World Nexus
Mark Ndesandjo
Mark Ndesandjo is president Barack Obama’s half-brother who lives in Shenzhen, teaches piano at an orphanage and runs an Internet company, World Nexus, that helps Chinese companies export to the US.
The company website says they assist Chinese companies set up websites for foreign customers. Their motto: “Good Communication is Good Business”.
Boilerplate says Worldnexus is registered with the Shenzhen city government and under the Chinese name 天下(TIAN XIA).
I did an earlier blog posting about the World Nexus.
Above photo is from Shenzhen Daily article published Nov 6 that had an amusing “only in China” anecdote:
After Ndesandjo’s identity was revealed, the wine producers of Shenyang Dragon Medical Co. Ltd., Liaoning Province, invited Ndesandjo to be their product spokesman. Ndesandjo turned down the offer, saying that he would think about it after the election.
If anyone knows him, please let me know. I’d like to request a video interview for my blog. Sounds like he has carved out a very interesting life in Shenzhen.
- From Chinese-language sources in Chination Report:
Mark teaches piano in an orphanage, according to a March 2004 article in the Nanfangnet Daily:
Mark doesn’t have much money. His goal is to bring the art of music to the orphans. He believed an orphan’s life needs not only the essentials. The arts are needed, too. Mark began teaching piano lessons at the orphanage every week – at least until events of this year overtook him. Since 2002, Mark has taught several dozen piano students. Two of his students studied with him for more than two years, one is Xing Yun, who went on to college in Guangzhou. The other is Long Ben.
From a CD cover that Mark produced:
Mark is a writer, painter and composer who spends most of his time in Asia and USA. He was born in Kenya. He studied at Brown and Stanford Universities. He published 3 CDs and one book. The book’s title is Observations in Africa and others. This (semi-autobiographical) book is about a young Kenyan man who immigrated to the US and lived in a metropolitan city there. He studied Communications and worked at Lucent Technologies and Notel Networks in high positions. His hobbies included sky diving, skiing and surfing.
Mark’s business ventures:
While dining, Sui came up with a plan: Instead of just consulting, why not also open a barbeque stand? This idea excited Mark a lot. He said he wanted to open such stands in Kenya to introduce grilled tofu and potato chips to his countrymen. While enjoying their beer and chips, they drew up a business plan on a piece of scrap paper. They even designed a menu. Mark insists that it has to be natural. He wanted a very simple, unpretentious hut instead of a fancy restaurant. They named the hut-restaurant Cabin BBQ. At the end of 2003, the first Cabin BBQ was opened in Shenzhen, adjacent to their existing information consulting office.
As of today, Cabin BBQ has seven branches, including one in Yingchuan in the northwest of China, far away from Shenzhen. They are also planning on entering the Kenyan market with their next Cabin BBQ. Sui said, “From a simple joke out of desperation to a viable business, we feel like we’re in a dream!” Thanks to the opening of their first Cabin BBQ, which became a very successful, profitable business, they were able to pay themselves a salary while covering the overhead of the consulting firm, which is still not profitable.
- According to a 2004 article in News Guangdong
MARK NDESANDJO has been teaching children at the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center how to play piano since June 2002. A successful businessman in telecommunications, Ndesandjo is also a self-taught musician.
“When I first came to Shenzhen from Florida (in the United States) two years ago, I started collecting VCRs, DVDs and pianos from my classmates in the executive MBA program in Atlanta, Georgia and donated them to the welfare center,” said Ndesandjo.
But soon Ndesandjo found that every time he went there, it seemed like a big party. “Children were dressed up and organized to meet us,”he said.
“The children here don’t need food, but there is no art, or music to appreciate. Music connects human beings on the spiritual level and can have a lasting impression on the children, so I thought of setting up a program in arts education in the center,” said Ndesandjo.
- According to Roger Cohen in the NY Times
Obama’s half brother, Mark, the one in China, he’s described as studying physics at Stanford in the 1980s. “The things Mark studies are so complicated only a handful of people really understand it at all,” Ruth enthuses.
But Mark, “a black man of my height and complexion,” tells Obama his work’s a breeze. He expresses limited interest in their shared father who died in 1982 at 46: “Life’s hard enough without all the excess baggage,” he muses.
- Here is Mark’s Linked In profile. He has three connections as of Nov 6.
- While at Emory in 2000, Mark co-wrote a paper on New Applications for Global Positioning Systems.
A video report from Chinese TV Mark:
Appreciate details on how to get in touch.
Popularity: 98% [?]
Request: Obama’s Half-Brother Mark Ndesandjo in China
UPDATE: Response has been great, allowing me to build a strong profile page with photos of Mark Ndesandjo that been referenced now on many sites and blog. (But I have still not been able to make contact with him.)
This is a reporting request:
Curious if anyone out there knows Mark Ndesandjo, Barack Obama’s half brother, or how to get in touch with him. (Would he be considered the First Half-Brother?)
I’d like to request a video interview with him for this blog.
I’ve started profile pages on Mark Ndesandjo and his company, World Nexus, in addition to a posting I did earlier on Ndesandjo based on some reporting by Michael Sheridan.
If you do not want to leave a public comment, but know how to contact him, feel free to email me at thomas at crampton dotcom.
Popularity: 10% [?]
World Nexus
World Nexus is a company in Southern China run by Barack Obama’s half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo.
I have done a blog posting on World Nexus, but would be great to get more information.
If anyone knows Ndesandjo, be great to speak with him.
The company’s website is here, but not too many details there.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Obama’s Brother Runs Internet Company in China
UPDATE: Thanks to readers of this blog I have compiled a profile of Mark Ndsandjo, complete with photos. I would very much like to meet him to do a video, so if you know him, let me know!
Barack Obama has a half-brother living in Shenzhen who runs an Internet company that helps Chinese companies export to the US.
The company, called Worldnexus, assists Chinese companies set up websites for foreign customers. Their motto: “Good Communication is Good Business”.
Boilerplate says Worldnexus is registered with the Shenzhen city government and under the Chinese name 天下(TIAN XIA).
Mark’s name has been removed from the site, but I pulled the below image from the Google cache.
This is the text next to his name: 2005.05.01 －Mark Ndesandjo 晋升为WorldNEXUS公司的总经理.
Michael Sheridan of the Sunday Times wrote about the brother and company this weekend:
Mark Ndesandjo is the son of Barack Obama’s late father and his third wife, an American woman named Ruth Nidesand who runs the up-market Maduri kindergarten in Nairobi.
Obama, however, refers to him simply as “my brother” and says he was the only uncontested heir after their father, a Kenyan, died in a car crash in 1982.
Sheridan writes that Ndesandjo lives in Nanshan district of Shenzhen and has a long-term girlfriend in her 20s who is from landlocked Henan province. Ndesandjo has a degree from Brown University, a masters in physics from Stanford and an MBA from Emory, Sheridan writes.
Mark is one of Barack Obama senior’s eight children by four different women. Here is an Obama family tree showing the relationship.
There are, however, some questions about his Internet-based company, Sheridan writes.
Chinese officials said there are unanswered questions about his internet-based company, Worldnexus Ltd. It has provided corporate communications and website design to Chinese firms seeking customers in English-speaking markets, of which the United States is the biggest.
Worldnexus is not registered to conduct business in Shenzhen and officials at the city’s commercial administration bureau said this raised potential issues of taxation and compliance with the law by its customers.
Ndesandjo’s reply to an interview request: “Thanks for your interest. However I am not giving interviews at this time.”
It will not play well in Peoria that Obama’s half-brother is working to promote cheap Chinese exports into the United States, Sheridan muses.
Anybody know him or the company?
Popularity: 17% [?]
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...
