I hardly publicly write about the core of my work, and many ventures I’ve had the opportunity to spot very early and back, way before they became household names in Nigeria and Africa.
However, this one is different, especially because this Friday as we gather at the World Trade Center to talk about ‘Unlocking African Prosperity’ at UNGA, one of the evidences of this work will premiere globally, on Netflix.
I first read the Blackbook’s script in April/May 2020 during my COVID lockdown in Cambridge, Boston. Editi Effiong had reached out to me on this movie that he was trying to create and needed capital for its grand production. I was on my ‘adult education’ masters program and didn’t have the bandwidth for any major deal structuring.
But just as he wouldn’t let Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD) rest, he didn’t let me rest either. He’s just that determined. Amazing guy!
Eventually we got on zoom and discussed it. The script and storyline sounded very compelling and powerful. The whole production sounded huge, felt like something Nigeria and Africa would be proud of. If pulled off, it could be the best picture out of Nigeria ever and most likely, the most expensive. It reminded me of Denzel Washington’s Equalizer, which I happen to like.
I’m not a film producer but I love story telling, so I was sold. I knew nothing about movie production before this and still don’t know much, but I know how to structure deals and how to raise private capital for project finance.
So, a deal it became!
And then, the hard work started, I had to craft and create what would be Nigeria’s first Movie, Entertainment and Arts fund. Thanks to our Limited Partners and fellow believers, VEMA I Fund was birthed and went on to fund a chunk of the movie production cost. There were many challenges along the way, story for another day, but I’m glad our first movie became a Netflix Original.
Now we want to double down and create a bigger fund (VEMA II and a pan-African Fund, AFEMA), to power many more over the next 10yrs and beyond; will be working with Kunle Afolayan (Nigeria), Kemi Adetiba (Nigeria), David Tosh Gitonga (Kenya), Ramaphakela Siblings (South Africa), Philippe Lacote (Cote D’Ivoire), Blitz Bazawule (Ghana) and of course, our original producer and director, Editi Effiong.
As usual, we will screen what we back, and ensure they align with our pre-set values. For me, Nigeria and Africa have stories for the world to hear and see, my role is to bring capital to the table; of course make money for our investors along the way. To hear about next project via VEMA 2.0, please fill out this form https://bit.ly/vemafund2.
Unlike many investments we’ve done, where we chase founders and project owners for updates, Editi operated an incredibly transparent reporting process. Something a lot of venture builders need to learn to do in this part of the world.
Congrats Editi, Anakle Films and the entire production crew.