The future of oil, extreme oil — from the deep Atlantic to the Arctic comes at a very huge economic and environmental cost. But content, the new oil, comes at a very cheap price without trepidation, dread and anguish that has greeted the discovery of oil in Niger Delta since 1956 when in a tiny Oloibiri village, Shell BP dug its first drop of oil. This new oil, when deeply explored and thoroughly excavated has the capacity to transform average live into ultra successful homo sapien and can place Nations high above human wildest imagination.
By half past ten on Wednesday morning 5th of May, 2021. The expansive garage of Mauve 21 events centre, Ringroad, Ibadan had gathered enough exotic cars same as enough heads had rolled into its beautifully festooned, charming and well lit hall for the second edition of ‘Oyo Si Ma Dun’ Empowerment Youth Summit organized by marketing guru and CEO, Sodium Brand Solutions, Mr. Abisoye Fagade. Tagged content as the new oil, the place of pace setter, that epoch making, ‘soap cutting’ event crammed creme de la creme of the society and passionate young folks into one breathtaking hall for life talk.
Divided into five awe-inspiring segments featuring household names in the music, comedy, blogging and digital media, TV, radio and movies, branding, and advertising industry is probably the biggest event in the recent time — across the country. Think of Gbenga Adeyinka, that ace comedian in an event he’s not allowed to throw joke. Or Aramide, the award winning singer in an event she’s asked to talk about the making of her music, or Tolu Ogunlesi, Presidential aide amid the crowd talking about writing and stuffs that made him a resident in the Villa.
Or consider being in a room full of your favourite celebrities, the ever funny Woli Arole, who’s still basking in the glow of his honeymoon, or Peteru, or Laff up or Dr. Smile, or the legendary Headies award organizer, Ayo Animashaun, Kunle Afolayan, Leye Fabusoro, Efe Omoregbe, Kingsley James, Damola Taiwo, Mr. Rain, Demo Pumpin, or delectable voices on radio, Ronke Giwa, Folakemighty, or Bhadoski or Tunde Ednut, or Uche Pedro, the CEO of Bella Naija who just recently bagged a Master’s degree from Harvard University! Only this time, they are appearing behind the scene, lowering the curtain, sharing their secrets, walking audience through their crafts, contents and creativity. Anchored by wondrous Wale Ozolua, the first segment had singer Aramide and DJ Banky breathing quietly on the hot seats.
For the next several minutes, these duo dazzled the enthusiastic audience with tidbit, nuggets and the secrets of their street credibility. Starting from the pain of the pandemic, Aramide says the pandemic forced her to rethink and reinvent her music. “This pandemic is kind of put pressure on me” she says “because every body seems to be busy doing something, going online, performing”. And I feel I’m lagging behind, or trying to catch up. So, from there, we put some stuffs together with trusted fans and some relatives, sort of a pilot of what going live online really means — and it worked.
On his part, D.J Banky says the pandemic gave him fresh mojo to reconnect on a visceral level with his audience who are mostly A-list. He says, once in a week, he mixes tapes of fantastic songs and send to his clients who deeply love them and get back to him. He further that, since he’s aware of who his clients are, he saved himself of trudging online searching for what’s not lost.
Asked what really helped him stand out of the crowd. D.J Banky and Aramide jointly agreed that diligence and discipline are the holy Grails and that most folks out there are not ready for what it takes to hit their sweet spots before hitting the jackpot. On the effect of the environment to their success, the two agreed that in case of content, nature trumps nurture — and that environment is significant to what people become. In a brisk manner, the convener, Mr. Fagade chipped in saying he agreed with the submissions of the duo on about every parts they touched.
In walking is Adebola Williams dressed charmingly in a white Agbada and a red cap. He’s given the microphone, though among the panelists, he had a brief stint pouring out his heart. He spoke so glowingly that you’d think of him as a motivational speaker. Yet, his message hits every soul on the seat deeply. He says people need to recognize their season. For there is time to plant and time to harvest. He says people will throw shits but such must be used as manure to further enrich the soil and make bountiful harvest out of the soil.
As the guest speaker, Uche Pedro of Bella Naija discussed talent, digital, content, data, money — and you in the shortest time possible yet, was still able to deliver a message that resonate even after she royally walked off the stage. “Talent” she quipped “is something everyone has and it boils down to what people are really good at or enjoy doing”. For digital, she contented that whatever talent people have, once digitized, can take them to a stratospheric level where glitz and glamour lives. And as for content, it’s has to do with people’s output and when properly crunched, she declared, data can help improve, grow and monetize content. As for money, she says streaming platforms, NFT should serve as templates to coast home money. She also share resources such as Google Data analytics certificate, Rolling Stones, Y-combinator among others. “Success” in her submission “is not individual”.
Others also shared their views on what make content an in demand commodity — and why quality should be the guiding post all the time. For Tolu Ogunlesi, preparation is a must, while legendary Gbenga Adeyinka says mentoring is key. In other words, all panelists seems to agree quite uniformly that “it will take a few tries before you get your calling right. And that failure isn’t what prevents you from success, then. That it’s what leads you there.” And sometimes as Jeff Goins put it “failure (while preparing your content) is the best thing that can happen to you if you learn to listen to the lessons in it”.
