Mo Abudu and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde named in Variety’s International Women’s Impact Report 2018
In commemoration of the International Women’s Day today, Variety Magazine released its first International Women’s Impact Report 2018 list.
This list features two women from Nigeria, Mo Abudu and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, alongside 48 other women entertainers from Asia and Africa, Europe and Latin America.
These women are said to be leading the way at a time when the entertainment business has become increasingly global and women’s rights are in the spotlight.
Below is their profiles as written in the magazine
Abudu used her star-making springboard as the face of daytime talkie “Moments With Mo” to launch the EbonyLife empire, with a film production unit and upscale lifestyle TV network; she’s been dubbed the Oprah of Africa. “As a woman in a male-dominated industry, I’ve had to be strong, focused and relentless — and work twice as hard as the men around me,” she says. Determined to push for gender parity in the Nigerian biz, she estimates that nearly 80% of “key positions” at EbonyLife are filled by women. This year she’ll unveil a mentoring scheme to support the next generation of young women in film and broadcasting.
With more than 300 acting credits to her name, Ekeinde is an icon of Nigeria’s prolific Nollywood film biz, although she says that, “at heart, I think I am an activist first.” An ambassador for the U.N.’s World Food Program and campaigner for Amnesty Intl., she’s used her big-screen platform to drive her humanitarian goals. Her next step is developing a film village in the former slave port of Badagry, where she wants young Nigerians to hone their filmmaking skills while learning about “our rights and future as Africans,” she says. “I continue to explore ways we truly can be liberated and prosperous.”
