The entertainment industry has a lot to be grateful for, the industry is not where it should be but it is not where it used to be and one of the persons who have consistently impacted the industry tremendously for decades is the astute businessman, politician and CEO/Founder, Silverbird Group, Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce. From 1980, birthing Silverbird in a small corner of the Domino administrative office, six staff and only two business activities, pageant and programme syndication, to today, with hundreds of staff, the company has turned to a conglomerate – three radio stations, Rhythm 93.7 in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt; Silverbird television; the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria; Silverbird Cinema, Silverbird Entertainment, Silverbird Galleria and Silverbird Film distribution which is shooting its first movie right now (Silverbird represents Sony pictures), agriculture…indeed the rest they say is history.
Ben, from a lower middle class family obviously saw beyond where he was and was optimistic about his future. His parents, staunch Catholics and as such, he was raised in a catholic Christian home with the right values. “My father was a very old fashioned man; you had to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with him on the dining table. I loved his friends, I would hang out with his friends and I would learn from them. When I was a kid, I hung out with people 10 times my age and now as an adult, I hang out with people 10 times younger than me so I guess my life has been in a reverse.” He quips.
It’s obvious Ben had an amazing upbringing from parents who’s little meant much in his eyes and today, he has become a wonder! “My dad was very focused, he didn’t have a great education; he and my mum had a sixth grade education, so he couldn’t help me with my homework but he could help me with my moral values and I’m grateful to him for leading me aright. I had a night club at some point in my life, I didn’t drink or smoke, I ended up killing my own night club because my values didn’t cohere with what obtains in some clubs but for 18 or 20 hours of work in a day? I got that from my dad.”
I remember clearly that whenever the Most Beautiful Girl pageantry is near, the anticipation is high; sometimes you are as tensed as those on stage…an amazing event I dare to say coming from Silverbird Group and the secret to this for Ben, is consistency “You’ve got to be consistent in everything you do”.
Ben has always wanted to go into politics since childhood. He was driven by passion and the thought of injustice appalled him. “Injustice drives me crazy! When I see injustice I go ‘bananas’ and I think that’s what drives me as a person: injustice and misery. If I go to a hotel, and I’m served by a waiter and 30 years later I go to that same hotel and the same waiter is serving me, that’s a terrible thing and that’s why I got into politics, so that a cook can have his own kitchen, have his own restaurant, so there could be equity and we don’t have two classes of people.” He says.
Ben admits he is first a politician and as one, he looks forward to “a society of equity, a society with justice, a society where a poor man’s child and a rich man’s child can go to the same school, go see the same doctor, apply for the same job and get the job because they are qualified and not because the rich man sends a note to the director. There should be equity in the society, a society without equity is a failure and that’s what drives me today, there has to be equity. That’s my dream and that should be the dream of every Nigerian.” Murray-Bruce strongly believes.
Right now, Ben is raising the consciousness of Nigerians, especially the leadership who think they are in office to exploit the masses and consume the resources of the nation. “I think it’s unjust, it is illegal and immoral for someone to come into public office and take everything in sight, and take everything they don’t even need. They consume a disproportional amount of the resources of the nation and leave nothing for poor people who need very basic things.”
Did you know that Ben served as Executive Director, Black Music Association of America? Talk about global relevance and Ben tops the list. He however shares the experience with me. Hear him “It was an amazing experience because I got to interact with the heavy weights in the world. One day I remember, I was in Acapulco, Mexico and this was in 1984. It was the president of Sony and a board of directors at BMA and somebody asked the president of Sony why Michael Jackson’s thriller was the top selling album in the world at that time and the president of Sony said Michael burnt his hair in the Pepsi commercial, Michael got MTV to start showing black videos and he did a video called thriller.”
“He was trying to explain from a marketing perspective why Michael had the No.1 selling album at the time. In just listening to them explain how he got the No.1 selling album, sales and marketing, it made me think deeply and then that same year, we were in Philadelphia, we watched the Jackson’s do the last tour, the ‘Victory Tour’ where Michael announced he won’t be performing with his brothers again. We had great moments, I met a lot of people in the industry and I could understand the business. All the knowledge I acquired in 1984 being around the best executives in the world have no value today, the world has changed but at the time I was grateful and we were promoting black music across Africa and fighting the piracy issue.” Murray Bruce articulates.
Ben recently clocked 60 and yes, after all said, done and achieved, celebrating 60 (though he doesn’t look his age at all) is truly a landmark and for him, “I am celebrating life, the great privilege to be alive; I am celebrating my wife, my children. I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to make the kind of changes that I’m embarking on right now”. He gratefully expresses.
So, for his graceful look at 60 he says “It’s a gift from God, I don’t think anybody or individual controls that. I think God gives that to you. He gives it to some people, he doesn’t give to others. God gives it to you and you’re grateful for what you have”
Not someone known to be daunted by challenges, Ben tells me he always has the desire to succeed and he never gives up. In his words, “I don’t quit, I don’t care what is in front of me but I never quit because if you quit, someone else would take your place” insightful words of wisdom from Ben, don’t you think same?
In 1986, George foreman the heavy weight champion of the world came out of retirement and he wanted to fight again so Ben’s friend introduced him to George because Ben wanted to promote George’s come-back fight. Hearing from the proverbial ‘horse’s mouth’ is apt in this instance “I was very excited because I wanted to be a boxing promoter. I went to Emeka Omeruah who was the governor of Anambra state at the time, and I asked him if I could stage a heavy weight fight at the Enugu Stadium and he said “Yes”. He introduced me to Professor Nwuneli who was a Commissioner for Information and the Commissioner of Health, Professor ABC Nwosu. I got in contact with George and told him and he was cool with the idea. He said I should find him a ranked Nigerian he would fight with. I checked and no Nigerian was ranked in the top 100 heavy weight division in the world as at that time.”
“So Goerge Foreman said, okay! Tell the governor I will fight three Nigerians. I will fight the Nigerian Heavy weight champion for three rounds, take a ten minute break, I’ll fight the number one contender for three rounds and take another ten minutes break then I’ll fight the number two contender for three rounds and I’ll knock all of them out. So I went to Enugu and I met with the governor and the team and informed them that George had agreed to fight. They said fantastic! Let’s do the fights. Let’s check the contenders.”
That’s not all to the story, read on “Unfortunately for me, the heavy weight champion of Nigeria was an Igbo man, the number one contender was an Igbo man, the number two contender was an Igbo man and they called me and said; ‘you are crazy, you want an American to come to Nigeria and knock out three Igbo men in one night? Your fight is cancelled’. That was a very funny part of my life, I was miserable and George went on to be the oldest man to become heavy weight champion of the world and he made millions of dollars of his fights. I could have made millions of dollars promoting George but oh well!, that was an incredible time of my life and I didn’t make any money.” Whao! I can’t stop laughing at the latter part of Ben’s story…at least George should have given it a try…perhaps he understood quickly what would have befallen him if he dared to face the ‘Three wise men from the East’ (still laughing).
For Ben, Nigeria is at the cross roads of life “Diamond in the rough, a country with unbelievable potentials. There’s no difference between Nigeria and America. If you look at a Nigerian and you look at an American the charisma is same. We are just the same. The two greatest nations in the world, Nigeria and America and there is no doubt in my mind that with the right leadership, it can happen. I want Nigeria to be a great country and yes! It will be.”
Kemi Ajumobi
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