Biola Alabi is
the founder and CEO of Biola Alabi Media Consulting; an organization that
speacialises in providing broadcast, telecommunication and digital messages to
its clientele. Prior to starting her own company, Biola served as the Managing
Director of MNET to produce and air stories for Africans; and she was listed by
Forbes Africa as one of the 20 youngest Power women in Africa. Biola shares
with MYOB her journey as an entrepreneur and how she evolved to become a successful
business mogul! For all aspiring media enthusiasts out there, you do not want
to miss Biola’s story. Sit back and relax as we take you a journey with one of
Africa’s biggest media experts Biola Alabi.
the founder and CEO of Biola Alabi Media Consulting; an organization that
speacialises in providing broadcast, telecommunication and digital messages to
its clientele. Prior to starting her own company, Biola served as the Managing
Director of MNET to produce and air stories for Africans; and she was listed by
Forbes Africa as one of the 20 youngest Power women in Africa. Biola shares
with MYOB her journey as an entrepreneur and how she evolved to become a successful
business mogul! For all aspiring media enthusiasts out there, you do not want
to miss Biola’s story. Sit back and relax as we take you a journey with one of
Africa’s biggest media experts Biola Alabi.
Being an
entrepreneur and how I got into media:
entrepreneur and how I got into media:
Biola: I didn’t start off as an
entrepreneur, I started off always wanting to work at a company, which was what
I did and did really well. I worked at some really amazing companies and internet
startups at the beginning of my career; with most of them being in media. I also
worked for the Korean car company Daewoo. With media, the way it started was
that I worked on a lot of marketing campaigns which always had media elements
so I craved the TVCs. I didn’t see media as a day to day job but I ended up
working for a very big media company called Sesame street with multiple
productions and merchandising outlets. They had presence in over 15 countries.
One thing I was able to pick up was the power of media and how media can change
the world. Initially, I saw media as entertaining and it wasn’t something I
thought had the impact to change the world. Immediately I started working at
Sesame Street, I started to see the creative process very differently. I
started to see stories very differently and really started to see how you build
characters very differently. Not only from children education media perspective;
but really in the best stories, the best movies, what do they do, how do it and
how the best characters get under your skin. Sometimes, you go a movie and you
can’t shake what you’ve just seen. Those are the things that got me really
interested in media and into the art of creating stories, and how to make that
commercially viable. Once I started getting into that I realized it’s like a
google rabbit hole that once you start you can’t stop and there are so many
ways to go with that.
entrepreneur, I started off always wanting to work at a company, which was what
I did and did really well. I worked at some really amazing companies and internet
startups at the beginning of my career; with most of them being in media. I also
worked for the Korean car company Daewoo. With media, the way it started was
that I worked on a lot of marketing campaigns which always had media elements
so I craved the TVCs. I didn’t see media as a day to day job but I ended up
working for a very big media company called Sesame street with multiple
productions and merchandising outlets. They had presence in over 15 countries.
One thing I was able to pick up was the power of media and how media can change
the world. Initially, I saw media as entertaining and it wasn’t something I
thought had the impact to change the world. Immediately I started working at
Sesame Street, I started to see the creative process very differently. I
started to see stories very differently and really started to see how you build
characters very differently. Not only from children education media perspective;
but really in the best stories, the best movies, what do they do, how do it and
how the best characters get under your skin. Sometimes, you go a movie and you
can’t shake what you’ve just seen. Those are the things that got me really
interested in media and into the art of creating stories, and how to make that
commercially viable. Once I started getting into that I realized it’s like a
google rabbit hole that once you start you can’t stop and there are so many
ways to go with that.
 |
| Source: Hello Africa |
Was it a case of
just finding yourself into something you loved or what you could do very well?
just finding yourself into something you loved or what you could do very well?
I
think it’s a bit of both but also finding out a lot of things I was bad at. There
were a lot of jobs I was bad at even though I was very passionate about them. I
started out as a pre-med major and I switched to pharmacy. I did an internship
with a pharmacy and there was something I kept on asking the pharmacist… “so like what else do we do here” and
they were like this is all the action you get. I thought this is probably not
for me” so I was sitting and thinking about what I wanted to do. I then
switched my major to public health I really wanted to work on health messages
but what was really interesting in public health was that you had to take
marketing and media classes as these were all tools to aid you in public
health. When I took the marketing class, I thought this is fantastic and then I
went on to minor in marketing. I took my first job at what they called a “mum
centre” which is a very high, new age centre for deliveries. It was under
construction and they wanted a public health expert and I went into marketing
so that was my first job.
think it’s a bit of both but also finding out a lot of things I was bad at. There
were a lot of jobs I was bad at even though I was very passionate about them. I
started out as a pre-med major and I switched to pharmacy. I did an internship
with a pharmacy and there was something I kept on asking the pharmacist… “so like what else do we do here” and
they were like this is all the action you get. I thought this is probably not
for me” so I was sitting and thinking about what I wanted to do. I then
switched my major to public health I really wanted to work on health messages
but what was really interesting in public health was that you had to take
marketing and media classes as these were all tools to aid you in public
health. When I took the marketing class, I thought this is fantastic and then I
went on to minor in marketing. I took my first job at what they called a “mum
centre” which is a very high, new age centre for deliveries. It was under
construction and they wanted a public health expert and I went into marketing
so that was my first job.
Many
years after working in different corporations and helping build amazing
businesses I am very proud of, I decided I wanted to start looking at other
opportunities. I wanted to start creating stories that weren’t told. I really
respect target, focus and the need to connect with the audience and zone in on
them. One of the thigs I wanted to do was tell a different narrative and so I
started my own company and do some consulting work. with my company, we create
and originate new African stories and work with clientele all over the world
consulting for them on different media initiatives, creating content on how to
commercialise what has been created.
years after working in different corporations and helping build amazing
businesses I am very proud of, I decided I wanted to start looking at other
opportunities. I wanted to start creating stories that weren’t told. I really
respect target, focus and the need to connect with the audience and zone in on
them. One of the thigs I wanted to do was tell a different narrative and so I
started my own company and do some consulting work. with my company, we create
and originate new African stories and work with clientele all over the world
consulting for them on different media initiatives, creating content on how to
commercialise what has been created.
You
can listen to the podcast below:
can listen to the podcast below:
