Guardian

MO Abudu has conquered a lot of challenges. With EbonyLife TV, she seems set for a tougher one. And judging by the quality of work being put to the soon to be launched TV channel, no doubts, another conquest is close by.

Located in Tinapa, Cross River State, it is the first global Black entertainment network in Nigeria, and indeed, Africa.

The channel’s vision is to be the preferred global network for premium African entertainment, by creating original, premium and inspiring content with an African soul that showcases the best of Africa for a global audience.

Already, plans are underway to honour leading lights in media, entertainment, business, innovation, politics and the economy in Africa.

Considered by analysts and industry watchers as potentially one of the biggest and most prestigious events in the continent this year, the awards hold on June 30, 2013 in Lagos. The TV channel will be launched Pan Africa wide on the DSTV platform (Channel 165) on July 1.

The awards, which are coming after months of intense research and a thorough verification exercise by Forbes, will be presented by Steve Forbes of Forbes Media, world renowned establishment, which has become an insignia of distinction across the world for recognising worthy business decision-makers, investors and progressive individuals for making real impact around the world.

Lined-up for honours are four African presidents — Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for his administration’s support to the Nigerian media and entertainment industry; John Dramani Mahama of the Republic of Ghana and Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda, for presiding over two of the best countries to do business in, globally; and Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa, for presiding over the first African country to host The FIFA World Cup.

Also to be honoured are Tope Shonubi, Tonye Cole and Ade Odunsi (founders of Sahara Energy Resources Limited) for their contribution to the Nigerian oil and gas industry; Isabel Dos Santos, for being the richest woman in Africa; Uzoamaka Maduka and Toyin Odutola, for being celebrated as young African achievers.

Those who also made the list Joke Silva, for her contribution to the development of the film and TV industry in Africa; King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Onyeka Onwenu, Sir Victor Olaiya and Innocent (Tuface) Idibia, for their contribution to the development of African music and Deola Sagoe, for her contribution to the development of African fashion industry.

Cross River State government, MTN, Nigerian Breweries and the United States Government support the event.

SET to broadcast the best of African content, the TV station will immediately be transmitting to and watched in over 46 African countries and by over 8 million viewers. The TV’s Roll Out distribution strategy also includes major international platforms in the UK, United States, Brazil, Canada and other parts of Europe.

EbonyLife TV’s programming cuts across drama, comedy, reality, lifestyle, talk, magazine, feature film and factual and is poised to reach a global black audience through an exciting multiplicity of media platforms, including TV, Web, Mobile, Apps and Live Events.

“The launch of EbonyLife TV will ensure that our programming touches on all the key passion drivers of our target demographic, issues of the heart, love and relationships being one of those passion drivers,” says Mo Abudu, Chairman and CEO of EbonyLife TV.

She continues, “in a very responsible and enlightening way, we deal with a number of sensitive issues, concerns and questions that are paramount to us all, but we often feel restrained by society from asking those questions or dealing with those issues. Now we are excited to announce that there is a forum and platform for discussion with our panel of experts. And we are going the extra mile by encouraging our viewers to send their questions, concerns and issues to us through a variety of platforms, SMS, facebook, twitter and on our website. We are all about pleasing our viewers and meeting their needs in an ever changing world.”

In the last few months, the TV channel has announced important breakthrough in the treatment of love, sex, violence, relationships and marriage with its innovative and creative upcoming programmes.

With Love Lounge, it hopes to help “nurture the relationship you have into the relationship you want.” The fun, cheeky and informative 60-minute talk show employs the convergence media formats of Radio and TV in the sense that it is broadcast on ELTV and multicast on Beat FM 99.9.

Love Lounge is set to approach the issues of love, sex and relationships in a professional, mature and creative way. It is designed as a platform where people can unravel the mysteries of love and provide answers to sensitive questions that people have but are probably too afraid, shy or careful to ask. The issues include ‘How to cope with being dumped’, ‘Women who beat their husbands’, ‘Partners who have addictions’,  ‘Sex tips’, ‘Homosexuality in Africa’, and so much more.

When it is eventually aired, it will stimulate maximum listener/viewer participation and would see the Show’s presenter, Oreka Godis, navigate her way through the woes of love with expert advice, taking questions from listeners and some celebs by way of calls, BBMs, SMS, email, letters, interactions online, blogs, Skype and podcasts in what has been described as a convergence model on steroids!

The TV is also set to bring six countries together in a programme that showcases African culture and tradition. Titled, The Fattening Room, the programme journeys into this unique culture of Efik people of Nigeria — practiced when young women enter a house of seclusion to learn everything a woman needs to know about running a home, raising children that are as good as gold and managing to keep her husband happy and at home.

In the programme, six ladies — Roselyn Ashkar, a fashion model and media journalist from Ghana; Sally Berold, an adventurer and skateboarder and freelance experiential marketing specialist from South Africa; Stephanie Unachukwu, a designer and fashionista from Nigeria, Patricia Kihoro, a singer, actress and radio personality from Kenya; Tshepo Maphanyanye, a publicity and public relations executive from Botswana and Limpo Funjika, a business development manager and aspiring TV presenter from Zambia — become women after experiencing the inner chambers of this tradition.

According to Abudu, “The Fattening Room is a true testimony of ‘if you can think it, you can do it’. As a team, during one of our strategy sessions about a year ago in Tinapa, we wanted to develop and produce a reality show that showcased the rich culture of Calabar that is now home to EbonyLife TV and we thought what better way to do that, than the Efik tradition of ‘The Fattening Room’!

The TV channel also added a very important and highly strident voice to the global fight against domestic violence with the wrap up of the filming of yet another of its flagship reality programmes, Screen Divas.

The programme offers viewers an unprecedented, unscripted and unedited glimpse into the world of four of Africa’s most eclectic Nollywood stars, Funke Akindele, Rita Dominic, Kate Henshaw and Uche Jombo, as it showcases not only the glitz, glam, and gloss, but the struggles of their interesting lives outside the regular world of make-belief.

A key highlight of the reality series shot in Calabar at the Studio Tinapa is the collaboration of the Nollywood divas on the production of a short film titled, New Horizons, a soul-rending flick that spotlights the plight of women across Africa who have to bear the needless pains of domestic abuse, a crime far too familiar but rarely spoken about.

The wrap up of Screen Divas, which is coming fast on the heels of the wrap of the filming of Sistaz!, another of the TV channel’s flagship programmes, and which is being hotly followed by the production of a number of other exciting entertainment, reality and drama programmes, is in furtherance of the new Channel’s mission of being the first in Africa set to produce and broadcast over 700 hours of premium, original and inspiring content with an African soul for a global black audience.

Born on July 18, 1947, in Morristown, New Jersey, Forbes is a celebrated writer and editor. He is also a widely respected economic prognosticator, who is the only writer to have won the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award four times. The prize was formerly given by U.S. Steel Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved most accurate.

Forbes is the author of Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets are Moral and Big Government Isn’t, co-authored by Elizabeth Ames (Crown Business, August 2012); How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today’s Economy, co-authored by Elizabeth Ames (Crown Business, November 2009); and Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today… and the Lessons You Can Learn, co-authored by John Prevas (Crown Business, June 2009). He also wrote: Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS (Regnery, 2005); and A New Birth of Freedom (Regnery, 1999), a book of bold ideas for the new millennium.

Forbes serves on the boards of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He is on the Board of Overseers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre and on the Board of Visitors for the School of Public Policy of Pepperdine University. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University for 10 years.