Nigeria’s Mo Abudu, founder of media network Ebonylife becomes the first African (and Nigerian) to be awarded the 2019 Médailles d’Honneur given to senior executives who have made their mark in the global television industry, as well as contributed to the development of the international television community, at Cannes on Monday.
Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media, is considered to be one of the most prolific producers on the continent. Abudu oversees five divisions of EbonyLife Media, namely EbonyLife TV, EbonyLife Films, EbonyLife ON, EbonyLife Studios and EbonyLife Productions Limited (UK). She’s been described by Forbes as “Africa’s Most Successful Woman” and CNN as “Africa’s Queen of Media who conquered the continent”. She was also included on The Powerlist 2018, the UK’s selection of the top 100 most influential people of African and Caribbean heritage.
Responding to the Médailles d’Honneur, Abudu said, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank MIPTV for this incredible award. My big dream was and still is, to change the narrative about my continent. As a continent, Africa has remained creatively silent for centuries. Our stories seldom told outside of our families and villages and often from the perspective of ‘someone’ looking in. It is therefore with great pride that we, at EbonyLife Media, bring our stories to the world with our TV series and our films.”
Abudu received the 2019 Médailles d’Honneur alongside Ilene Chaiken, U.S. writer, showrunner and producer, Stéphane Courbit, chairperson of the Banijay Group in France and Jane Millichip, UK managing director of Sky Vision.
It was announced in March 2018 that Abudu locked in a three scripted television series deal with Sony. One of the anticipated shows is an action-drama based on the Dahomey Amazon Warriors—the strong women soldiers who served for over 200 years in present-day Benin, OkayAfrica reports.
