Nigerian-born Alex Okosi’s rise through the ranks at music television giant MTV has been an inspiration for thousands.The top media executive has seen it all, having held positions at the
top of one of the world’s leading brands. In the process, he’s become
someone many people at the corporation look up to.
In 2007, when
he was made Senior Vice President & Managing Director, MTV Networks,
it was to mark the beginning of a new journey – one that would see him
take the vision for MTV-Base Africa, which was two years old at the
time, to another level.
Leading MTV Base Africa’s growth wasn’t an
impossible task for Okosi. His exploits at the music network made him
the obvious candidate, and one to trust with its fortunes. Prior to his
appointment in 2007, he was Vice President & General Manager, MTV
Networks Africa, in charge of its launch in Africa.
Okosi’s charm
at making MTV Base Africa work, and sellable to an audience that had
long stuck to local television, was commendable. Putting it on
pay-per-view also meant only those who could afford to watched it. But
that wasn’t enough of an obstacle to the good work Okosi and his team
had put in. In what became a sweeping but silent revolution MTV
Base earned a considerable following in no time. The network’s
popularity grew, as it was readily recognized.
Okosi’s close aides
speak highly of him as that man who picks up an idea and sells it even
if it will take years to realize its potential. At a point, he managed a
multi-national portfolio that reached some 100 million viewers
including MTV, Comedy Central, BET International, VH1 and the popular
kids content Nickelodeon.
Despite the face-value success of MTV
Base Africa, there are tales of how challenging it was getting it home.
But, Okosi, knowing what he wanted, pressed on, looking at the bigger
picture. “I just focused on the fact that there's this great
opportunity to do something that I believe would enable us and our youth
culture to be projected in the most different way,” he told CNN in a
recent interview.
However Okosi’s love for a continent that
shaped, and led him to believe in himself, got him going. Africa had
always been on the table for Okosi. So even when it looked like he had
to push hard for the parent company to recognize Africa as one big
potential, he did it with a lot of optimism, knowing very well it was
not far from becoming a success.
He knew the kind of channel
Africa would easily subscribe to so he went for it. His desire, to come
up with a quality-driven network, which highlights the best of African
entertainment, as well as drive and shape their social fibre, was a high
priority for him. This has led to the introduction of some
youth-friendly and empowerment productions like Shuga, which is themed around HIV/AIDS, and MTVBase Meets, which brings some of the world’s most successful people up-close and personal with Africa’s youth.
Since
2005, MTV Base has aided the growth of African music. For most African
musicians, it came to fill a void, and bridged what would otherwise have
been a big yawning gap between them and their colleagues in established
markets like the U.S.A. Most refreshing is the fact that Okosi
and his team at MTV Base have spent thousands of dollars to train local
hands on how to shoot quality videos, in addition to shooting some of
the continent’s top artists’ videos for free.
Aware of the huge
disparities in those who can afford pay-per-view television, MTV Base
Africa has partnered local television channels to air recorded content
all throughout the week. This has also caught on well, as it offers the
network additional viewership across Sub-Sahara, its target market.
The
network’s growth is largely credited to Okosi, and for most business
and ordinary people around the world, he is seen as the face of the
global music network.
Adding to his rich portfolio, is the MTV
Africa Music Awards, which was founded in 2008. The awards scheme is
positioned to help improve the profile of African musicians.
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