#IWD2018: Variety features Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Mo Abudu
By Sewe Ishola,
In commemoration of the International Women’s Day on March 8, Variety has released its first International Women’s Impact Report and it features two Nigerian women, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Mo Abudu.
The 50 women on this list are doing extraordinary things in Showbiz. Also on the list are Lupita Nyong’o, Adele, Salma Hayek, Gal Gadot and more.
Read Variety magazine’s profile on Mo Abudu & Omotola Jalade Ekeinde below:
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde:
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 plat form 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.”
Mo Abudu:
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.
