MO Abudu- Media Mogul, Philanthropist, and Former Human Resources Management Expert

Mosunmola Abudu, who goes by the name “Mo Abudu,” is a Nigerian media mogul, philanthropist, and former human resources management expert. He was born on September 11, 1964. Forbes called her “Africa’s Most Successful Woman,” and The Hollywood Reporter called her one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television.”

Early life

Mo Abudu was born in West London, in the area of Hammersmith. Her father was an engineer, and her mom worked in the food business. Her family is from Ondo Town, which is in the southwest of Nigeria. She is the oldest of the family’s three girls. Mosunmola Abudu moved to Nigeria to live with her grandparents when she was 7 years old. When she was 11, she moved back to England.

Education

She went to Ridgeway School, MidKent College, and West Kent College for her education. She went to the University of Westminster in London and got a Master’s in Human Resource Management. Abudu is a member of the British Psychological Society and has been trained in testing for jobs and personalities.

In 2014, Babcock University gave her an honors Doctor of Humane Letters (Honouris Causa).In 2018, the University of Westminster gave Abudu an honorary doctorate degree of Doctor of Arts in recognition of her work in the Nigerian broadcasting business.

Career: When Mo Abudu was 19, she was chosen to be the AVON brand spokeswoman for the African market.

Abudu’s first job was as a recruitment consultant for the UK company Atlas Recruitment Consultancy in 1987. In 1990, she went to Starform Group from there. She went back to Nigeria in 1993, and Arthur Andersen hired her to be the head of ExxonMobil’s Human Resources and Training. Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited was started by her. She went on to create, produce, and host Moments with Mo. Later, she started Ebony Life Television and has been making entertainment material ever since.

Ebony Life Film & TV

In 2006, Abudu started Ebonylife TV (ELTV), a network that airs in many countries in Africa, as well as the UK and the Caribbean.19] to people from all over Africa. On July 1, 2013, EbonyLife TV made its first show on Multichoice’s DSTV Channel 165. Less than a year after starting up, EbonyLife TV launched a video-on-demand (VOD) platform for Africans in the diaspora. It was already in the top 25% of most-watched stations on the DStv platform.[20] It reached more people in Sub-Saharan Africa after making a deal to carry another pay-TV service, StarTimes.[21] Some of the best TV dramas that Abudu has produced or helped to make and that have been shown on ELTV are Desperate Housewives Africa, Sons of the Caliphate, Castle & Castle, On the Real, and The Governor.

In 2014, Abudu set up EbonyLife Films. Fifty was her first movie as a producer in charge. In 2016, she worked with The ELFIKE Collective to make The Wedding Party. The movie made more money than any other movie in the history of the Nigerian film business (Nollywood). The Wedding Party 2, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Chief Daddy, Your Excellency (film), and ltré, “the story of a young, naive Nigerian journalist who goes undercover to expose the shady underworld of human trafficking,” are some of the other movies she has executive produced or co-produced.[25] In June 2019, a private screening of ltré was put on by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) at its offices in Los Angeles.

In March 2018, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) stated that they had made a three-year deal with EbonyLife TV that included co-production of The Dahomey Warriors, a series about the Amazons who fought French colonialists in a west African kingdom in the 1800s. She was named chair of the 47th international Emmy Awards dinner, which took place on November 25, 2019, in New York.

In January 2020, AMC Networks (USA) and EbonyLife announced that they would work together to make Nigeria 2099, an afrofuturistic crime drama that EbonyLife had made.

In February 2020, EbonyLife TV and Netflix made a new deal to work together. The streaming giant bought Castle & Castle, Fifty, Sons of the Caliphate, On the Real, and The Governor, as well as a reality show called The Dating Game and a full-length movie called The Royal Hibiscus Hotel.

In June 2020, Netflix made a new deal with EbonyLife. According to the deal, she will work with Netflix to make two original shows and a number of films with the Netflix name. Death and the King’s Horseman, a play by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, will be turned into a movie, and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, the first book by Lola Shoneyin, will be turned into a TV series.

In December 2019, Mo Abudu opened Ebonylife Place on Lagos’s Victoria Island. It is a living and entertainment resort. Mo Abudu joined forces with Netflix, an American streaming service, on June 12, 2020, to make two new TV shows and several movies. She signed Nigeria’s first look deal on February 4, 2021. The deal builds on a relationship the company made with Sony in 2018 and adds to a multi-title deal Netflix has with the company. On February 17, 2021, it was reported that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios will work with Ebony Life to make a bunch of movies and TV shows that are all about Africa.

In September 2020, Netflix released a powerful art-nouveau movie called “Oloture.” It was based on a story by Mo Abudu. The movie was mostly about people being sold as slaves in Nigeria. It was filmed in Lagos. “ltré explores a world that very few people know anything about, and that had to be dealt with in a certain way,” she said about the movie. “It’s not a documentary, but it deals with real problems that most people in our society don’t see. It uses the talents of some of the country’s best actors and directors to make a film that is both smart and deep, and it breaks bold new ground for Nollywood in terms of genre and style.”

Mo Abudu started EbonyLife Place in the month of December 2019. It is Nigeria’s first option for living and having fun. It has special features like EbonyLife Place, EbonyLife Cinemas, The White Orchid Hotel, Jinja, Traká rooftop restaurant and bar, Jinja Garden & Poolside, The Victoria Hall, and The VVIP Lounges. It is on Victoria Island, which is in Lagos. In 2021, EkoDesign, a furniture design and lighting show, was held at EbonyLife Place with the help of the Lagos State Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Tourism. Mo Abdu’s company, Ebony Life Media, teamed up with Sony Pictures Television to set up “Alo,” which means “once upon a time.” It is a program for African writers. On November 29, 2021, it was reported that BBC Studios had signed a development deal with EbonyLife Media.

Mo Abudu is listed as the 98th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes for 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter named her one of the 20 most powerful women in showbiz around the world in October 2021.

Filmography

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is both a book and a TV show.
Billionaire Gucci Master Project Without a Name

Blood Sisters (TV Mini Series 2022)
Going for Broke: Chief Daddy 2 (2020)
Òlòtūré (2019)
Chief Daddy (2018)
Castle & Castle is a 2018 TV show.
The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai came out in 2017.
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel was built in 2017.
Fifty (2017 TV Show)
TV Show: Sons of the Caliphate
The Wedding Party, Part II (2016)
On the Real (2016 TV Show)
The Governor is a TV show.
Fifty (2015)
Desperate Housewives: Africa is a 2015 TV show.
Dowry, a TV show from 2014,
Married to the Game, or MTTG, is a 2014 TV series.
Deadline (TV Series 2014)
Love and War is a 2013 TV movie.
The times when Mo Abudu is the Executive Producer and host of the first daily broadcast talk show on African regional television, Moments with Mo.

Moment with MO

By October 2009, more than 200 episodes had been recorded and shown. They covered topics like health, culture, politics, entertainment, custom, music, and marriages between people of different races. There have been famous people, Presidents, Nobel Prize winners, and the 67th US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, among the guests. Abudu says that the show “highlights the life and achievements of a usually well-known, but sometimes undiscovered African person who, through his or her own tenacity and determination, has accomplished something, overcome something, or been a catalyst for something that makes him or her a role model for others.”

The show used to be on M-Net, which was shown on TV in 48 African countries. It is now shown on regular TV and cable TV in other parts of the world.

The success of the show and its goal to change how the world sees Africa have led to comparisons to Oprah Winfrey. The Independent and Slate Afrique have called her “Africa’s Oprah” or “Nigerian Winfrey.”

The Debaters

The Debaters is a reality TV show, and Mo Abudu made it and is in charge of it. It began on October 3, 2009, with money from Guaranty Trust Bank. The show is about “giving Africa a voice” by encouraging public speaking.

Honours

Forbes Africa gave Abudu an award in 2013 for being the first African woman to own a Pan-African TV station. The Hollywood Reporter named her one of the 25 most powerful women in global TV in 2013. In 2014, Women Werk in New York gave her the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Abudu was chosen to be a part of the Nigerian Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity.Abudu was made a Director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which is the group that puts on the International Emmy Awards. Later, the Academy made her Chair of the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala, which will take place in New York on November 25, 2019. She was the first black person to get the part.

She was put on the 2018 Power list, which is a list of the top 100 most powerful people of African or Caribbean descent in the UK. Abudu was also chosen to be a part of Nigeria’s Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity in 2018.

She was given the 2019 Médailles d’Honneur by MIPTV in Cannes, France, in 2019. This made her the first African to win the prestigious award. Later that year, it was announced that Abudu would be on the 2020 Powerlist, a list of the 100 most important people of African or African-Caribbean descent in the UK. Greatest Blacks Ever: Top 100 Blacks Who Changed the World for Peace, Progress, Prosperity, and Pleasure, a 493-page book written by Ambassador Elliston Rahming and released by Dog Ear Publishing, has a chapter about her.

The 2019 Médailles d’Honneur will be given to Mo Abudu at the Marche International des Programmes de Television (MIPTV) in Cannes. She is one of the four people who will receive the award in April 2019. The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is in charge of Mo Abudu.

Personal Life

Mo Abudu lives in Lagos. She has a daughter and a boy.14) She used to be married to Tokunbo Abudu.