When I returned to the page a couple of weeks ago, I forgot to mention that in December of last year, we had a soft opening of a new media concern, my namesake company, The Eugenia Abu Media, TEAM where I am Managing Partner. It feels good to work for a private company where you have some form of ownership after 35 years in public sector broadcasting. There is a rush of adrenaline where you have some sort of control and work with many ideas people who can catch your vision. It is pretty exhilarating and very rewarding. I mean public sector has its own rewards but this is a different trajectory and I am glad for the opportunity.
This opportunity means that we are birthing at the media centre critical and impactful interventions for the old and the young, for women and men, for the youth and for individuals and corporate bodies. We work on different client requests for media strategy, customer service, branding, TV airtime negotiation, public speaking, report writing and the likes but more importantly we are involved in social engineering, mentorship and value-redirection. It would seem to me that the old values of delayed gratification are out of the window and in its place the “now- now” and “money, more money” syndrome. Altruism is now a distant cousin of being foolish. So if you do something noble for your nation, you are defined as a “mumu” person. This is so heart-breaking. If you are not corrupt, rude and impossible and you have lots of customer service and kindness, then a lot of persons will describe you as not very sharp. It is against this background that our centre identified a lot of young persons as believing that to succeed, you just need to be lucky and hard work or processes do not matter. And this is in fact far from reality. You cannot legislate success or fame. It is not wishful thinking.
To underscore this point therefore and to point the way, the Eugenia Abu centre will provide an insightful intervention by inviting successful creative entrepreneurs with staying power to give a one-day masterclass to young person’s especially on the benefits of hard work, how to enter the creative industry and stay on top of your game and sourcing finances and resources to kick-start your many creative projects.Whether you want to become an actor, a chef, or a photographer, our faculty will be talking to participants about their journeys and how they have remained relevant through the years. They will also intimate participants about multiple streams of income and harnessing your talent as a business.These monthly interventions will begin this month on the 30th of April with Nollywood actor Segun Arinze who will be coming to Abuja as the Lead Facilitator for the maiden edition of this creative excitement with several value adds and bonuses titled “The Creative Feast”. Segun Arinze will bring his many years of experience to the table to include role play, Q and A, one on ones and how to re-invent yourself in the creative space and maintain your staying power. He will also spend time discussing the Creative Entrepreneurs tool kit. Of course he will give masterclasses on acting and directing. I will join Segun later in the day for the creative project group work and I will also give a short talk on Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Legacy.
It is a class of about forty persons in order to keep the engagements more robust. At the end of the day we hope to have raised men and women with their eye on the creative prize but who have approached it organically with wholesome celebrities who have stories to tell and can teach others how to stay relevant without becoming cheesy.
Segun is the first but others will follow soon, writers, chefs, photographers, actors, interior decorators and broadcasters etcetera. We will be giving our platform to successful persons who have something urgent, disruptive and growth defining to say.
Too many persons with creative interests and dreams, let’s see if we can help them get closer to their dreams or redirect it if it seems pointed awkwardly. It is never always that clear but with someone pointing and others on the same journey, its easier.
We are excited at what Creative Feast holds in store and how this will change our participants for the better.
Eugenia Abu
