Michael Essien stage and was out of action for six months, missing the majority of the 2008–09 season, before returning on 4 March to play for Chelsea Reserves against Aston Villa Reserves. He scored the last goal in the 4–3 loss. He still managed to take part in 10 of Ghana's 11 qualification matches, amassing more than 800 minutes of game time as Ghana finished at the top of their group to seal qualification to the 2010 World Cup. However, it was announced on 27 May 2010 that Essien would miss the World Cup after he was told he would not fully
Mark Essien Pan-Africa Fund, a seed-stage technology fund, and Omidyar Network, the investment vehicle of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. In 2015 Mark made the Forbes list of 30 youngest entrepreneurs in Africa. He has also been nominated for the Nigeria Future awards amongst others. On April 8 2018, Essien married Jenni Naiaretti, who is also a developer. In 2016, Hotels.ng co-invested with Jason Njoku and Spark in OgaVenue, an events booking platform. Mark Essien serves as a director on the board of OgaVenue. Mark is a frequent TedX speaker. He has delivered talks on Leveraging networks to build a business, and how