Michael Essien executive, Zainuri Hasyim said that Persib have now released Essien because the club already filling their maximum quota of foreign players based on the PSSI's regulation. Essien's international career started with the Ghana under-17 national team, the "Black Starlets", when he played in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship in New Zealand and won the bronze medal. In 2001, despite being one of the youngest players in the tournament, Essien participated in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship with the "Black Satellites" in Argentina, where the nation finished runners-up to Argentina. His exceptional performances captured the attention of many and
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