Mrs. Ndidi Obioha, an international relations graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, is the CEO, Enthyst Place – an event management, fashion and bridal outfits that has pulled off several successful colourful events in Nigeria. The multiple awards winning, Germany born happily married mother of three, who spoke with New Telegraph on Tuesday at her Lekki residence, explains the challenges of female artistes and her plans for them
How have you been able to navigate in showbiz being married with children?
In showbiz, there are lots that I have on my kit that I am going to give birth to next year. I am very passionate about women in the entertainment industry. It is one of the things I am going to dedicate my time to next year. I don’t think women in the industry are getting much leverage being in that industry. I think it is a male dominated industry, with them trying to suppress the women on the side, especially in the music industry. The ratio of women to men that has been given opportunities, even the record labels is not encouraging.\
Go to Mavin, how many women are there? Though I like what Don Jazzy is doing as he is now trying to recruit some more. Look at Chocolate City, how many women are on their label? It is unfortunate. That is why I am going into a different kind of mentorship. I have a lot of girls that I am talking with. Omowumi will tell you that when she came out from Idols West Africa, I was one of the women that gave her the opportunity. I carry them on my back, and they know how passionate I am to get women to where the menfolk are presently. And I will get there by God’s grace. I have seen lots of good young girls trying to do it alone, but have not been given the opportunities. A record label owner owned by a man will first consider a male before thinking of a female!
When are you starting your mentorship?
Honestly I have not had the time, because I am setting up pockets of my businesses. The fashion clinic is able to stand on its own now. Next year I will take on another arm of my business. I try to take things one at a time. There is this organization that is trying to bring me in, and I hate to bring myself into what I cannot be able to make out all the time. To be a mentor to somebody, you need to have all the time for mentorship, which is giving back, and it is something I like to do.
Why? But sex sells, record label owners are businessmen and it is all about merit for quick returns?
I don’t think it is about merit. Yes sex sells that was why D’banj made so much hit because of his music appeal to the opposite sex. Trust me I have studied the situation. Some of these female artistes come for help, and as an event person I provide them needed opportunities, especially the up and coming artistes. Helen Paul was barely known. But she got her biggest break, by God’s grace, through me; I try to use my platform to help the female artistes. A female artiste, who was based in Spain and made a success of her career while she was there, came to Nigeria and it was difficult for her to be accepted. I saw her looks, very pretty and her dress sense very revealing which was not good in our society. Women in Nigeria have very strong hold on their husbands. If I like a song and my husband is in love with me, I have the power to get him to like that music. But if I am in a party with him and I saw a girl that will make him sexually uncomfortable, it is my duty to protect him from buying into that artiste.
So women are their own problems?
To an extent, yes.. In Nigeria we are still very cultured. Yet we copy a lot from foreign cultures. We look at videos and we think indecent dressings will make us sell. I have seen a lot of amazing female talents in this country. I attend events where I see them perform, they don’t go beyond that and I can tell why. We feel threatened by ourselves. When a female artiste is coming all revealing, we try to stop them. It should not be so. You should first appreciate that talent in her. Unfortunately you are addressed the way you are dressed. If people feel disgusted about your looks then you are done. Take a look at Omowumi. She is a home girl to every woman. The moment you become a threat to every woman, they will kill it for you. We are still a bit laid back. And my question is who your target market is? You are coming out with a song that will appeal to weddings. You want people to invite you to perform at weddings and other you think a bride’s mother will watch you looking very indecent on television and you think she will invite you to come and perform for her child’s wedding? Hell no! They will tell you, ‘her music might be amazing but ask her to dress well’. Recently I did the Vilisco Women Awards at Eko Hotel. It was a female awards and the conceptualization is celebrating women. So we can do everything without any man as part of it. So we don’t need a male MC, we don’t need a male band. And I was able to get an all-female band that I am ready to invest in because they are good. There are plans for an all-female talent hunt next year.
A woman in event management, what brought you there?
What got me there is the passion for wanting to feed people, to organize and put things together as they should be. That is what got me to run an event consulting company. We conceptualize, we define, we plan, we manage, we coordinate and we execute the plan of a client. I am not a decorator, but what we do is to come up with concepts for every different aspect that makes up an event. If it is a wedding, the concept of what the décor should be like, what the event should be like, it depends on the kind of wedding we are doing, the theme of that wedding, and we define.
Which was the biggest and challenging concert you ever managed?
We have done a lot of events that I cannot readily remember. Rhythm Unplugged is one of them. It was a huge concert with about 6,000 people in attendance. We manage that for them including the artiste because we get some of them on board as well. For me when an event becomes very tasking is when the fans are crazy. We did Miss Delta Pageant for Orange Drugs Plc. Every step of the way, every time the thank you I get from my clients is my staying power. We just did the African Magic Igbo Channel, Ebe Ona Akpotu in Enugu in April
How many of you concerts have gone awry?
There is none that I can remember. It has honestly has not happened. The day it happens that is when I will stop being an event planner, because I cannot take the disappointment. There may be one or two slight areas, that is because of my professional know. Otherwise for the clients and guests that attended it was okay.
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