Obi is a connector for Maine’s startup community
The Roux Institute’s Obinna Okani weaves a network of opportunity for Maine’s growing, buzzing community of entrepreneurs.
In 2015, Obinna Okani co-founded Naija Made, a digital platform for young Nigerians to connect and discover merchandise, events, and small businesses. Having grown Naija Made’s following to more than 20,000, Okani turned his prowess toward Maine’s expanding hive of entrepreneurs.
As the Roux Institute’s community and engagement manager, Okani works with a network of startups, founders, investors, and supporters who are interested in creating or getting involved with early-stage companies. He utilizes a variety of event formats and topics to give all facets of the startup community a chance to connect, he says.
Naija Made brand ambassadors sporting Naija Made merchandise.
The Roux institute has tremendous potential to impact Maine’s startup economy. We’ve got all the right ingredients—the people, the timing, and the place.”
Obinna Okani
Community and Engagement Manager
The Roux Institute
At a recent Roux Institute fireside chat, “From Inspiration to IPO,” the founder of a Canadian company attended virtually, and following the event, has applied to the Roux Institute’s Techstars Accelerator. “Here you have an international company attending a Maine-based event, then applying to a Maine-based accelerator,” says Okani. “Those are the connections we’re making.”
Raised in New Jersey, Okani worked in New York City, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, and Los Angeles after graduating from Howard University and earning a master’s in business management from Wake Forest University. At the Roux Institute, he says, he looks forward to playing a pivotal role in transforming Maine’s business landscape through technology.
“The Roux Institute brings disparate resources together to help startups here in Maine,” Okani says. The institute provides ready access to grants, education, mentoring, and most important—networking—designed to help entrepreneurs succeed.
“Entrepreneurship at the Roux Institute has tremendous potential to impact Maine’s startup economy,” he says. “We’ve got all the right ingredients—the people, the timing, and the place.”