Chinedu Echeruo: Nigerian Digital Whiz Kid Who Made N320b In One Day

The following nationalists were in their prime when they fought for Nigeria’s independence: Obafemi Awolowo , Ladoke Akintola , Ahmadu Bello , Tafawa Balewa , Festus Okotie-Eboh , Anthony Enahoro  they led the struggle for independence.

  Other Nigerians who became prominent in Nigeria in their youths are Kaduna Nzeogwu , Murtala Mohammed , Theophilus Danjuma , Ibrahim Babangida , Joseph  Garba , David  Jemibewon , Sani Abacha, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua , Gowon , Ojukwu , Obasanjo and Buhari .

 These days, young Nigerians are also stepping up, taking up the gauntlet and are not ready to be found wanting.

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 In the light of this, in this maiden edition of Trending Youths; a column dedicated to showcasing young Nigerians doing well in their chosen fields, your darling newspaper; The New Diplomat profiles Chinedu Echeruo, who makes more money than many states budget in a single day.

 Chinedu Echeruo

Founder: HopStop 

Net worth: $1Billion

  Chinedu Echeruo is a young Nigeria Tech Entrepreneur who grew up in Eastern Nigeria.  He attended Kings College, Lagos.

  He later proceeded to Syracuse University and the Harvard Business School in the United States where he obtained an M.B.A. He then worked for several years in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leveraged Finance groups of J.P Morgan Chase where he was involved in a broad range of M&A, Financing and Private Equity transactions.

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He founded HopStop in 2005.

  HopStop.com is a mobile and online application that provides mass transit directions door-to-door mass transit, taxi, walking, biking and hourly car rental directions in major metropolitan markets throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K, France, Australia, New Zealand and Russia.

  In 2011, HopStop was named one of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the US by Inc. magazine.

  Transit directions were available for several major metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Washington, D.C.

  HopStop.com provides free customized public transit directions, as well as other related features and information relevant to public transit via HopStop.com and free Android, iOS, and Windows Phone apps.

  In 2013, Echeruo sold HopStop for $1 billion (N320b) to Apple. With the sale, Echeruo is now the chairman of the Board for HopStop which has been compared to Israel’s Waze.

  According Chinedu, ‘there is no reason for entrepreneurs to reinvent the wheel every single time in all the countries in Africa.

  “My idea is to essentially have one place where a budding entrepreneur can access a template for starting a business, and then customize it to suit their own situation; essentially, a business-in-a-box.”

  No wonder, he is worth more than three states’ annual budgets combined.

Budgets for 2016

 Ekiti State …………….. N67bn
Anambra State …………….. N101.4bn

Yobe State ………….. N80.6bn