Esther’s Chat With Emmanuel Okeke, CEO of Nigeria’s Largest Social Networking Site.

I stumbled on Friendite.com like two months ago while wandering on the internet [lolz].  I was thrilled to find our very own Nigerian social networking sites- FRIENDITE.COM and FRIENDITEPLUS.COM

After a long search, I found the ‘name’ of the site owner and stalked him all the way to LinkedIn. *Oh, you don’t stalk people on the internet?* 

Anyway, we connected on Linked In and he was kind enough to grant Esthertainment Digest an interview.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you ‘friendite.com’ and ‘frienditeplus.com’.

Frienditeplus.com is said to be Nigeria’s largest social network site.  Well accepted in the eastern part of Nigeria, the Friendite Global Limited (FGL) has received two awards in Anambra State, as the best social networking site of 2014 and the best brand of the year 2014.

FGL has also been listed as one of the 10 best start ups in Africa by the Web Summit.  The company is one of the only 3 Nigerian companies that made this list.

Also, the Friendite team has been invited by the organizers of the Web Summit to join thousands of other technology based companies for the popular event in Dublin.

 “The Friendite mission is to expand Africa social life circle, by bringing Africans together but to connect Africans and Nigerians to the World of socializing.”

Find out more about these thriving social networking sites from the horse’s mouth, Emmanuel Okeke (also known as Mr Friendite), CEO Friendite Global Limited.

Esther/ED: I understand friendite.com is a dating site. Could you tell what differentiates friendite.com from other dating sites?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: A clean and modern design which entails a user-friendly interface and no country restrictions (most dating sites restrict some countries).  We are 99% safe and free from fake profile users.  Our site has the ability to translate web pages into multiple languages, Inter connectivity with social media, and the capability to partake in video calls.  It includes advanced games, popular videos, and pictures.  Friendite.com also has a new voting tool to poll ‘who is hot’ and ‘who is not’ and so much more.

Esther/ED: How has it been so far? What has the reaction been like? Also, I understand you are popular in the east too.

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: Well, we all know it’s never easy to run a company, let alone an online social & dating platform, especially in Nigeria.  Running a site like friendite.com takes passion and a lot of time.

At first, a lot of people thought we were scammers, trying to deceive users.  I wonder how they came up with such thoughts.   It really took a lot of time and convincing before Nigerians started trusting and believing in online matchmaking.   So I can tell you, it was not that easy in the beginning, but we are doing okay.

By God so doing, we are quite popular in the East.  We have received two awards here in Anambra State, as the best social networking site of 2014 and the best brand of the year 2014. So, I can tell you we are doing quite well.

Esther/ED: So has friendite.com celebrated any weddings yet? Lolz.  Do you have stories of couples who met on the website and are currently in serious relationships?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: Yes, we have managed to connect above 3000 working relationships, and these are the ones that we know of. I am really not sure about marriages, but I am sure things are working out for them.

Esther/ED:  What's the difference between friendite.com and frienditeplus.com?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: friendite.com is a dating site while frienditeplus.com is a social networking site.

Esther/ED: How do you curb the issue of fake profiles and scammers? Also, how do handle the issue of nudity?  You know that even facebook is still battling with that.

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: Yes, because of the issue of fake profiles, we have partnered with a company called AdvertSafe. Together, we work on bringing down fake profiles.

Esther/ED: And Nudity?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: As for the case of nudity, when a user uploads an image, it undergoes a verification process before it appears live on the site. We manually look at all the photos and make sure it does not go against the site terms & conditions before it is approved.

Esther/ED: Manually? I hope that’s not tedious?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: Well, not really.  We are always online and what could be better than our users being safe?  It does not take more than 24 hours before all pictures uploaded for the day is verified.

Esther/ED: Are there restrictions to who can join your sites? Like age limits, Nationality etc?

Secondly, who are the target audience for frienditeplus.com? That of friendite.com (the dating site) is understandable.

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: To answer your first question about restriction, you know it’s a dating site, so you have to be at least above 18 years of age to access the site. Therefore participants who can be on the site should be within the ages of 18 to 65.

The frienditeplus.com site is for everyone. We don't have an age restriction.  Frienditeplus.com is here to expand your social experience by connecting to not just people you have mutual friends with, but helping you connect with new people around the globe

Esther/ED: You are very popular in the east as mentioned earlier. What are your plans in making these sites popular in other parts of the country especially major cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and others? Or are they east based projects?

Emmanuel Okeke/FGL: We are quite popular in many Cities. It’s just that we have a more physical presence in the east than other cities.  The site has quite a lot of users from these cities mentioned above. We are truly everywhere and in all countries.

Emmanuel Okeke

Emmanuel Emeka Okeke is the CEO of Friendite Global Limited (FGL), the parent company of the social networking sites: Friendite.com and Frienditeplus.com.

Vote Emmanuel Emeka Okeke representing Nigeria and Africa, to speak on the People’s stage and before individuals of top technology brands at the Web Summit in Dublin. Click the link below to vote: http://websummit.net/campaigns/peoples-stage-voting-entry/79