Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My guest is Mo Abudu, CEO of Nigeria based Ebony Life Group. Moe's personal story could be a movie itself. She started her career in human resources at Atlas Recruiting in the UK. She went on to work for Exxon Mobil in the UK before returning to Nigeria. In nineteen ninety three, she started her own head hunting firm. At that time, she was also very interested in media. She started her own talk show, Moments with Moe talking to interesting people, thinkers, actors, artists that she found in the vibrancy of her native country. From there, that led her to launch her own channel, Eboni Life TV, and that company has morphed into Eboni Life Media. A very busy production company. Abudu has generated a lot of activity in a very short time with deals with players including Lionsgate Stars and Sony Pictures TV. Ebonie Life was also the producer behind the Netflix detective series Blood Sisters, which marked Netflix's first African original production. As Moe will explain, she has no shortage of big plans for the local and global focus of Ebony Life Media content. That's all coming up after the break, and we're back with Eboni Life CEO Mo Aboudu. What was the spark? What made you launch Ebonie Life TV in twenty thirteen? And if I have that date right.

Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My guest is Mo Abudu, CEO of Nigeria based Ebony Life Group. Moe's personal story could be a movie itself. She started her career in human resources at Atlas Recruiting in the UK. She went on to work for Exxon Mobil in the UK before returning to Nigeria. In nineteen ninety three, she started her own head hunting firm. At that time, she was also very interested in media. She started her own talk show, Moments with Moe talking to interesting people, thinkers, actors, artists that she found in the vibrancy of her native country. From there, that led her to launch her own channel, Eboni Life TV, and that company has morphed into Eboni Life Media. A very busy production company. Abudu has generated a lot of activity in a very short time with deals with players including Lionsgate Stars and Sony Pictures TV. Ebonie Life was also the producer behind the Netflix detective series Blood Sisters, which marked Netflix's first African original production. As Moe will explain, she has no shortage of big plans for the local and global focus of Ebony Life Media content. That's all coming up after the break, and we're back with Eboni Life CEO Mo Aboudu. What was the spark? What made you launch Ebonie Life TV in twenty thirteen? And if I have that date right.

Yes, twenty thirteen was the date that we launched, but the work had started at least probably three four years before then, So twenty first when we got on air, but it was a it was a thing getting on air. And I think the journey for me with Ebony Life TV started with looking at what was just out there, you know. And I always say that it's about I call them the white spaces, like why does this thing not exist? I mean, I'm sure now with today wonder why did Uber never exist? But why did BnB never exist? Or why did the mobile phone never exist? You know, and an all number of things, you know, because today we can't seem to live without them as far back for me as then local content, even when I started my talk show in two thousand and six with Moments with Mo. For me, it was all about the need for local content. Now, local content is a real thing now, right, Like what part of the world you're in, even the span Los Angeles, Yeah, you're in Los Angeles. So even if you are in India, or you're in Spain or wherever you are, if you look at the strategy of the streamers, they all have local markets to satisfy. So if you're in Spain, you're going to see Spanish content. You get to see global content too now when I say it's and also Spanish content has become global content, and you know, Korean content has become global content, and African continent has become global content, and Niger content has become because you're dealing with streamers now that have taken the technology whereby they're putting content on their platforms that is going out to a wide to the to the world. Right. So we live in a world now whereby people don't really care where the content comes from. What they care about is is it well made? Is there a good story? Can I watch it? Is it engaging? Does it have all those boxes you can tip to say I want to watch this show? So pretty much the same happened with me on my journey with Ebony Life television realizing way back then ten years ago now that you know what, I think, people want to see themselves on screen, and my specific target was a millennial audience. You know, if you look at our content, it was really targeted at those aged eighteen to early thirties. It was a very young, very hip, very sexy channel, so to speak, because at that time, there was nothing that was speaking to this particular savvy, aspirational what you can call now the TikTok audience. Way back then, it didn't exist. So Ebony Life kind of was the first to create that. When you look at all the types of programming that we had and the and the demographic of who our presenters were, you know, a lot of them hadn't even done television before. But they were just really savvy, really well spoken, beautiful looking people, you know, dressed well, looked well, and we just put them on screen and they were just they just they just did an amazing job. And that for me, was the gap that needed to be filled, and we filled that gap. And since we filled that gap, there have been several others. Of course, imitation is innovation, as they say, you know, now there have been several others you know, that have decided that that is the type of you know looking, that's the type of channel they want to create, or that's the type of content they would like to create. And many have gone out since we started Open in Life Television to do the same thing, which is great. So now you've got many, you know a number of platforms that have that look and feel that's sexy and is speaking to that you know, that young audience. Not forgetting that Africa, sixty percent of our population across the continent are still it's still defined as youth.

Yes, twenty thirteen was the date that we launched, but the work had started at least probably three four years before then, So twenty first when we got on air, but it was a it was a thing getting on air. And I think the journey for me with Ebony Life TV started with looking at what was just out there, you know. And I always say that it's about I call them the white spaces, like why does this thing not exist? I mean, I'm sure now with today wonder why did Uber never exist? But why did BnB never exist? Or why did the mobile phone never exist? You know, and an all number of things, you know, because today we can't seem to live without them as far back for me as then local content, even when I started my talk show in two thousand and six with Moments with Mo. For me, it was all about the need for local content. Now, local content is a real thing now, right, Like what part of the world you're in, even the span Los Angeles, Yeah, you're in Los Angeles. So even if you are in India, or you're in Spain or wherever you are, if you look at the strategy of the streamers, they all have local markets to satisfy. So if you're in Spain, you're going to see Spanish content. You get to see global content too now when I say it's and also Spanish content has become global content, and you know, Korean content has become global content, and African continent has become global content, and Niger content has become because you're dealing with streamers now that have taken the technology whereby they're putting content on their platforms that is going out to a wide to the to the world. Right. So we live in a world now whereby people don't really care where the content comes from. What they care about is is it well made? Is there a good story? Can I watch it? Is it engaging? Does it have all those boxes you can tip to say I want to watch this show? So pretty much the same happened with me on my journey with Ebony Life television realizing way back then ten years ago now that you know what, I think, people want to see themselves on screen, and my specific target was a millennial audience. You know, if you look at our content, it was really targeted at those aged eighteen to early thirties. It was a very young, very hip, very sexy channel, so to speak, because at that time, there was nothing that was speaking to this particular savvy, aspirational what you can call now the TikTok audience. Way back then, it didn't exist. So Ebony Life kind of was the first to create that. When you look at all the types of programming that we had and the and the demographic of who our presenters were, you know, a lot of them hadn't even done television before. But they were just really savvy, really well spoken, beautiful looking people, you know, dressed well, looked well, and we just put them on screen and they were just they just they just did an amazing job. And that for me, was the gap that needed to be filled, and we filled that gap. And since we filled that gap, there have been several others. Of course, imitation is innovation, as they say, you know, now there have been several others you know, that have decided that that is the type of you know looking, that's the type of channel they want to create, or that's the type of content they would like to create. And many have gone out since we started Open in Life Television to do the same thing, which is great. So now you've got many, you know a number of platforms that have that look and feel that's sexy and is speaking to that you know, that young audience. Not forgetting that Africa, sixty percent of our population across the continent are still it's still defined as youth.

Yeah, it's a very young demographic.

Yeah, it's a very young demographic.

It's a very young demograph. It's a very young continent, right, which is to our advantage, you know. So what's important is to create content that speaks to them. And that's what we've done successfully and that's what we will continue to do.

It's a very young demograph. It's a very young continent, right, which is to our advantage, you know. So what's important is to create content that speaks to them. And that's what we've done successfully and that's what we will continue to do.

But let me ask you in twenty thirteen, what was the key to getting it out?

But let me ask you in twenty thirteen, what was the key to getting it out?

Was it YouTube?

Was it YouTube?

How did you get your content distributed?

How did you get your content distributed?

We partnered with the largest PATV platform in Africa. They're called Multi Choice. They're based in South Africa and I had gone to them probably three as I said, three or four years before this launch date of twenty thirteen, and I said, I want to launch a channel, and they're like, you want to launch a channel? They were like okay, you know, so you've got to do the pitch. You know, you go in for meeting after meeting after meeting, and they're like, oh, you need to have a studio. I didn't have a studio. I didn't have the resources. But as God would have it, in a town in Nigeria, in southeast Nigeria, in a place called Caliba, a studio had been built eight years prior to to twenty thirteen, and I was just by pure chance on you know, may his so rest in peace. A friend of mine called Ozed guilla Amu, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, said to me more, you know, for moments with mo the governor. Would you know, would you like to interview the governor? And I said, of course, I'd love to interview the governor. So I take a trip to Kalaba, beautiful place. It was New Year's Eve or something like that, and I interviewed the governor and then the lady that took me to Caliba, I said, listen, would you like to go on a tour of the town, and I said, why not. And we went on a tour and I came across this amazing studio and I was like, wow, I didn't even know this place existed, built to global standards, called Tinapa Studios. Please feel free to google. I have image cycles end you. Okay. So the next day when I met the governor, because we went on this right there the day before, I interviewed the governor. So the next day when I met the governor, we were having a conversation, you know, and you know, I've never met the governor before. You're just making you know, sort of like, you know, polite conversation. I said, your excellency, you know, I visited Tinapa yesterday and I saw this most amazing studio it is, you know, it's I said, it looks amazing. What's happening with it? He says, Wellmo, not much. It's just basically there. We're looking to see how we can get it up and running. And at this point I was already having an ongoing conversation with Multi Choice about I needed to have a studio. So at that point I was saying, oh, I'm going to have to build from scratch, it's going to be another five years before I start this journey. But here was this studio just sitting there, empty, no occupants, nothing at all. So one thing led to another. I cut a long story short. A few months later, I am living and working and I have started up on in life television in Calaba with the support of the Governor Leolie Morkey and his wife and his special assistant in Zen and everyone else around that time. And that's how we launched up on a life television. M hm. That is it?

We partnered with the largest PATV platform in Africa. They're called Multi Choice. They're based in South Africa and I had gone to them probably three as I said, three or four years before this launch date of twenty thirteen, and I said, I want to launch a channel, and they're like, you want to launch a channel? They were like okay, you know, so you've got to do the pitch. You know, you go in for meeting after meeting after meeting, and they're like, oh, you need to have a studio. I didn't have a studio. I didn't have the resources. But as God would have it, in a town in Nigeria, in southeast Nigeria, in a place called Caliba, a studio had been built eight years prior to to twenty thirteen, and I was just by pure chance on you know, may his so rest in peace. A friend of mine called Ozed guilla Amu, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, said to me more, you know, for moments with mo the governor. Would you know, would you like to interview the governor? And I said, of course, I'd love to interview the governor. So I take a trip to Kalaba, beautiful place. It was New Year's Eve or something like that, and I interviewed the governor and then the lady that took me to Caliba, I said, listen, would you like to go on a tour of the town, and I said, why not. And we went on a tour and I came across this amazing studio and I was like, wow, I didn't even know this place existed, built to global standards, called Tinapa Studios. Please feel free to google. I have image cycles end you. Okay. So the next day when I met the governor, because we went on this right there the day before, I interviewed the governor. So the next day when I met the governor, we were having a conversation, you know, and you know, I've never met the governor before. You're just making you know, sort of like, you know, polite conversation. I said, your excellency, you know, I visited Tinapa yesterday and I saw this most amazing studio it is, you know, it's I said, it looks amazing. What's happening with it? He says, Wellmo, not much. It's just basically there. We're looking to see how we can get it up and running. And at this point I was already having an ongoing conversation with Multi Choice about I needed to have a studio. So at that point I was saying, oh, I'm going to have to build from scratch, it's going to be another five years before I start this journey. But here was this studio just sitting there, empty, no occupants, nothing at all. So one thing led to another. I cut a long story short. A few months later, I am living and working and I have started up on in life television in Calaba with the support of the Governor Leolie Morkey and his wife and his special assistant in Zen and everyone else around that time. And that's how we launched up on a life television. M hm. That is it?

That is It's an incredible by the bootstrapped story and a little bit of a little luck sometimes also, yeah.

That is It's an incredible by the bootstrapped story and a little bit of a little luck sometimes also, yeah.

I mean the thing is, I guess lucky is always there. But I had worked and struggled so hard about finding investors to build a studio in Legos, and that was the plan. That was my plan A. But when I saw this studio already existing, it became my plan. It meant I had to leave Legos. I'd never left Legos, you know, to live anywhere else in Nigeria. It's like living in New York and suddenly you're moving to Let me think, where can it be in America. I'm trying to think of a comparison like someone in the Deep South, you know where you know, like somewhere in the Deep South Atlanta or no, No, Atlanta is a city I'm talking about, like in like farmland, like maybe Arizona or somewhere I don't know, you know. So we had to we had to move to Calabal with about one hundred people. Everybody had to. We had to move in and did a little bit of revamp to the studios because obviously it'd been sitting there for eight years no one used it. And that's how we started up on Your Life television.

I mean the thing is, I guess lucky is always there. But I had worked and struggled so hard about finding investors to build a studio in Legos, and that was the plan. That was my plan A. But when I saw this studio already existing, it became my plan. It meant I had to leave Legos. I'd never left Legos, you know, to live anywhere else in Nigeria. It's like living in New York and suddenly you're moving to Let me think, where can it be in America. I'm trying to think of a comparison like someone in the Deep South, you know where you know, like somewhere in the Deep South Atlanta or no, No, Atlanta is a city I'm talking about, like in like farmland, like maybe Arizona or somewhere I don't know, you know. So we had to we had to move to Calabal with about one hundred people. Everybody had to. We had to move in and did a little bit of revamp to the studios because obviously it'd been sitting there for eight years no one used it. And that's how we started up on Your Life television.

Oh my goodness, did you have investors going in even to get it just off the ground?

Oh my goodness, did you have investors going in even to get it just off the ground?

I didn't have investors. The only support I got was from Cross River State government in terms of giving us the studio facility and working out partnership and a co venture, you know, a joint venture agreement with them on having access to the on having access to the studio. Yeah, so we had I had to go out and raise finance for everything else. Yeah.

I didn't have investors. The only support I got was from Cross River State government in terms of giving us the studio facility and working out partnership and a co venture, you know, a joint venture agreement with them on having access to the on having access to the studio. Yeah, so we had I had to go out and raise finance for everything else. Yeah.

Did Multi Choice pay you a license fee or did you fund it through advertising?

Did Multi Choice pay you a license fee or did you fund it through advertising?

In those early days, they paid us. They paid us was called a carriage fee, you know, which is typically what you get when you operate on a PTV platform. Even the moment when we had launched the on a Life TV, I knew that I wanted to tell local stories for a global audience. So we were already investing heavily in research and treatments and pilot episodes of projects and putting together beautiful pitch decks, which is why by the time it was twenty eighteen, I had signed my first deal with Sony Picture Television on a three scripted deal, and from Sony to AMC, and from AMC to I don't know, there's so many others as you know, you know Westbrook, you know, will Packer, BBC and amongst others. We had realized very early on that we wanted to do local for global, and we had to find the stories that we knew would be local for global, because there are some stories that I still strongly believe are local for local, and there's nothing wrong in serving a local audience, and I would continue to always want to you know, please, you know, African and nigrone audiences, but I also knew that I wanted to operate in a bigger space, which was local for global, whereby there are such incredible African stories that have just never traveled. We've been a continent that has been so silent about everything we've done, and the only part of our history that really ever gets told time and time again has been the slavery part of it. But there was life before slavery, there was life during, and there was life after. I mean, we're a continent of a billion people, so we had life. It was unfortunate that slavery happened, but whilst that was happening, there were still things going on on our continent. So for example, if you look at the project we have with Stars and Lionsgate, it's about Queen and Zinger from Angola who had reigned from the seventeenth century. I mean she reigned for over eighty years. She had a great reign. She was an incredible woman with many talents, who said when she became queen, she said, you can call me king. This is in the seventeenth century, you know. So it's such you know. So that's in development and it's been announced with Stars, you know and lions Gate. Another great project that we have BBC Studios is called Reclaim Again, going back into history in the eighteenth century, the British came to beIN in city in Nigeria and looted all our great artifacts and took them back to all these British museums and some of them are still sitting there till tomorrow and some have been returned. So we have a limited series with BBC Studios called Reclaim whereby there's this you know, high powered millennial you know, team of kick ass. You know, you know, people determined to go back to the museums and to those that have stolen our artifacts as we want it back, so using a heist format, but for something else has meaning to say, you took that doesn't belong to you and we want it back. Please, thank you very much. You know that's strict claim set up at the BBC, you know, and we have a ton of other projects you know that have been that are out there. You know that we're working with the Dahoma Warriors. You saw a woman king that Vola Davis. Did you know as far back as twenty eighteen, you know, we signed an agreement with Sony about the Dahoma Warriors the series. Again, these women reigned in Africa for many, many years. Their story has never been told the first time the story was told was when Viola Davis did it as a movie. But there is so much content around these women that we believe there is life for there to be a series. And it's one of our projects that's been announced and is in development and you know it's being pitched with Sony Pictures Television we have. So for us as Ebony Life, we try and pick projects and select projects that we know are local in terms of the story, but globally would appeal to a wider audience.

In those early days, they paid us. They paid us was called a carriage fee, you know, which is typically what you get when you operate on a PTV platform. Even the moment when we had launched the on a Life TV, I knew that I wanted to tell local stories for a global audience. So we were already investing heavily in research and treatments and pilot episodes of projects and putting together beautiful pitch decks, which is why by the time it was twenty eighteen, I had signed my first deal with Sony Picture Television on a three scripted deal, and from Sony to AMC, and from AMC to I don't know, there's so many others as you know, you know Westbrook, you know, will Packer, BBC and amongst others. We had realized very early on that we wanted to do local for global, and we had to find the stories that we knew would be local for global, because there are some stories that I still strongly believe are local for local, and there's nothing wrong in serving a local audience, and I would continue to always want to you know, please, you know, African and nigrone audiences, but I also knew that I wanted to operate in a bigger space, which was local for global, whereby there are such incredible African stories that have just never traveled. We've been a continent that has been so silent about everything we've done, and the only part of our history that really ever gets told time and time again has been the slavery part of it. But there was life before slavery, there was life during, and there was life after. I mean, we're a continent of a billion people, so we had life. It was unfortunate that slavery happened, but whilst that was happening, there were still things going on on our continent. So for example, if you look at the project we have with Stars and Lionsgate, it's about Queen and Zinger from Angola who had reigned from the seventeenth century. I mean she reigned for over eighty years. She had a great reign. She was an incredible woman with many talents, who said when she became queen, she said, you can call me king. This is in the seventeenth century, you know. So it's such you know. So that's in development and it's been announced with Stars, you know and lions Gate. Another great project that we have BBC Studios is called Reclaim Again, going back into history in the eighteenth century, the British came to beIN in city in Nigeria and looted all our great artifacts and took them back to all these British museums and some of them are still sitting there till tomorrow and some have been returned. So we have a limited series with BBC Studios called Reclaim whereby there's this you know, high powered millennial you know, team of kick ass. You know, you know, people determined to go back to the museums and to those that have stolen our artifacts as we want it back, so using a heist format, but for something else has meaning to say, you took that doesn't belong to you and we want it back. Please, thank you very much. You know that's strict claim set up at the BBC, you know, and we have a ton of other projects you know that have been that are out there. You know that we're working with the Dahoma Warriors. You saw a woman king that Vola Davis. Did you know as far back as twenty eighteen, you know, we signed an agreement with Sony about the Dahoma Warriors the series. Again, these women reigned in Africa for many, many years. Their story has never been told the first time the story was told was when Viola Davis did it as a movie. But there is so much content around these women that we believe there is life for there to be a series. And it's one of our projects that's been announced and is in development and you know it's being pitched with Sony Pictures Television we have. So for us as Ebony Life, we try and pick projects and select projects that we know are local in terms of the story, but globally would appeal to a wider audience.

Can I ask you about the development So even in the time that you have been active with Ebony Life, all the pre production and then going live, can you talk about the development of infrastructure of entertainment and content production infrastructure in Legos and other parts of Nigeria other African markets, Because definitely, the potential, the growth potential in Africa is something that every major global media company is really talking about. I'd love your on the ground perspective as being one of the people that really said, hey, it's time to take the reins and tell our own stories.

Can I ask you about the development So even in the time that you have been active with Ebony Life, all the pre production and then going live, can you talk about the development of infrastructure of entertainment and content production infrastructure in Legos and other parts of Nigeria other African markets, Because definitely, the potential, the growth potential in Africa is something that every major global media company is really talking about. I'd love your on the ground perspective as being one of the people that really said, hey, it's time to take the reins and tell our own stories.

Absolutely well as far as the infrastructure is concerned, I want to say that for infrastructure, we need to do more in Nigeria. You know, South Africa is ahead of us in that regard. They do have studio facilities where you can go in and you can do big epic, you know stories, But Nigeria still needs to develop, the rest of Africa still needs to develop. As you know. I also have a partnership with Idris Elba. He is also in the prosis of the studio in Ghana, you know, So it is beginning to happen that studios need to be on ground. We do need to have those structures there. But what I do love about the way we've worked in Nigeria is that despite not having the studios, you find that there are properties and locations where you can shoot. Now, when we were running up on in life television, of course we had a massive studios. As a linear TV channel, we had a you know, we had our studios. But when we became more of a co production partner to the you know, when we moved out of linear television, we didn't have those massive studios that we were running anymore. So we tend to work more on a set by set. Okay, if we're going to shoot this particular project, you know, we we have you know, location managers that work with us we go out and we wrecky many many times I have appealed to friends and family and colleagues to say, I know your home is not a studio, but I need to shoot this movie. Your house, your living room, your dining room, your garden, your you know, your car park, your tarmac, your private get whatever it is. I really really need you to support me on this project, you know. And that sometimes works with friends, and in some instances it's a commercial arrangement. You're going to have to pay for the location, you know, for the prop, for whatever it is that you need. You're going to have to pay for it if you need to use it. So that's pretty much the infrastructure that we work with in Nigeria. But as I said, in South Africa, it's way more developed. They've got a more settled market. They do have studios in Cape Town and joe Burg whereby you know, you can go in and you can shoot long term projects and you can build your sets and things like that. You know. So infrastructure is some is an area that I do believe we need to work on. I also believe we need to work more on post production facilities as well. In country, we do have our own post that eBoy Life part of the work, but we still do outsource part of it because we don't have absolutely everything that we can do in house, you know. So again, I still strongly believe in there being a collaborative effort towards achieving our goals. And we shouldn't sort of put this circle around us that, oh, everything I do must be in Nigeria. Whatever we can do in Nigeria or Ghana or South Africa or Kenya or whatever other part of the world, in Africa, we do. And if we even have to extend that to work in England, or we need to extend that to work in South Africa or America or any other part of the world, so be it. You know, creatives need I think creatives need to be more involved with working together because I think that's when you get the best of us rather than very much. Oh I'm going to work. I'm going to do this. It's Mimi, I and myself.

Absolutely well as far as the infrastructure is concerned, I want to say that for infrastructure, we need to do more in Nigeria. You know, South Africa is ahead of us in that regard. They do have studio facilities where you can go in and you can do big epic, you know stories, But Nigeria still needs to develop, the rest of Africa still needs to develop. As you know. I also have a partnership with Idris Elba. He is also in the prosis of the studio in Ghana, you know, So it is beginning to happen that studios need to be on ground. We do need to have those structures there. But what I do love about the way we've worked in Nigeria is that despite not having the studios, you find that there are properties and locations where you can shoot. Now, when we were running up on in life television, of course we had a massive studios. As a linear TV channel, we had a you know, we had our studios. But when we became more of a co production partner to the you know, when we moved out of linear television, we didn't have those massive studios that we were running anymore. So we tend to work more on a set by set. Okay, if we're going to shoot this particular project, you know, we we have you know, location managers that work with us we go out and we wrecky many many times I have appealed to friends and family and colleagues to say, I know your home is not a studio, but I need to shoot this movie. Your house, your living room, your dining room, your garden, your you know, your car park, your tarmac, your private get whatever it is. I really really need you to support me on this project, you know. And that sometimes works with friends, and in some instances it's a commercial arrangement. You're going to have to pay for the location, you know, for the prop, for whatever it is that you need. You're going to have to pay for it if you need to use it. So that's pretty much the infrastructure that we work with in Nigeria. But as I said, in South Africa, it's way more developed. They've got a more settled market. They do have studios in Cape Town and joe Burg whereby you know, you can go in and you can shoot long term projects and you can build your sets and things like that. You know. So infrastructure is some is an area that I do believe we need to work on. I also believe we need to work more on post production facilities as well. In country, we do have our own post that eBoy Life part of the work, but we still do outsource part of it because we don't have absolutely everything that we can do in house, you know. So again, I still strongly believe in there being a collaborative effort towards achieving our goals. And we shouldn't sort of put this circle around us that, oh, everything I do must be in Nigeria. Whatever we can do in Nigeria or Ghana or South Africa or Kenya or whatever other part of the world, in Africa, we do. And if we even have to extend that to work in England, or we need to extend that to work in South Africa or America or any other part of the world, so be it. You know, creatives need I think creatives need to be more involved with working together because I think that's when you get the best of us rather than very much. Oh I'm going to work. I'm going to do this. It's Mimi, I and myself.

Don't go anywhere. There's more coming from Ebony Life CEO mo Aboduo right after this break and we're back with more from Ebony Life CEO mo Aboudu. Let me ask you as you pitch. You know, everyone from BBC to Stars to you know, major networks around the world and other continents have what has been some of the education that you've needed to do to because you are coming in with a different message. We are Africans, we are ready to tell our own stories. We are local for global. Have you found mostly receptive ears? Has it taken Has it taken time for people to understand people outside of Africa to understand what the potential, what the marketplace is there right now?

Don't go anywhere. There's more coming from Ebony Life CEO mo Aboduo right after this break and we're back with more from Ebony Life CEO mo Aboudu. Let me ask you as you pitch. You know, everyone from BBC to Stars to you know, major networks around the world and other continents have what has been some of the education that you've needed to do to because you are coming in with a different message. We are Africans, we are ready to tell our own stories. We are local for global. Have you found mostly receptive ears? Has it taken Has it taken time for people to understand people outside of Africa to understand what the potential, what the marketplace is there right now?

I think it's like with all things, it's you have to educate, you have to convince, you have to persuade positively, you've got to share data, you've got to let them understand that Africa is only six hours away from London. You know, It's it's not like you're going to out of space, right. I mean the other day I was on a plane from New York to la and it was five and a half hours. That's how long it takes to get from London to Lagos literally, So you know, we're not that far away from where the world is. And it's important for the world to understand that Africa is shaping a lot of the culture around the world when it comes to music, when it comes to fashion, when it comes to beauty, when it comes I mean, I believe that Nigeria, for example, has some of the best fashion designers, has some of the best hairdressers, has some of the best makeup artists that the world needs to discover, you know, And so we have talent sitting there that needs to be exported, that needs to be shared with the world. So my message to those that are ready to listen because you know the challenges are some of them that you still not ready. Some of them are very risk adverse to. Like you know what, I'm just rather going to do season hundred of this particular show because it kind of works for me, and I'm not sure I want to go and do another season one of a show from Nigeria or Cape Town and Johannesburg. But then you see data speaks for itself because what you find is that a number of the shows that are on Netflix or any of the other streamers, you find that because data, they're so data driven, they share the numbers, you know, on you can check these numbers online and they can see that even when our shows are standing shoulder to shoulder with international shows that probably get ten times the budget that we get. We're still getting the numbers, and that tells you that there is an audience, that people want a different story, and it tells you that you know, this new generation, this younger generation, like my daughter has been watching Korean content for ten years or longer, and I would say, what are you watching? She's like, Mom, you need to watch this. But look how that has taken the world by storm. Right now some of us are just realizing that there's Korean content out there. But I've been on this journey for the last twenty or thirty years, so again I believe that it's a journey that Africa is on and we've started the journey. And you know, when you look at markets where there is huge potential today, it's going to be Africa because, oh, as a business case, all the other markets are literally fully saturated. Where are you're going to go? How many more subscribers a you're going to get in England or on London or France or wherever. You may get a few more. But you know where the largest market is right now is on the continent. There are a billion people.

I think it's like with all things, it's you have to educate, you have to convince, you have to persuade positively, you've got to share data, you've got to let them understand that Africa is only six hours away from London. You know, It's it's not like you're going to out of space, right. I mean the other day I was on a plane from New York to la and it was five and a half hours. That's how long it takes to get from London to Lagos literally, So you know, we're not that far away from where the world is. And it's important for the world to understand that Africa is shaping a lot of the culture around the world when it comes to music, when it comes to fashion, when it comes to beauty, when it comes I mean, I believe that Nigeria, for example, has some of the best fashion designers, has some of the best hairdressers, has some of the best makeup artists that the world needs to discover, you know, And so we have talent sitting there that needs to be exported, that needs to be shared with the world. So my message to those that are ready to listen because you know the challenges are some of them that you still not ready. Some of them are very risk adverse to. Like you know what, I'm just rather going to do season hundred of this particular show because it kind of works for me, and I'm not sure I want to go and do another season one of a show from Nigeria or Cape Town and Johannesburg. But then you see data speaks for itself because what you find is that a number of the shows that are on Netflix or any of the other streamers, you find that because data, they're so data driven, they share the numbers, you know, on you can check these numbers online and they can see that even when our shows are standing shoulder to shoulder with international shows that probably get ten times the budget that we get. We're still getting the numbers, and that tells you that there is an audience, that people want a different story, and it tells you that you know, this new generation, this younger generation, like my daughter has been watching Korean content for ten years or longer, and I would say, what are you watching? She's like, Mom, you need to watch this. But look how that has taken the world by storm. Right now some of us are just realizing that there's Korean content out there. But I've been on this journey for the last twenty or thirty years, so again I believe that it's a journey that Africa is on and we've started the journey. And you know, when you look at markets where there is huge potential today, it's going to be Africa because, oh, as a business case, all the other markets are literally fully saturated. Where are you're going to go? How many more subscribers a you're going to get in England or on London or France or wherever. You may get a few more. But you know where the largest market is right now is on the continent. There are a billion people.

There and they're incredibly and nowadays they are incredibly wired.

There and they're incredibly and nowadays they are incredibly wired.

They are We're getting more wired. I mean, there are probably three hundred million phone lines in Nigeria. I mean that number may be wrong, you know, so I'm just saying it's probably higher than that, you know, three hundred million subscribers maybe or more. So. We're getting more white, We're getting more connected. You know, there's a lot more going on with that. Even in the tech space. You know, Nigeria is very savvy when it comes to tech in terms of you know, the partnerships that they forged around the payment systems and things like that, not forgetting what's happening in the world of music, you know. I mean, we have Nigerian artists, you know, like Burna Boy and David Ow and whiskeyd and to A Savage and this and as Shake this week selling out studios, setting out you know, staating.

They are We're getting more wired. I mean, there are probably three hundred million phone lines in Nigeria. I mean that number may be wrong, you know, so I'm just saying it's probably higher than that, you know, three hundred million subscribers maybe or more. So. We're getting more white, We're getting more connected. You know, there's a lot more going on with that. Even in the tech space. You know, Nigeria is very savvy when it comes to tech in terms of you know, the partnerships that they forged around the payment systems and things like that, not forgetting what's happening in the world of music, you know. I mean, we have Nigerian artists, you know, like Burna Boy and David Ow and whiskeyd and to A Savage and this and as Shake this week selling out studios, setting out you know, staating.

The cultural exports have been significant.

The cultural exports have been significant.

In New York people. I mean, I'm sometimes walking around Macy's or Selfridges or Harold's. I'm in a restaurant and I'm hearing a Nigerian song and I'm like wow. I mean, last week I was in La and I was at the rooftop of the World of Astoria and I was listening to rama and I'm like, wow, that is that is that is amazing. You know, I was in Canada last year. There was a DJ playing at an event and I had to go to him and say, are you Nigeria And he said no, His entire playlist was ninety percent Nigerian music. I'm saying that things are beginning to happen around the world. And it's happened in the world of music, and I believe that it's going to take off in the world of fashion and the film and television and storytelling. It's beginning to happen and it can only it can only be up from where we are.

In New York people. I mean, I'm sometimes walking around Macy's or Selfridges or Harold's. I'm in a restaurant and I'm hearing a Nigerian song and I'm like wow. I mean, last week I was in La and I was at the rooftop of the World of Astoria and I was listening to rama and I'm like, wow, that is that is that is amazing. You know, I was in Canada last year. There was a DJ playing at an event and I had to go to him and say, are you Nigeria And he said no, His entire playlist was ninety percent Nigerian music. I'm saying that things are beginning to happen around the world. And it's happened in the world of music, and I believe that it's going to take off in the world of fashion and the film and television and storytelling. It's beginning to happen and it can only it can only be up from where we are.

And let me ask you for the local audience, for the Nigerian audience, what did you see was the impact of a show like Blood Sisters. You produced one of, if not the first Netflix African original series. What did you see What was the resonance of that series among the among the African audience.

And let me ask you for the local audience, for the Nigerian audience, what did you see was the impact of a show like Blood Sisters. You produced one of, if not the first Netflix African original series. What did you see What was the resonance of that series among the among the African audience.

That show did eleven million hours around the world in its first week, eleven million viewing hours. We made the show based on an original idea of timnydal You know. Let me just you know, for Transparency stations, my daughter, but the show didn't get green lit because of that. The show got greally because it was a great story, and we went into development with Netflix on that. Dorothy, Dorothy, I love you, Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you guys. You know, we went into development of that. It took about a year to get these to get the six episodes, to get the four episodes ready, and as soon as that was done with the writing, we just knew we had a winner on our hands because even just simply reading the scripts, you just knew story is story, you know, it's it's universal, and we knew that as we were reading them that the world was going to take this story on and they were going to love it. And that is exactly what they've done. You know, it was well received. People loved it. They were like, oh my god. You know, there were memes. There were I mean, people went on and on. People had all these groups on Twitter. There were blood groups. This there was about fashion was absolutely or Landa did an amazing job with the fashion. You know, Suricit did an amazing job with production design. Heidi had a programming supervising creative direct supervisor did an amazing job. Our directors. Kenneth be worked tirelessly with an amazing cast, you know, Kate, Nancy Inny Genoveva. You know, it was just awesome in terms of the look and feel of that show, not forgetting Dami, who was the group that was badly behaved and his you know, he was you know, he was the body that they had to hide. And you know, I mean, imagine on your the day you're going to get married, you're about to get married, and you find that you're about to marry a crazy guy who you don't know. On your wedding day, you tell him listen, I don't love you, I can't marry you anymore, and he tries to kill you. Your best friend walks in on that and said, you're trying to kill my best friend, and accidentally she kills him. Meanwhile, there's a group of people downstairs waiting for a wedding to happen, and all of a sudden, there's a dead body upstairs.

That show did eleven million hours around the world in its first week, eleven million viewing hours. We made the show based on an original idea of timnydal You know. Let me just you know, for Transparency stations, my daughter, but the show didn't get green lit because of that. The show got greally because it was a great story, and we went into development with Netflix on that. Dorothy, Dorothy, I love you, Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you guys. You know, we went into development of that. It took about a year to get these to get the six episodes, to get the four episodes ready, and as soon as that was done with the writing, we just knew we had a winner on our hands because even just simply reading the scripts, you just knew story is story, you know, it's it's universal, and we knew that as we were reading them that the world was going to take this story on and they were going to love it. And that is exactly what they've done. You know, it was well received. People loved it. They were like, oh my god. You know, there were memes. There were I mean, people went on and on. People had all these groups on Twitter. There were blood groups. This there was about fashion was absolutely or Landa did an amazing job with the fashion. You know, Suricit did an amazing job with production design. Heidi had a programming supervising creative direct supervisor did an amazing job. Our directors. Kenneth be worked tirelessly with an amazing cast, you know, Kate, Nancy Inny Genoveva. You know, it was just awesome in terms of the look and feel of that show, not forgetting Dami, who was the group that was badly behaved and his you know, he was you know, he was the body that they had to hide. And you know, I mean, imagine on your the day you're going to get married, you're about to get married, and you find that you're about to marry a crazy guy who you don't know. On your wedding day, you tell him listen, I don't love you, I can't marry you anymore, and he tries to kill you. Your best friend walks in on that and said, you're trying to kill my best friend, and accidentally she kills him. Meanwhile, there's a group of people downstairs waiting for a wedding to happen, and all of a sudden, there's a dead body upstairs.

That's That's a detective show called Open If I've ever seen one, anything you'd like to leave us with.

That's That's a detective show called Open If I've ever seen one, anything you'd like to leave us with.

Just to say that I'm excited about the few There are a number of projects that we are working on that, unfortunately I can't disclose to you because you know they haven't been announced yet, but there is some exciting things going on right now. I will say too, I'm super super excited about our slate of projects in development and in production, and yeah, the world should just get ready. A couple were announced last week by Netflix. A Lotterre we did a lot Toier on Human Trafficking, the feature film in twenty fifteen. We've now done the series which will launch soon on Netflix, and another series we did called Sons of the Caliphate. It's set in the northern part of Nigeria. We've also now done the spinoff of that called you know, War and Revenge. So those two have been announced, but there are others that have not been announced. And I'm just really really excited about what's to come. So everybody should just watch out for what's coming.

Just to say that I'm excited about the few There are a number of projects that we are working on that, unfortunately I can't disclose to you because you know they haven't been announced yet, but there is some exciting things going on right now. I will say too, I'm super super excited about our slate of projects in development and in production, and yeah, the world should just get ready. A couple were announced last week by Netflix. A Lotterre we did a lot Toier on Human Trafficking, the feature film in twenty fifteen. We've now done the series which will launch soon on Netflix, and another series we did called Sons of the Caliphate. It's set in the northern part of Nigeria. We've also now done the spinoff of that called you know, War and Revenge. So those two have been announced, but there are others that have not been announced. And I'm just really really excited about what's to come. So everybody should just watch out for what's coming.

Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety dot com to sign up for the free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in next week for another episode of Strictly Business.

Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety dot com to sign up for the free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in next week for another episode of Strictly Business.