Ikenna Azuike

Ikenna Azuike
Born (1979-07-08) 8 July 1979
Nigeria
Residence Amsterdam, Netherlands
Occupation Broadcaster

Ikenna Azuike (born 8 July 1979) is a Nigerian-British lawyer-turned broadcaster, best known for presenting the satirical and pop-culture show, What’s Up Africa.[1]

In 2014, Azuike was cited as one of the "100 Most Influential Africans" by New African magazine[2]

Early life

Azuike was born in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria. His mother is half German and half Ukrainian and his father Nigerian.[1] He moved to the UK with his parents when he was 8 years old.[1] He currently resides in Amsterdam, Netherlands with his Dutch girlfriend and daughter.[1]

Career

Azuike studied Law with French Law at University College, London, and obtained his LPC at Nottingham University in 2002.[3]

He began his career as a lawyer for Shearman & Sterling LLP in London and Singapore, then Clifford Chance LLP in Amsterdam and in 2007 moved to the United States to return to work for Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York.[3]

In 2008, Azuike moved back to the Netherlands from New York with his girlfriend Mette te Velde to co-found the Strawberry Earth foundation; a blog, store, events and PR company linking sustainable businesses and initiatives with young and influential creatives all over the world.[3][4]

Azuike also joined Radio Netherlands Worldwide in 2008 as a trainee, part-time radio journalist, cutting his teeth on a daily news programme and subsequently a weekly magazine programme called Bridges With Africa. Frustrated by the what he felt was the unbalanced and often “inaccurate portrayal of Africa in Western media”, Azuike persuaded RNW to let him create a satirical video blog about African news, views and people, a concept inspired by US satirical news shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[1][5] What’s Up Africa was the result - a YouTube video blog launched by Azuike in conjunction with RNW in March 2011 covering African news and political satire.[6]

In 2013, Azuike was invited to speak at a variety of TEDx events including TEDxEuston,[7] where he spoke on the same stage as the Nigerian Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. In 2014, Azuike was also invited to host the live TEDxHague Academy event at the Peace Palace in The Hague.[8]

In January 2012, Azuike was recognised by TheRoot.com as one of the top 25 bloggers to watch.[9] And he was also cited as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans 2014 by New African magazine[2][10]

From January 2015, What’s Up Africa will be incorporated as a weekly segment within the BBC World News television show, Focus on Africa.[11]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.