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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ͰͲ, 2019
IBIRONKE SHILELOLA THE UNSTOPPABLE LADY In white, she’s pristine. In fuchsia, she’s eclectic; electric. In black, she’s bold and beautiful. Her stunning looks, dazzling attire represent belief and an unassuming aura. The only item that suggests her influential status is the power suit that drapes around her shoulders. She is a tempest in Nigeria’s TV industry. Ibironke Shilelola has been there, done that. In 2014, she recorded a milestone in her career with the launch of the first Nigerian-produced telenovela. Vanessa Obioha writes that she is still pushing the envelope with the opening of a cinema exhibition hall
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efore her arrival, one of her employees, Mojisola Sapara, gave a summary of Shilelola Ibironke’s impressive curriculum vitae. It included running a television
content marketing company, MicroMedia Marketing Limited which portfolio boasts many successful TV programmes such as the critically acclaimed ďŹ rst Nigerian telenovela, ‘Taste of Love’, and TV drama series, ‘The Casino’.
From the way she narrated the achievement of the woman she called ‘boss’, it was apparent that she harboured great admiration for her.Thus, when Ibironke Shilelola ďŹ nally arrived, it was a delightful Mojisola that led her to the head of
the dining table of the Radisson Blu Hotel restaurant in Ikeja. There is an unassuming aura around Ibironke. Her gentle mien didn’t betray the power she wields in her sector.The only item that suggested her inuential status was the power suit that draped around her shoulders.That piece of clothing and her position on the table indicated her trailblazing feats in a male-dominated industry. Call her a tempest or a wild rose on TV and you will not be wrong. Shilelola is simply an unstoppable force who is constantly pushing the envelope in her ďŹ eld of play. She shatters the glass ceilings with little noise, rather allowing her works to speak for her. From producing content to distribution, Shilelola has penetrated areas where others would merely take a gander. Her zeal to achieve her dream is admirable.Take for instance when she wanted to enter the East African market in 2016. She wrote to almost all the broadcast networks in Kenya but none was willing to give her a chance. “Without knowing anyone in Kenya, we enrolled for a conference and set out to cover all the TV networks in Nairobi. Doors were shut on us but we persevered and prayed. Finally, we got an offer from KTN, the largest TV network. As we were packing our bags to leave Nairobi, I looked at my colleague who travelled with me and told her we should take advantage of being in East Africa to cover all the key countries. We ended up going to Rwanda,Tanzania, and Uganda. The reception and continuous patronage of the TV networks in these countries gave credence to the quality of love for Nollywood dramas by other African countries,â€? she narrated with enthusiasm. It is one of the major highlights of her career. Her TV drama series are currently broadcast in 40 African countries including Anglophone, Francophone and more recently Lusophone African countries. Her distribution channels include payTV, free-to-air, video-on-demand and OTT platforms. Her next move is to put her content on aviation onboard entertainment platforms. These are some of the milestones that have marked the 20-year media career of the graduate of Economics who started her TV content marketing career in Consolidated Media Associates (CMA). Her initial plan was to be an actress after modelling during her university days. She starred in the Wale Adenuga TV drama series, ‘Super Story’, as well as the family comedydrama, ‘Papa Ajasco and Company’. But her choice of career didn’t go well with her parents. “I started from being an executive to become the head of marketing in CMA. Moreso, I am the ďŹ rst person that launched Soundcity in Nigeria. I toured the whole of Nigeria with MTN and also other brands for over two years. After marriage, I left the role of marketing and started thinking of how to start my own, something that will just be okay for my children and as well focus on