Victor T. Madubuko
Founder/Chief Executive Officer, CareerNation, Accra Ghana, Age: 38
Victor T. Madubuko walked away from certain death on Sept. 11, 2001. “As I walked down from the sixty-fourth floor and out of the burning World Trade Center, I realized how fragile life is. Now that I had a second chance, I vowed to use my skills and experience to contribute to human resources development in Africa,” he says. At the time, he was a human resources business partner at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He remained there until 2006, but in 2003 launched CareerNation, a New York-based international human resources consulting firm with offices in Accra, Ghana; Abuja, Nigeria; and Nairobi, Kenya. He went into the firm full time as its chief executive in 2007.
Madubuko’s entrepreneurial endeavors began while studying in Russia in the 1990s. He opened Toks Afro Salon, the first African beauty salon in Russia, and Café Mama Africa, the first African restaurant in the country, both successful businesses in the company he founded, Toksifeks Holdings. He was the founder and president of the International Student Union in Moscow and the recipient of the Moscow Entrepreneurial Leadership Award in 1997.
Madubuko has a law degree from the Peoples Friendship University in Moscow, a master’s degree in management from the Milano Graduate School of Management in Urban Policy at The New School University in New York, and an associate degree in economics from Abia State University in Nigeria. He muses about the road he has traveled, “In Russia, I employed a staff of seventeen, but my first job in America was as a floor cleaner. Now I have a staff of twenty-three in four countries.”
He still harbors his biggest dream of all. “I am passionate about Nigeria, and Nigeria as we know it today is not working. If I had the money and time, I would like to lead the country to greater heights,” he says.
Fun Facts
Nickname: Toks
Favorite food: Rice and stew
What actor should play you in a movie: Emeka Ike
Facebook or LinkedIn: LinkedIn
Favorite sports team: The Green Eagles
What artist/group would you go on tour with: P-Square
Movie theater or home theater: Home theater
Last Movie: Bolt
List the languages you speak: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Russian, English
