One unique thing about the founder of DatJoblessBoi Television (DJBTV), Babalola Idowu Olumide, is that he always ensures that his clients get world-class value for their desired services.
Babalola who is a celebrity publicist, blogger, entertainment executive and digital media entrepreneur started this journey at the tender age of 19 when he broke into the media space while in university. However, he failed miserably because he had passion without vision.
“So I decided to develop a business plan. Since then, I have put in a lot of hard work, sleepless nights and constant effort to rewrite the future for my brand projection,” Babalola revealed.
The unwanted night and his effort actually paid off. In 2012, Babalola established DJBTV, a platform that caters to popular artistes, influencers, high profile individuals, private and government sectors and non-governmental parastatals. “You will be interested to know that my clients stick to us because they know our services are the best in all of Africa; we know exactly what they want and we deliver beyond their imagination and expectations,” he boasted.
What makes it go? Babalola said, “the fact that I can work and earn money from anywhere in the world just from my mobile phone and using the internet in the comfort of my home, it is! They give me a great feeling at work every day.”
DJBTV has been widely accepted around the world and as such its founder has been celebrated with several awards including the Nigerian Youth Excellence Award, StarsOfNaija Awards, SME 100 Africa 25 Under 25, Nigeria Hype Awards, Forbes List 30 Under 30 and Extraordinary Women Awards, where he was recognized as a social entrepreneur, among others.
Although, the journey was not an easy one for Babalola as he faced challenges ranging from difficulty in finding the right people to work with, lack of mentorship to inadequate finances, he managed to weather the storm through unwavering zeal, focus, discipline, fervent prayers, and daily improvement.
“We didn’t cut corners. I didn’t allow any of my talent to go to waste. You know, talent alone is not enough; I put in years of hard work; and I was determined. In addition, relentless prayers helped a lot. This is how I was able to develop and convert my skills and expertise into money-making actions,” he stated.
There are many young people who inspire to be like Babalola even as he urged them to learn from his early days, have vision and dream big when embarking on the path of entrepreneurship. “It is possible to build local startups into global brands with a vision,” he added.
Babalola, while unveiling his media five-year plan, said: “Our mission at DJB is to become the biggest promoter of African art, creativity, business, personalities and culture. Our vision is to create, distribute and monetize engaging visuals, promotional and economically sustainable content for individuals, celebrities, NGOs, corporate organizations and government bodies.”
Babalola has a philosophy which is “Grow and help others to grow” which is why he is actively involved in humanitarian work through his Babalola Idowu Foundation (BIF), providing scholarship opportunities to the less privileged, orphaned, vulnerable, but intelligent, who are in primary and secondary institutions in Africa to reach their full potential.
Babalola has been in the entertainment industry for over a decade and as such has seen some gray areas in the industry that he would like to address.
Highlighting these gray areas, the founder said there is need for Nigerian celebrities to have entrepreneurial and leadership skills; drug abuse in the entertainment sector is a major menace in society that needs to be curtailed and Nigerian celebrity publicists are underpaid, the system should pay more.
He said, “Most Nigerian celebrities live for now with little or no investment plan. They have insufficient business knowledge, bad money management habit and lack of interpersonal communication with the people they work with. Some of them let fame get to their heads and feel like a demigod. Most of them are self-centered and live for the moment with little or no future investment plan.
“I also need the entertainment industry to address the fact that celebrity publicists are not well paid. In the western world, the top celebrity publicist earns a lot of money annually; but Nigerian publicists are poorly paid. They are given peanuts because the system does not value or value the work they do. This narrative needs to be changed, the system should pay more.”
Babalola holds a host of professional certifications and has worked with notable brands and personalities across the entertainment and business spectrum in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, parts of Asia, just to mention a few
