Meet Ike Esedebe | Business Directory Owner & Real Estate Agent/Investor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ike Esedebe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ike, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Seeking Africa was founded on the idea to connect and invest African Diaspora. We believe by economically empowering our business owners we are helping build a promising future for the Diaspora. I chose to primarily focus of African businesses due to the fact that they lack marketing and exposure most of the times. Even on large business directories like Yelp they are not aware of or market a lot of African-owned businesses.

I believe common factors to integrating a culture is through Food, Fashion, and Music. My future goal is to help make African culture a commonplace here in America. I admire how other cultures like the Latin & Hispanics communities, Asian communities, and Middle Eastern communities have a strong presence here is America. It is very common to eat food from those cultures, attend concert or festivals with Artists from those cultures, and wear clothes from those cultures. My goal is to help jumpstart that same type of commonality for African culture here. We are beginning to see the rise of Afrobeats with global artists like Burna Boy. That is a major step to bringing positive exposure to our culture. Making our businesses well-known and welcome people from all walks of life is the next step.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My name is Ike Esedebe, and I am a 1st generation Nigerian Immigrant. After my family relocated from Nigeria to London, England (where I was born), we then landed in Dallas, TX, where I primarily grew up. I am currently located in Los Angeles and Dallas where I spilt my time. I graduated from the University of North Texas, where I was the President of our African Student Organization. It was there that my interest and curiosity of learning about my Nigerian culture and the African culture as a whole was sparked. I graduated as an Accounting & Finance major, so I have always had a unique interest in Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship. During my time in undergrad and the initial post-grad years, I constantly would brainstorm how can I combine my love for business/entrepreneurship with my curiosity and passion for African culture? Thus, I came up with the idea of my Business Seeking Africa. Seeking Africa is a Business Directory (similar to Yelp) that primarily focuses on bringing exposure to African and Afro-Caribbean business.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For a weekend trip I would suggest brunch at the Serving Spoon located in Inglewood. It is a local Black Owned business and they have my favorite brunch in the city! For dinner I would suggest Veronica’s Kitchen located in Inglewood. They server authentic Nigerian food, it tastes like back home. Last go to place to check out is Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. You can’t come to LA and not go to Roscoe’s!

Website: https://SeekAfricaNow.com

Instagram: @SeekingAfrica

Twitter: @Drakegriffin_

Facebook: Ike Esedebe

Other: TikTok: @SeekingAfrica