Inspiring! How I Started Ebony Life TV- Mo Abudu

Mo Abudu is the Chairman and CEO of Ebony Life TV, Africa’s
first Global Black Entertainment Network broadcasting on DSTV channel 165. The
TV personality is a passionate and dynamic woman who has made her mark in
various fields of endeavour, Mo Abudu the creator, Executive Producer and
Principal Hostess of Moments With Mo, Africa’s first and only syndicated daily
talk show airing across 48 African countries and on cable TV in the United
Kingdom, hosting a robust profile of guests, from Presidents to noble laureates
among other dignitaries. Continue after the cut.

The stylish celebrity woman who will clock 50 come September
this year is a recipient of multiple industry and philanthropic awards for her
numerous and continuous stellar achievements among which are Forbes Award for
The First Woman in Africa to own and operate a pan –African TV channel and the
Hollywood Reporters top 25 Most powerful women in Global TV. The media
professional was one of the guest speakers at the recently held Women in
Journalism 2014 conference where she was saddled with the responsibility of
tackling the topic of Accessing Financing for media start ups where she
recalled her story into journalism and some of the hassles she faced while
trying to set up her Ebony Life TV, which is today one of the biggest Pan African
TV channel. The panel which had other speakers including Dr. Issa MOMOH, from
School of Media and Communication, and top banker Ope Emi Jones, Group Head,
Inclusive Banking Access Bank, were posed with questions on how to scale
through the difficulties of financial constraints as a young media practitioner
who wishes to start up his or her own firm.

And to tackle this issue, Mo Abudu took us down the memory
lane of how she started Ebony Life TV as she gave very revealing details of the
hurdles she jumped to set up this celebrated TV channel that has earned her a
lot of accolades. In her words,” talking about my journey, every body’s journey
can’t be the same, it all depends on how you got into the industry and what the
dynamics were., so my story may not be yours and the way I did it may not be
the way you did it. But I have got a few things I want to share. I think for
the media, those in the finance sector don’t understand our sector because I
believe the sector is run by people who are very passionate about the sector
rather than being business managers so it is very important to understand the
business of the media, you have to be very passionate about what you do and at
the same time, be a business manager, which means you have got to have business
plans.

But I don’t think the financial sector in Nigeria
understands our sector, I can tell you that for free because I spent so many
years trying to save money for my TV and it’s a great miracle I succeeded in
the end. I had to go as far as South Africa to get a financial consultant there
who really understood media and was able to analyze what the revenue streams
are because in every business, there has to be a way to make money. Its not
just the passion that you want to sell Africa story, if you want it to generate
money, there is got to be something bankable in that particular business.
Atimes we may not have all the expertise to help create the things we want to
do ,we then have to find someone that is business savvy enough to convince you
that this is how this business works, and this is how long its going to take
for you to break even because media is one of those businesses that takes off
very slowly, so for you to borrow money at a high interest rate to run that
kind of business, is not encouraging at all.

But I think because Nigeria nay Africa is not saturated with
media, the start up and capacity to break even will not take as long as it will
take in the developed world, for instance, if you look at the Dstv bouquet
where we sit, on the one side of the bouquet, you have about 6 or more Africa
magic channels and on the other side, you have got international channels but
what Dstv did not have and the gap we were able to fill was to provide the
premium channel that was speaking to a slightly more educated, more affluent,
more aspirational group of people, so its very important while trying to raise
funding, there should be your own unique selling point. Regards to my own
personal story, it started about 8 to 9 years ago, with Moments with Mo, when I
decided that I wanted to go into the talk show, again I saw a gap in the
market, there were some talk shows but there were no talk shows that were
African on the DSTV bouquet and we had talk shows on NTA, and other Nigerian
channels but there wasn’t a pan African talk show at the time.

So when I first walked into Dstv even though they didn’t say
they were looking for a Pan African talk show, they didn’t listen to me, I told
them I wanted to do a talk show and they literally told me to get lost that
they do not need a talk show. And quite 10 years ago, there wasn’t much of our
local content there. It’s only now our local content has become a really big
deal. So its important for you to know what the regulations are so you can see
where the loopholes are and where you can also find a space for yourself. Dstv
now had to create a space because the Nigeria Embassy was saying you need to
supply local contents so at that point, they decided to listen so we went to
them and did 4 or 5 pilots which they rejected and eventually, one was
accepted. And even at that point, I was then told they were not going to
commission, that they were only going to license, which means they will buy the
content from you at an agreed price. So I was told to go and look for sponsors
and the story goes on.

Source: CityPeople