Onye Ubanatu

Onye Ubanatu has always been on a quest for freedom. As a young boy growing up in historic Warri in southern Nigeria he loved to chase birds, beguiled by their ability to fly. Now he has taken flight too as an in-demand videographer and content creator travelling across West Africa and beyond to capture stories of its people and places. Here, Onye reveals how he manages to live a life of travel and how being forever on the move has taught him that while Warri will always be special “home is anywhere my heart feels at peace”.

A. There is something about growing up in Africa that prepares you to take responsibility for yourself at a very early age. I was lucky to be born in the historic city of Warri where our daily life was and still is characterised by creativity as a means of survival and that challenged my imagination and sense of responsibility to go after something I believed in, which is visual storytelling and event design.

A. From a very early age, I have always wanted to travel the length and breadth of Africa showing how beautiful we are amidst our challenges. The ability to imagine things, or craft a path and be able to express it visually is one of the most amazing parts of being a creative entrepreneur. But you see, my growing up days gave me the confidence to believe in my imagination, and ideas as a means of creating value and inspiring others. This has created a long-lasting vision to tell the African story from a place of strength to inspire us first and also to inspire the rest of the world.

A. One of my proudest moments is getting the opportunity to bring value to one of the world’s biggest and richest cultural festivals – The Argungu International Fishing & Cultural Festival. Projects like this that celebrates the cultural diversity, unity, and richness of Africa inspire me greatly. Another proud moment was being the first to design and produce the first ever Nigeria Football Federation award event.

A. West Africa is an amazing region filled with hospitable, resourceful and inspiring people. I have come to discover that amidst our challenges, everywhere you turn in West Africa, there is always an inspiring story both past and present. On a recent trip to Benin, a country I have come to love so much, I recently found out about the all-female military regiment called the Dahomey Amazons who were frontline soldiers in the army of the Kingdom of Dahomey in a West African empire that existed from 1625 to 1894. I am certainly making a trip back to do a story on this.

A. When I started out, I did not have mentors but one thing that kept me going was that I believed greatly in myself and the vision of telling positive and inspiring stories, and this is one thing I preach with the slightest of opportunity to anyone starting out – believe in yourself and give value to this planet starting with your local community with your talent and skill. They also need to understand that the need to create a fantastic finished product is good, but enjoying the process, identifying your unique selling point, seeking mentorship, and building good relationships are a plus to your journey when starting out.

A. It is true, I am very high on practicaloptimism and that’s why whenever Iexperience a setback, I always try tochannel my energy in learning somethingfrom it. I remember working ona project once with no legal structureand proper documentation. Wedelivered and never got our dues.It hurt the business, but instead ofcrying over the outcome, I called up few lawyer friends and asked to be educated on setting up proper structures and this has taught me a major lesson on protecting my creative investment.

A. I started out in church as a little boy growing up in Warri at age nine. My mother was a major encouraging factor for me. She was the first to introduce me to the TV department in church and said to them “Please show him the camera because he keeps destroying his notebooks by folding them into circular shapes, and playing with anything with a hole thinking it is a camera, and he won’t stop cracking TV screens hoping the people would fall out”. That was how it all started. I owe my dear mother a lot.

A. Life happens very fast with almost everything competing for our attention and we are constantly surrounded by the indescribable play of what I call Acts of Life. The ability to cause a pause on a chosen subject or aspect of life so that people can actually slow down or stop to look, think wonder, and reflect, and be able to appreciate life through still images is just indescribable. It is a blessing.

A. Ha ha! I am currently based in Lagos and, yes, I do travel a lot across Africa for work, meetings and leisure, but home is anywhere my heart feels at peace. When I travel, I travel with my heart and mind. But I always look forward to these three places – Warri, Ghana and Benin. Please don’t tell the other places.

A. I have travelled extensively to parts of the Middle East, South America, and other parts of the world but there is something about the mountain community of Obudu in Nigeria’s Cross River state with its incredible atmosphere and beaches. I also love the people of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, not forgetting my beautiful and serene Kigali.

A. The creative industry was among the hardest hit by the pandemic and it is interesting to note that our job depends on physical human interactions. I personally had to adapt quickly by using the lock-down period to re-evaluate my journey as an African creative entrepreneur, and more importantly pivot by maximising technology and remote work. But I am glad that travelling within the safety measures given by the Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and also the introduction of vaccines is helping out. I see a lot of stakeholders in the travel industry like airlines, hotels, etc working hard on maintaining these standards.

I remember my very first trip out of Nigeria (post-lockdown) was with Africa World Airlines to Ghana. The day before my trip I was having panic attacks but the Covid precautionary measures by the ground staff and flight crew made it easy for me to trust the gradual re-opening to travel. I really think the safety measures are working and people can actually return to travel without fear as long as you obey the new travel guidelines. Truly, it is time to see the world again.

A. Through my journey as an African creative entrepreneur, and as a human being, I have come to understand that overthinking hinders success. It has held me back in different ways in the past but I have developed two ways to always get me out of it. Number one is to be aware when I find myself slipping into the overthinking mode, and the second is, I remind myself to take action because if I keep overthinking about the end result and the different possible limiting factors, it stops me from focusing on starting out and enjoying the process.

A. Every opportunity that leads me to a place of influence be it working on a documentary project with high network or net worth individuals, or having the opportunity to work of projects for notable brands serves as a motivating story for other African creative entrepreneurs. And there are a lot of Africans who might be overwhelmed by their current reality and saying to themselves: “I can never be great because of where I come from.” My story serves as an inspiration to them. So, dedicating my story to inspiring people would be one of my proudest daily endeavours.

A. I love the game but not as intense as a lot of people I see all over the world. One thing I love about my job as a content producer and an event producer is that I get to work on a diverse range of briefs that opens up my imagination and knowledge bank. Working on the Nigerian Football Federation Award was an honour for me because it was the first of its kind in the history of Nigerian football. Getting the chance to meet the FIFA president and also getting opportunity to work with football legends such as the great Jay-Jay Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, the FC Barcelona Femeni striker Asisat Oshoala and other great footballers. I am forever grateful to the current Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick for trusting my professional expertise.

A. It is absolutely beautiful and enjoyable when you work on projects or brands you have a deep connection to but sometimes, what is required of you as a professional is your expertise. Personally, I like to find that connecting point with every project I choose to work on, it makes it much more enjoyable for me and the team I lead.

A. I am currently developing a project around travel safety to give travellers peace of mind through plain and easy to understand safety precautionary measures as we all resume heavy travels. Also, working on a training and mentorship project that empowers African content creators to believe in their ability to add to the positive narrative of Africa by training their minds and eyes to identify the inspiring stories in their own local communities, and tell it from a place of strength and beauty.

My laptop, phones and insectrepellent. (Bonus answer: universal power adapter)

Luxury hotel any day. I think I have had too many wild experiences growing up (insert loud laughs).

The food!!!

Anyone who is super passionate about the African story and always willing to discover or exploring the world around us.