Dr. Ope Banwo, an international lawyer, author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and internet business consultant is a strong force in the entertainment industry. His intrepid exploits some years back in Dove Media and Stingomania Records, became the standard by which the growth of Nigeria’s showbiz industry is measured. Ope is back on the familiar terrain with Nollycoin, a blockchain technology-powered idea aimed at revolutionising the Nigerian movie industry. He speaks with VANESSA OKWARA about his growing up years, lovely wife and big break into crypto technology
What was growing up like?
I grew up in Fadeyi, Lagos. Though it was indeed a very poor neighbourhood, it was not as violent as it is today. My father was a civil servant and my mother died on my 14th birthday. My Dad never remarried so I grew up with my siblings without a mother. But we had an awesome sister who was our first born and she sacrificed everything along with our Dad to make sure all remaining five of us went to university and graduated. My brother and I used to share school uniforms since we had only one between us. Mine got torn during a football game and nobody had the courage to tell our father about it, so I would wait for my brother, who was in the morning session while I was in the afternoon session, at a place close to the school so we could exchange uniforms.
We didn’t have television in our house while I was growing up and we all had to go to a neighbour’s house to watch big events like the October 1 parade or when Mohammed Ali was fighting. Yet, while we were not rich, I honestly never really felt like we were poor since most people around me were about the same. In fact we actually thought we were richer than our poorer neighbours because we lived in a room and parlor, while most in the house only had one room. It was like a 30-room building and there were only two room and parlors in the whole building. So we actually felt pretty cool and richer.
Fadeyi at that time was not a violent place, so I honestly didn’t really feel I was lacking anything until I got to secondary school and saw what other students were bringing to school, the kind of shoes and texture of their uniforms, and knew I could never ask my dad for that. But still, my father brought us up to have the confidence that regardless of money or not, on any given day, any of the Banwo boys can take down anyone else in anything regardless of how rich they are. He always said it was not about the strength but about the intelligence, the passion and the heart. I still believed that to this day and I’ve been teaching my kids the same.
Of course, I think anyone who knew me or any of my three brothers would agree when it comes to passion, daring heart and God-given intelligence, we bring it every day to anything we do, win or lose.
I actually entered entertainment by God-incidence. I was hired by Redeemed Christian Church of God and Dove Media to come to Nigeria from USA and help raise the funds to start the Dove Media Plc., which is a Christian entertainment outfit. God helped us to do a great job of raising the funds needed in less than six weeks and when it was time to hand over my fund raising report to the General Overseer, Pastor E. Adeboye, he said since God used me to raise the funds, then I was going to be the CEO of the company in Nigeria. As at that time I didn’t even know what mini-TV was. I was a Lawyer with some kind of expertise in fund-raising at the time.
But of course no one can tell the General Overseer no. So I took the job and learnt fast and kept failing forward. We did an awesome job with a group of very young and creative guys like Deji Irawo, Segun Awosanya (Sega); Toyin Moore and many others. Dove Media rose from nothing to dominate Christian media industry in less than one year. Of course I also made lots of mistakes that eventually led to my downfall in Dove Media. Dove Media probably was one of the most challenging projects of my life and despite the rough ending for me; I have nothing but gratitude and appreciation for the General Overseer, who gave me the opportunity. Since that interesting time in 2006, I have been hooked on entertainment and went on do a lot of great things, some of which you must be aware of.
What was your first big break?
Since I have basically operated with great success in at least four very different industries (Law, entertainment, employment and digital marketing), you could say I have had a lot of first big breaks. However, since we are talking about entertainment here, without a doubt my first big break was my stint with Dove Media. Dove Media forcefully introduced me to the industry that eventually embraced and celebrated me, even with the hiccups along the way. As a man who always takes the positive out of any experience, I will say I am most grateful to the G.O; Pastor Akinkoye and my mentor, Pastor Brown for that Dove experience and forever in debt of those young but very energetic and creative crowds who made Dove Media a success. My two years at Dove Media, despite the sad ending for me there, was easily the happiest time of my life and my greatest break in entertainment.
How did you meet your wife and what makes her special?
This question will take a whole hour to answer. So I will just say my Olunike Ajoke is a very special woman. I am not the easiest of guys to live with and my wife has done an admirable job of making me such a better person that I am convinced she is the only woman on earth who could marry me and love me like I am. I simply thank God for the opportunity to meet her in such a funny circumstance that I really can’t go into today…. but you would find it fascinating.
The Nollycoin idea you came up with is offering itself as an advanced technology that movie makers in Nigeria can benefit from. How much have your resource team done to sell to movie stakeholders the prosperity that may arise from this beautiful synergy?
We are already engaging top influencers in the movie industry to share this vision and seek their support. As a matter of fact, we had an exclusive media parley where we met openly with most of them and answered questions on how this can benefit them and their industry. As you know, it’s always a challenge to be a pioneer in the entertainment industry, and this blockchain and crypto technology is still new to a lot of them and many of them even see it as a bubble with no lasting influence. Fortunately, I am very comfortable being a pioneer and have been a pioneer in the entertainment industry before, so I know the work that must be done. I know we must do a lot of work to make them see beyond the misconceptions about the technology, and make them see how it can revolutionize the industry.
Explain what the shared interests from this scheme would be like?
There are different levels of interests that would be shared by people who will participate in the Nollytainment ecosystem powered by Nollycoin.
I would like to call the shared interest the Nollycoin value proposition for the movie community. Nollycoin also offers a lot of win-win opportunities to stakeholders in the entertainment industry excluding the pirates and copyright thieves. Some of the solutions and opportunities that Nollycoin is bringing into the entertainment ecosystem include one: hardworking movie producers win. This means that contrary to what some companies in entertainment may think at first blush, they will definitely benefit from the NollyCoin Economy that will be heralded by Nollycoin. Under our ecosystem, the entire entertainment market scale can be enlarged to enhance long term exploitation of the copyrighted creative works. All stakeholders will enter their copyrighted content onto Nollycoin blockchain and harvest the profits worldwide ad infinitum. Two: collaborators and creative artistes in the movie production chain win. This means that, with blockchain technology and the Nollycoin, collaborators can now be compensated accurately per contract without need for any third-party intervention. Three: movie financiers and stakeholders in each completed movie win. By this, proportionate payments to movie financiers can also be worked into the smart contract that would form the basis of distribution of income from all movies on the Nollytainment network. No longer will financiers or stakeholders have to chase movie producers to get repayment of loans or capital investment in any movie project. Four: open and transparent record-keeping ledgers for all stakeholders. This means that Nollytainment platform, with its underlying blockchain technology, will provide all players in the movie making industry including movie makers, movie producers, cinematographers, and writers with digital recording of all transactions in copyrighted works that is accessible to all stakeholders on an instantaneous and permanent basis.
Apart from making money as a business person, what are the plans being worked on to ensure that other elements like theft of intellectual property and piracy are dealt with? Also explain how your idea can generate jobs for persons in the entertainment industry.
The very concept of blockchain protects the registration rights of copyright holders and even allows different constituent collaborators in making a movie to preserve their own part of the copyright by recording all of that in the ‘Smart Contract’ that will be executed as the movie gets on our platform. That contract cannot be changed by anyone and compensation agreed to by the collaborators will be disbursed automatically without the intervention of a third party. Blockchain technology is tailor-made for protection and compensation for copyrighted works. As for how these will generate jobs for participants in the movie industry; more international level movies will be sponsored and produced and thousands of people from actors to set hands will be employed in the process and more importantly the key players will not need to sue anyone for enforcement of their rights on the platform since blockchain handles everything without the intervention of weak third parties. I honestly see blockchain transforming the entertainment industry and generating millions of jobs for everyone as the concept gets clearer and implementation of its promise becomes real to people.
You are a busy man. How do you now find time to relax with your family?
I work hard and I also play hard. I am able to find time from my entire crowded schedule because I only do things I really enjoy doing now. At this point of my life, I don’t get involved in any projects unless I am really passionate about it. Money is the last consideration though I am also an unapologetic businessman. So, I wake up every day excited to go to work. In the midst of it all, I still find time for five or six vacations each year. In fact, I just came back from a one week Caribbean cruise with my wife, and the year is only one month old. We are also scheduled to be in Hawaii for five days in about two weeks, and then we visit Nigeria. Life is always good, and there is always time when you are doing what you love.
