How marriage to the right person will help your career – Biola Alabi

A graduate of Public and Community Health from University of Cincinnati, United States of America, beautiful Biola Alabi is the Managing Partner of Biola Alabi Media and a former Managing Director with MNET Africa. She was listed as one of the 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa by Forbes in 2012, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2012) and CNBC Africa’s AABLA West African Business Woman of the Year (2013) and Yale World Fellow (2014). She speaks with TAYO GESINDE on her success story.

Why I studied Public Health

I   have always loved helping people. When I started out, I wanted to go to the sciences. Also, my parents encouraged me to study sciences and hopefully to go to medical school. So my goal was really to go to medical school and when I started, my pre-med programme I started to realise that some of the things I was studying were not what I was interested in, so I didn’t know what my interest really was, so I was given a lot of advice about how to explore what I might be interested in but at the same time I was still in pre-med and taking those classes.  Once I realised that might not be for me, I  thought of trying Pharmacy because it was close to Medicine and easy to transfer to that programme especially the way my university was set up. I entered into pharmacy and during my internship I realised pharmacy was something that didn’t interest me at all. It was a really trying time because I had always wanted to help people and to help people, you have to be in the health care. So from there, I changed my focus again and studied public health. As part of my public health programme, I had to take a film class and marketing class and that was why I minor in marketing.

Career background

Now, I work for my own company, Biola Alabi Media, which is a consulting, production, television and film company in Nigeria but we have clients all over the world. Before then, I was the Managing Director for MNET Africa and as part of that; created  Africa Viewers Choice Award and created most of the African movies channels from Africa Magic Yoruba, Africa Magic Hausa, Africa Magic Swahili, Africa Magic Entertainment and basically a bouquet of African Magic channels, from one channel to eight. And I believe we were able to change the face of Nollywood and help receive Nollywood around Africa and even abroad.  I worked at Sesame Street which is the largest producer of children content in the world; I worked under the domestic proramme in the US, worked in Marketing, Community Outreach and ended working in the International Strategy group where I worked on a lot of projects and continents. I worked in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and I always wanted to work in Nigeria. While working in Sesame Street, I was looking for a way to move back home and that was how my work there evolved in working on a project in Nigeria, so the first pilot work project and funding for Sesame Street Nigeria, I secured but at the time, I got an offer from MNET and moved there. Before that, I worked for an Internet start-up company. While there, I learned a lot of lessons and it was the beginning of the Internet, e-commerce journey in America. That company ended bankrupt but I learnt a lot of lessons. That was what gave me a kind of perspective on things I wanted to do. Before that, I worked for a creative company and lived in Korea for a few years life.

Challenges faced

Being young and trying to decide what to do for the rest of my life was so challenging. At the age of 20, you are trying to decide what you are going to do for the rest of your life and at the end of the day; we do end up living a very long life if we are blessed. That was always the challenge. Trying to make sure I wasn’t making a wrong decision and also making sure, I wasn’t disappointing myself and my family. And I think this is where mentors come in. Sometimes, it was some of my bosses who were very helpful and help me to develop. They also gave me the confidence that you don’t have to have all the answers today, this is a journey. I think that gave me a lot of peace of mind.

Why I founded Grooming for Greatness

What I experienced while growing up was that there were so many people around me who were there to help me.  They were really there when I had questions about what I was doing. There was a period of time when I was unemployed and was really depressed and needed people to talk to because I was sending out resumes, going for interviews but not getting a job. That had never happened to me before, when I go for something, I usually get it. That kind of affected me,  I felt maybe the problem had to do with me,  It was some of my mentors  that helped my understanding that maybe I was not looking in the right place or maybe it was not the right job for me, they really helped me understand and  put things in the right perspective. I want Grooming For Greatness to be a place where people can come and develop professionally and personally, where they can develop relationships  but really learn more about how to navigate some times  what could be a very confusing time in their lives. When you are between ages 25 and 35, there are a lot of decisions you have to make and a lot of time, you need someone that can help you think through them and that can challenge you as well.  Grooming for greatness is an application process. Every year, around August and September, we call for entries, receive applications and our panels select successful candidate. The session starts in October. We take in people from all over the country.

On awards and recognitions

For me what was always great was that I never started out to achieve anything. What I started out to do was to see how my work could have a positive impact and how my work can help people. So, anytime I am doing something, it is always how is this contributing, making a difference and helping people? With me, it is always about helping people. The reason I studied public health was because I wanted to join the Peace Corps and wanted them to appoint me to Africa where I can work on public health issues. So, for me, my career has always been about how can my life be of use to other people? And in doing that I have been able to make positive impacts and that is where all these awards are coming from. I always start out with this, it is not about the achievements, it is about the journey, passion and always hard work; I always give my best to everything I do. I was passionate about telling the African story and sharing that story with people.

Most defining moments of my career

There had been quite a number of defining moments. One of them was living and working in Korea and learning a different culture.  Being in a different work culture, especially one that is parochial especially coming from the US. Funny enough, Korea reminded me a lot about Nigeria. It was really defining because it was a great place to learn humility and that even though you don’t get credit for your work (we work in groups, no matter how hard you work, women are not allowed to present the work). Imagine a woman who just finished from the university and was ready to take the world by storm but no matter how much I contributed to the work, I could not present it, because it was a sign of disrespect to do that. That was defining for me because it taught me that just because you do the work doesn’t mean you are going to take the glory. So, very early in my career, my work was not about gaining credits that is why I am surprised when people give me awards.

Another defining moment was working for an e-commerce company that was growing and exciting, being one of the first 50 employees that worked at the company, so I was going to be one of the big shareholders if we ended up having an IPO. Amazon offered to buy the company twice but it was rejected because the founders thought the company would be successful. At the end, it went bankrupt. So from being on high thinking I was going to become a millionaire, I became unemployed for quite a number of years, so I had to do what I could to survive, working at restaurants, bars, washed dogs, ushering and so on. It was from there that I got my next job, which had to do with media and marketing. It was there I discovered how passionate I was about the media. That was a big transition in my life, from working in a restaurant to working in the media, Sesame Street.

Also, getting to move back to Nigeria was another defining moment because I had been looking for opportunity to move back to Nigeria. Getting to work for MNET and all the recognitions that come from it was really a big defining moment for me. Changing and seeing an impact in Nollywood, hosting the Face of Africa in Nigeria for the first time and was broadcast live,  creating Africa Viewers Movie Choice Awards, all these were defining moments. Leaving MNET and starting my own company was a defining moment because I am starting a new journey. I am sometimes scared because it is intimidating but I think there are more ups on this journey that I am on now.

Life as an entrepreneur

Biola Alabi Media has been doing really well. We’ve had some amazing support. We’ve been able to create a great content, Bukas and Joint which has been a great show; it’s on AIT, Africa Magic, Africa Channel in the US. It is now going to be on different VOD platforms. It has been getting a great reception. We have been able to celebrate Nigerian and African food authentically. It has been a great journey so far. Challenging but good.

Combining career with home front

I always tell people the most important thing is to marry the right person. Once you marry the right person, everything else is easy. What I mean by the right person is someone that understands your ambitions, goals and you also understand theirs and you are able to support each other. And you are both comfortable in your own skin and space. I think that is really the most important thing and I think because I did that, I found someone that really supported me. I never could imagine how supportive someone else could be in your career. My husband is extremely supportive and very confident in himself, in what he does. I think that is the driving force to really keeping the home front strong.  But also making commitments. One of the commitments I made is to be home on weekends with my family.

Advice for young girls

The biggest advice I have is: Just be known for your work, be known for excellence. Be known as someone that works hard. There is a saying that if you want something done, ask someone that is busy even if you know that they don’t have time, you know that once they say yes, they will do it well. That’s the way you should let people identify you, let them say this person is a get it done person.