Approximately four years ago, three young people sat in one of the back rows of the Shell Hall, Muson Centre during a random stage performance and they started to talk. They were full of dreams. Their mission was quite ambitious as they asked each other: what do we do to redefine the profile of our generation? All three of them were below the age of twenty. Today they host one of the biggest youth event in Nigeria, The future Awards, an event to recognise and celebrate the achievements of young people and also to prove that with them Nigeria has a bright future. Five years after and a little bit above 20, they embark on more journeys and tell ADA IGBOANUGO about it...
The genesis of it all…
The future award is five years old. Well, we did an event together. I was working with funmi iyanda at the time and was the producer of the show. We wanted to do a surprise party for funmi and so we came together and put up an event which in every way turned out to be a success. With the way it turned out we figured out that we could do more things together and so we went ahead to do projects together, do columns in the media, etc and one way or the other the idea came to do something for young people because we being involved in the media, everyday you tune in to the television or open the newspaper to watch/read about youth who are engaged in fraudulent acts and like I said because we were involved in the media we were constantly meeting young people who are resourceful and hardworking and then we asked ourselves, who’s going to project these revolutionary set of young people to the public to reveal and prove to them that it’s not all youths that are engaged in these fraudulent acts ? That was how the future wards came about. We the n thought to ourselves that to do this we have to do it properly and then we now formed an organization called redstrat which is the company that manages the future awards and the future project. We launched it in September 2005 and the first thing we did was to call young people who published magazine. We briefed them on our ideas and we got a positive feedback from them. That gave us the platform we needed.
What inspired you to put up such an event?
To reveal a new set of young people To Nigerians. We can preach from now to eternity about how hardworking and resourceful most youths are but if people don’t see example of these youths it would continue to fall on deaf ears. So we thought what is the most effective means of reaching young people and Nigerians with our message of hope and change? So thought we do an award that would be colourful and that would attract young people and that will be prominent and A-list that people will pay attention to and then show them examples of these young people we are talking about who are resourceful and are building amazing things across the country. That’s why we decided to do the future awards.
What impact has this event had on youths so far and how have they been encouraged to work harder as youths for the betterment of their future and the nation as a whole?
I always say the youths should be asked this question but every day, week, month, year we receive emails from young people saying how the event has made them to be redirected, how they saw the example of xyz and went ahead to start up xyz. We know a set of people who have gone ahead to put up a particular business or to explore their talents in some things like fashion designing based on somebody they saw in the future awards. We’ve had testimonies of youths in Diaspora who came back to the country to make an impact through the future awards. We had winners who made up their minds to finish up their projects because they were determined to win the awards. When we attend town hall meetings as far and deep as Kaduna, Plateau, etc we meet people who because of the future awards decided that they would come into Lagos and explore their talents based on the fact that they saw us on TV or read it in the tabloids. What is most important that the future award has is perception. It has become part of the nation’s mainstream or culture. The fact that it is a developmental project is an achievement. It is not entertainment but developmental. It is part of the life of young people. Not all young people though because no matter your millions there’s no way a brand/organisation can reach everyone it wants to reach but for most youth it has become part of their lives. Every year, it is part of what people look forward to and subconsciously it defines what they do because even for those who want to win the award, for those who want to attend some of the events, for those who want to attend the conferences, for those who want to volunteer we are starting a full volunteer force because every year a lot of people want to volunteer, that’s the kind of impact the future awards has on people because it inspires people to go out of their comfort zones. The reason why loan are not been granted to young people is because of the perception these banks have of youths not returning these loans but when we visit editorial boards with our winners, the public sees examples of young people who have been learnt loans and not only utilised it in the best ways but repaid it as well. When you change the perception of the nation and those of key decision makers about what young people can do, ultimately that makes a bigger change than giving a young person N20, 000 to go and start a business. What we are doing is reaching more people in more ways than you would normally. As I’m talking to you somebody is reading this piece and is thinking for example the business owner of the year Mosunmola Umoru who through her project has met oby ezekwesili who is linking her with the country’s directory of the world bank who is going to be supporting her project who has through the walk with us met people from Tsonga institute and other places that would further her business. What we’ve done is create a pact whereby we can present young people as an achievement to the general public and prove that what they hear about these youths are myths and they can actually be trusted with the destiny and fortune of this country. That is the real impact the future awards has been able to make and the more we force it into the mainstream, the more impact we make.
A couple of youths when asked what they thought about The Future Awards, said they admired the vision and the zeal to put up such an event while a percentage said the vision has been tossed into the bin and the whole idea has been turned into a money-making event. What’s your take on that and how do you deal with such criticism?
Well, I’m not comparing myself to Obama or Mandela, but there are people today who criticize both so there’s never going to be a time when people won’t have a consensus about what the future awards is doing. That’s not our target, we’ve identified that early. What is important to us is that there’s a physical majority that are positive minded beyond that whose lives are affected. So when you are doing a project like this you don’t focus on people who criticize, you accept criticism and focus on the impact. I always tell people, before you praise something you don’t have a duty to have all the information but since criticism is negative, you have to have all the information at your disposal. People say that it’s only celebrities that take the awards but if you look at the nominee list three-quarter of people on it aren’t but because they saw people like dbanj and funke akindele they concluded that’s its only celebrities. So if you are criticizing based on what? Is it based on knowledge that you have? We have responded to some positive criticism. Some people say people who are judging shouldn’t be nominees but what we did before was if you are a judge you can’t judge in your category but it seems people can’t still see the difference so we have responded to that criticism if you are a nominee, you can’t be a judge. These are fact based criticism and like I said we only listen to criticisms that are knowledge based.
What are your criteria for judging the awards?
Well, the specific criteria for specific awards are indicated on the website in categories. Then what we look for in each category is indicated there. For example, for the category of the business owner of the year, you must have an office that we can see, you must have certain numbers of employees, you must have been involved in a business, we must be able to see that you are making profit, and it must be registered. That’s the criteria for that. For musician of the year, we must be able to see the albums that you’ve released, what shows you have done, etc. Above all we want to see everybody’s certificate or sworn affidavit to that extent because if it’s good enough for the court then it’s good enough for us. The age limit is between 18 and 31 but above all we are looking for talent and achievements.
Aside The Future Awards what else do you do?
A lot. We have other events we do. We have one called red reception, we did one recently for tolu ogunlesi, we have a TV show on channels called rubbing minds, and we have our column in the newspaper in one of the national dailies called ‘young and Nigerian’, we have another one called engage where we get young people to interact with government officials, institutions and agency that affect and there’s also the future awards. Most people don’t know that the future award is beyond the awards itself. Before the awards we launch the season, that’s why it’s called a season and not an edition. We attend town hall meetings across the nation and outside, do awards conferences before the awards and the there’s the post awards seminar.
What is redstrat all about?
Redstrat means red strategy, it’s a media and communications outfit and future awards is our major developmental project and what we do is basically youth resource, youth media and youth communications. We also work with clients on brands, work with media relations, and do online campaigns, outdoor campaigns etc. But we are mostly targeted on youths. So redstrat is the organisation that manages the future project under which we have the future awards.
Tell us a bit about you...
Emilia Asim-Ita (Marketing Director)
Born in 1987, Emilia was presenter of Youth Talk with Emilia on the NTA Network, completing five years on the beat in 2008. In 2005, Emilia worked with Common Ground Productions as Associate Producer and Writer for The Academy – a Docu-Reality TV series in August and September 2005, which showed on the NTA Network, and was also Content Director for the Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) 4.
She has also presented on Patito’s Gang, syndicated around the country, as well as a book review segment on Silverbird TV’s breakfast show, Today on STV. She also briefly presented on radio for Eko FM.In the print media, Emilia was made Editor of pace-setting lifestyle magazine, Sleek, in 2007, and has also been Lifestyle Editor of Variety Magazine, and Editor of Tour Nigeria, a publication of the federal Ministry of Tourism. As an event anchor, she has been emcee of the UNITeS concert, the Guardians of the Nation International, Harambe Nigeria amongst others. She has been speaker, facilitator and trainer at conferences in Lagos, Calabar, and Abuja and outside of the country. Co-presenter of Rubbin’ Minds on Channels Television, Emilia was selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders at the African Business Forum in Ghana; she was also one of the 12 winners of the highly coveted Leap Africa Youth Leadership Awards.
Adebola Williams (Operations Director)
Adebola was pioneer producer of hit TV show, Nigeria International, which showed on the NTA Network, AIT International, STV, MBI, and Ben TV. He left the employ of the show mid-2007 to concentrate full time on RedSTRAT, retaining a position as Consultant Producer.
Adebola has also been consultant producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Commission, and with Lifestyles in Africa on Mnet, and consulted for the Close-Up Salsa Challenge as well as EXP Productions. He worked briefly in publicity with The Apprentice Africa and then as Producer and Content Director of the Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) 4. He also consults for Planet One entertainment in its content division.
Producer of Rubbin’ Minds on Channels TV, Adebola is also a public speaker who has spoken at public events in Lagos, Abuja and the United Kingdom. Early this year, he was selected by the British Council for the World Change makers Project under the World Economic Forum.
Amongst others, he is Partner with Testify Music, organisers of the Hip-hop International competition and the Naija Facebook Carnival.
Chude Jideonwo (Creative Director)
a lawyer by training, Chude has, for almost a decade, garnered key experience in all forms of tradition and new media, and has managed to translate that practical experience into successful media campaigns. He began his career as a researcher with Inside Out with Agatha, a TV show syndicated across the country, and then moved to Nigeria’s leading breakfast show at the time, New Dawn, which showed on the NTA Network, He was at New Dawn for three years, rising to become Associate Producer as well as heading the Special Projects division. He has been Assistant Director and scriptwriter with The Academy (an international reality TV show). As a TV presenter, he has hosted The Sunday Show (NTA), and Patito’s Gang. He is now host of Rubbin’ Minds on Channels Television. He also consults for Moments with Mo, showing on Mnet. He began his writing career in 2002 with the defunct Tempo magazine. His writing credits include Time Out Nigeria, Thisday, and The Guardian, Farafina, True Love West Africa, Made, Takaii and the Big Brother magazine. He has also been consultant editor to a number of magazines including Tour Nigeria (for the Federal Ministry of Tourism), and an official magazine for the Nigerian Air force. Chude was Assistant Publicist with Common Ground Productions in 2006, and in October 2007, he was appointed Publicist for Bank PHB’s The Apprentice Africa. He served briefly in the External Relations department of the Nigeria LNG, before moving to Virgin Nigeria Airways, as Asst. Manager, Media Relations, and the youngest in a managerial position. He joined NEXT Newspapers as Copy Editor in July 2009. Called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2007, after emerging Best Student in Land Law from the University of Lagos, his awards include winning the British Council Telling Stories Competition. He is also the youngest recipient of the Nigeria Media Merit Award, announced as Entertainment Journalist of the Year in 2007. He has been recipient of the Olive Award for Media and Production, the Inside Out role model award, and the Green Yaggy Achievement Award. In 2007, he was selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders by the African Business Forum, and in 2009, he was selected for the US Government’s International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP). Chude’s novel, His Father’s Knickers, written when he was 13, was launched in 2001 in conjunction with the National Orientation Agency and the French Cultural Centre.
What has the response being like since the inception of The Future Awards?
The response has been amazing. If we were earning from it we wouldn’t be doing a 9-5 job so it’s not the money that keeping us because if it was we would have left a long time ago. But rather it’s the reception. You see the way people look forward to the event and it’s impossible to stop. We have volunteers who give their time, some of them in school, some of them outside the country, just to be a part of this. We have the reception working committee of some of the busiest young people you can find now, we have managers of multibillion naira brands, editors of major magazines, who are giving hours of their time and we said if they can be giving their own time so how about you that owns the idea. What can possibly stop you? Someone like oby ezekwesili or pat utomi who would give you hours out of her time to do things for you, all these things you see the momentum, the whirlwind of impact you get so on every level from every demographic we’ve think we are getting a fantastic reception.
Emilia-
How do you feel being the only girl and the youngest on the team?
I feel like quitting (laughs). But seriously, it’s stressful. There’s nothing I can say, it’s a lot of work and I’m kind of used to it because I’m the last of three brother so already I’m used to this kind of stuff.
Do you sometimes feel threatened by the guys?
Threatened? No. I only feel different because there are certain things I try to explain as a woman that they really would not get though they are improving now. But apart from that there’s no stress.
What’s your position as the female in decision making?
Honestly speaking, it’s the same. I’m a director in the company and I oversee an entire portfolio for the project. There’s noting like lower or subordinate to them. It’s equal. We make decisions, I air my views clearly. Sometimes I even manipulate if possible. As a female I manipulate on some things based on the fact that I’m female as often as they get blinded or carried away but not in a negative way.
Do we say that the good media response like chude said you get is an advantage because you guys Work in the media?
That helps with experience for media strategy and our media strategy is different from the strategy that other people employ so the fact that we were working in the media helped us with our strategy.
What should these youth who want to be nominees expect this year?
What we sometimes say is what would be your explanation if your name isn’t on the list? So that goes on to say that everyone has to nominate his or herself. Document your achievement if you can. In the future awards, nomination is a way of documenting your achievements or things you’ve done whether you are doing it yourself or someone did for you. So that when the story would be told that there was a time that this started and it blew across this particular year you’d be able to say that at that time I stood to be counted so to speak for the future of my country.
