Austin Okere is the Founder & Executive Vice Chairman, CWG Plc and Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Columbia Business School, New York.
He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He serves on the Board of the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria and Initiative for Global Development, a Washington based non-profit organization that drives poverty reduction by catalyzing business growth and investment in the developing world. Austin Okere is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria, as well as a Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), and serves as a member of the Advisory Council of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).
Austin Okere was recognized with a Lifetime Entrepreneurship Achievement Award by the American University of Nigeria in 2017 for his dedicated service and outstanding entrepreneurial achievements. He was listed on the UK C.Hub Magazine’s 100 Most influential Creatives in 2016. Okere was also named ICT Personality of the year 2014 by the Nigerian Computer Society, ICT Man of the Decade by ICT Watch Africa Digital Network in 2012; ICT Personality of the year by Technology Africa in 2010; and most outstanding ICT Personality of the Decade by ICT Watch Africa in 2010. His interests include mentoring and inspiring young people to achieve their full potential.
As one of the early pioneers in Nigeria’s tech space that has produced local billionaires selling tech on a b2b basis, his Company Computer Warehouse Group (NSE: CWG PLC) is the largest security listed in the ICT sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It is one of the companies that have largely dominated the tech support space riding on Nigeria’s local content policy to service other industries looking for foothold into the jet age. CWG is a Pan-African Systems Integrator with operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon with annual turnover of over $100m and about 650 employees across the Group. The company provides technology solutions that enable growth, with the aspiration to be the number one Cloud Platform Provider in Africa by 2020.
Ausso Leadership Academy
Currently, Austin Okere invests his time and essence in driving the Ausso Leadership Academy which he founded in 2018, aimed at shaping business leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow today. He is also the Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Ausso Leadership Academy fills a huge vacuum in practicalizing and democratizing entrepreneurship by providing basic knowledge of workable methodology riding on acumen and intuition to certain success.
Ausso Leadership Academy holds a webinar: Managing myself, Leading Teams-an exploration of the new Normal-1 on April 1, 2020, 10.00-11.30 BST/WAT, 14.00-15.30 BST/WAT and Friday April 3, 2020, 10.00-11.30 BST/WAT, 14.00-15.30 BST/WAT.