pioneered e-commerce in Nigeria with BuyRight Africa Dotcom and made a remarkable rebound in 2018 with the acquisition of Konga from its previous majority investors, Naspers and AB Kinnevik, in what is regarded as one of the most ambitious, seamless and discreetly managed corporate acquisitions in Africa.
He pioneered Desktop Publishing and Computer Graphics in Nigeria in 1987 with his first company – Task Systems Ltd. He launched the first ICT support company in Nigeria – ITEC Solutions Ltd. He pioneered the deployment of digital dispensing pumps for petrol and gas stations in Nigeria in partnership with Elf Oil (now Total Plc.) after he was cheated by an attendant at a fuel station in Lagos. He pioneered ICT Distribution in West Africa with the launch of Technology Distributions Limited (today known as TD Africa) which has remained the biggest technology, lifestyle and cutting-edge solution distributor in the West African sub-region.
Zinox was the first internationally certified indigenous computer brand in West Africa and the first computer brand in the world to incorporate the Naira sign (N) on its keyboard. The first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in sub-Saharan Africa to receive Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Lab Certification (WHQL); first Microsoft Prime Production Online Automation Partner in Sub-Saharan Africa with the OA Version 3.0; first Intel Premium Partner; first OEM in West Africa to attain the ISO 9001-2015 Certification; first to acquire the Google Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) in West Africa; first OEM in Nigeria to introduce renewable energy and lifestyle products and attaining the status of Intel Platinum Partner in sub-Saharan Africa, amongst others.
With Ekeh’s supervision, his company Zinox Technologies delivered integrated digital equipment in weeks worth over $370m that altered for good the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voters’ registration in 2006 and 2010 when foreign contractors could not deliver after months of promises. He also supervised the digital registration of voters in Guinea Bissau which Zinox deployed the tech equipment. These were rated the largest ICT rollouts in Africa. Under his leadership, Zinox Technologies and Zinox Telecoms pioneered and delivered the largest single e-Library and Wireless Cloud rollout project on the continent. By him and through him, INEC has eliminated fraudulently introduced exotic names like Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson, etcetera, from its voter register. He has been hailed as the power behind Digital Democracy in Nigeria and some West Africa countries.
Using his special purpose design, Zinox Technologies delivered nationwide the technical backbone for the yet-to-be conducted Nigeria’s first ever digital census expected to produce the most credible human and housing data on Nigeria since Independence.
HIS HUMANITY
A humanitarian capitalist, his Zinox Group pioneered the highly commendable practice of granting paternity leave in Nigeria to reduce stress on young male staff and enable them support their spouses when they welcome a new baby.
He has quietly touched many lives through the Leo Stan Foundation – his personal foundation. Among these are charitable works such as donation of N100m to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East, over N200m to the Nigeria Computer Society, the umbrella body for all professional computer associations. He has one of the most active platforms for scholarship awards to hundreds of indigent students across Nigeria to study both at home and abroad, as well as the inauguration of a N1.5bn revolving loan scheme for disadvantaged students and entrepreneurs, among several others. An advocate of digital democracy, he has donated cutting-edge and well-equipped digital centres to several secondary and tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
Ekeh has silently invested in education, provided medicare to the needy and supported churches and other religious organisations through the Foundation. During the Covid-19 lockdown, the Leo Stan Foundation leveraged on staff of the various companies in the Zinox Group to feed over 7,000 families across Nigeria for two weeks. He has also regularly supported state governments in various parts of the country by funding construction of roads. He has donated patrol vehicles to improve security in some states, among other donations.
CHAMPION OF GENDER EQUALITY
Ekeh, a former mass servant and chorister in his Imo state community’s Catholic church, is one of the foremost champions of gender equality in Nigeria. He has consistently advocated for and also empowered women and the girl child, whom he regularly addresses and challenges to aspire to greatness at various public fora. His passion for gender equality is reflected in the Zinox Group where women, led by his wife, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh, occupy the first four executive management positions at TD Africa, the biggest company by revenue in the Group. Also, he has another female as Managing Director of Zinox. The Group’s Human Resources Unit is also headed by a female.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
On October 1st, 2001, Ekeh was honoured as Icon of Hope by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for his sustained pioneering efforts in deepening Information Technology in Africa and as a pride to modern Nigeria.
Mr. Ekeh’s ceaseless zeal for productivity and excellence was rewarded by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with the National Productivity Merit Award (NPOM) in November 2019.
A distinguished member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group and Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society, Ekeh is a recipient of one of the country’s highest National Honours – Order of The Federal Republic (OFR).
He is rated by professionals as a global digital giant and a man whose vision and performance have bolstered integrity for the indigenous players in the ICT sector. His unmatched interventions have seen him receive over 60 local and international awards. He has also served on a good number of Federal Government Committees, which includes the Presidential Committee for Job Creation, Nigeria Thinkers, ICT Roadmap, among many others.
He is happily married to Mrs. Ekeh, a Mathematician, Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and CEO of TD Africa.
The union is blessed with successful children.
