At the TEDxIfe event in Nigeria, polish entrepreneur and managing director of Jovago.com -Africa’s largest online hotel booking platform- Marek Zmyslowski talks about his unusual entrepreneurial journey in Lagos and what it is like to build a start-up in Nigeria.
Marek Zmyslowski, the managing director of Jovago – Africa’s largest online hotel booking platform – enthuses about opportunities in the growing African e-commerce sector at the TEDxIfe event in Nigeria.
Born and raised in Poland, Zmyslowski started his early career in Europe. His first entrepreneurial steps led to failure. However, the 27-year old stayed persistent and it paid off. Being fascinated by the rising economy in Africa and the continent’s burgeoning start-up scene, Zmyslowski took the big chance, he left his home country and moved to Lagos to start a business.
Within only one year, Jovago.com has become the leading online hotel booking platform in Africa. Listing over 15,000 hotels across continentally and more than 200,000 worldwide. Furthermore, Jovago has won and been nominated for several awards.
In his talk Marek emphasizes the challenges and importance of a competitive market: “(…) runners break world records when they have opponents behind them, not when they finish alone.”
With Africa’s promising future, Zmyslowski strongly encourages entrepreneurship among the African youth. According to him, a university degree is not a necessity for being successful, although it sharpens one’s mind and teach how to react to failure. Strong determination, ongoing persistence and believing in oneself are all the values needed for success.
On TEDxIfe the entrepreneur shares his story about his path to success and the importance of trial and failure.
Watch Marek Zmyslowski’s speech below and gain exclusive insights of life of entrepreneurship in Africa.
