Nigerian Media Mogul, Mo Abudu
Mo Abudu, also known as Mosunmola Abudu, is the CEO of the EbonyLife Group, one of the largest media companies in Africa. The company is made up of three entities: EbonyLife Place, an opulent entertainment resort; EbonyLife Media, a company that produces unique African content; and EbonyLife Creative Academy, a film school in Lagos.
Mo Abudu was born in the West London borough of Hammersmith. Her father worked as an engineer, while her mother worked as a caterer. Her family are from Ondo Town in southwest Nigeria. She is the eldest of the family's three sisters. Mosunmola Abudu moved to Nigeria with her grandparents when she was seven years old and returned to England when she was eleven.
Ridgeway School, MidKent College, and West Kent College were among the educational institutions she attended. She graduated with honours from the University of Westminster in London with a Master's Degree in Human Resource Management. Abudu is a British Psychological Society member with a qualification in occupational and personality testing.
Mo started her career in human resources before starting her own recruiting agency and building Nigeria's first brand-new hotel of its kind, the Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park. Inspire Africa, an edutainment firm created to inspire, educate, motivate, and entertain, was where she later began her media career. Moments with Mo, presented and produced by Mo, was the first syndicated talk show in Africa and the company's flagship product.
EbonyLife TV is a pan-African entertainment channel that Mo launched on DStv in 2013. EbonyLife Films and EbonyLife Studios, which have produced eight blockbusters—like Fifty, are now part of the EbonyLife brand.
For her services to the Nigerian broadcasting business, Mo Abudu was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Babcock University in 2014 and by the University of Westminster in London in 2018.
Because of her expertise in the African and international creative industries, Abudu has been widely sought after. She will become the first woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to join the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences in the Producer membership category.
In 2021, Forbes Magazine listed Abudu as one of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women," calling her "Africa's Most Successful Woman."