CcHub appoints Ojoma Ochai as managing director

Africa's leading innovation centre, Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) has appointed Ojoma Ochai as its new managing director. Ochai who previously served as managing partner at the CcHub's creative economy practice project is taking over from former CEO, Bosun Tijani who is currently Nigeria's minister of communication, innovation and digital economy.

"We are delighted to have Ojoma step up as the new Managing Director of CcHUB. Her commitment to achieving social change through innovation and creativity is key to what CcHUB represents," says Funke Opeke, chairperson of the CcHUB board. "Her proven track record and strategic leadership are exactly what CcHUB needs to continue building on our mission of contributing to African prosperity through innovation."

Founded in 2010, CcHub started as “Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space”. From Lagos where it was launched, CcHub has expanded to Abuja, Ijebu-Ode, Kigali, Nairobi and Windhoek in Namibia.

In Africa, CcHUB has a network of over 1100 startups thanks to its innovation programmes. These startups have created more than 7,300 direct jobs. The companies in its portfolio have also generated over 35,000 indirect jobs through their business networks. CcHUB has invested more than $10 million in startups directly and helped its portfolio companies attract over $150 million in external funding.

In 2020, CcHub acquired eLimu, a leading Kenyan edtech company and digital educational content provider. The goal of the acquisition at the time, according to CcHUB, was to transform eLimu into its digital education platform arm.

Before this acquisition, CcHUB partnered with Nigeria's premier university of education, Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) in 2019, to launch an Edtech Centre of Excellence.

In August 2020, iHub—acquired by CcHub in 2019—opened the iHub Teachers’ Lounge to equip teachers with 21st-century teaching skills and online teaching tools for richer methods of teaching and collaboration in classrooms.

Aside from her work at CcHub, Ochai sits on the board of ₿Trust, an organisation founded by Jay Z and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block Inc. and co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, to support bitcoin development in Africa and markets.

Recently, CcHub launched a $15 million edtech accelerator, in collaboration with Mastercard Foundation to back 72 startups in Nigeria and Kenya; 24 startups from both countries have since been selected for the accelerator.

Ochai will be managing the operations of CcHub across the continent.

She is also a member of the UNESCO Expert Panel on the 2005 Convention on Cultural Expressions where she has delivered projects in a range of locations around the world particularly in Africa and the Caribbean.

Her other previous roles include regional director for the British Council Sub-Saharan Africa Arts and Creative Economy Programme and other roles working on projects for institutions like the Swedish Arts Council, World Bank, and various national governments to support the development of the creative economy.