Money only comes when you establish value, says Okoli

Almost a decade after its establishment, renowned multimedia, publication, and communications company, Blueafric Media, continues its upward spiral into global recognition, but more than the company’s growth is the development of the personalities behind its big blue screen. This is because the reputable structure that Blueafric Media is today was laid on a solid foundation of individual and collective hard work.

Speaking about the giant strides the company has made in the short while of its existence, Co-Founder of Blueafric Media, Christian Okoli, attributes the success to people.

He said, “A company always reflects the people behind it. A company of small-minded people will remain stagnant, while a company of forward-thinking people will always be ahead.”

The company’s growth has been apparent over the years because, according to very reliable sources, Okoli is a person who has always been forward-thinking and business-oriented.

It is interesting to know that the entrepreneur in Okoli, who is in his late 20s, found him before he decided to chase down the path.

According to the Pan-African mediapreneur who is popularly known by the sobriquet, Mayor of the East, indulged his entrepreneurial bone before he could fully understand what entrepreneurship entailed.

While in Junior Secondary School, Okoli began selling food to other students and would sometimes, borrow capital which he paid back after his sales. And then, during his Senior Secondary education, he progressed to men’s wear and accessories, for the sole purpose of survival.

Some may attribute OKoli’s success in the media sector to his paddling through the risky waters of entrepreneurship quite early, others commended him for his sole contributions to the promising future of media and media technology in southeastern Nigeria.

10 Questions for Christian Okoli:
Blueafric Media and BlueprintAfric organised and managed a lot of events in 2022, especially The Meet, the biggest creatives’ hangout in Southeastern Nigeria. What impact did these events have on the company and society?
First of all, the main objective of The Meet was exclusively to celebrate creatives in the East, and foster collaborations and networking among them in the ecosystem. The event positioned Blueafric Media and BlueprintAfric as a link between creatives and brands, thereby deepening the relationship of the company with creatives, brands, and creators in the East generally. We also got marked as the first company that identified creatives in this region to honour them for their work -because it is not easy to be a creative in this part of the world. I am glad to say that we achieved our objective, as the impact of The Meet is also helping creatives nurture collaborations, knowing that it is very hard to see creatives collaborate here, unlike in the western part of the country. It also helped them learn about the power they have to help make the southeastern region better with their content and stories.

Have you always wanted to build a career in the media sector, or was it a passion you developed along the way?
I have always considered it a career because, when I was in school, I was in the Press Club, and then, at one point, I was writing for a Catholic magazine. I knew I always wanted to write books, publish magazines, and all that. So I was just whipping it into a proper career one step at a time. As I grew and my knowledge widened, I started finding my feet and place as a professional and understood the game I wanted to play in the world of media.

Blueafric Media was first established in Enugu. What were the challenges and advantages of starting a media organisation in this environment?
I would say the disadvantages outweigh the advantages because we started when people had zero idea what PR and marketing were, and so didn’t want to give it a shot. People saw us only as social media managers, so we strove to explain what we did as a PR agency. However, I think it gave us a pioneering advantage because it placed us among the top three media companies in the southeast. It also gave us practical knowledge of how advertisements work and how people and brands think in the southeast -from our experience of being in operation for almost a decade. This alone has helped us grow our brand and subsidiaries. BlueprintAfric, for instance, can easily be named among the top three online pop-culture platforms in the southeast as well. I even like to believe that BlueprintAfric is number one in the southeast. Because we were the number one to build communities in sections; which is what we are doing with the sub-platforms under BlueprintAfric. In summary, the southeast has not been an easy place to crack, but it is opening up at this point.

How would you describe your personal growth since you first started out, and how have the traits you acquired shaped your personality today?
I would say that I have grown a lot, and so has Blueafric Media. First of all, people are the hardest to manage, and Blueafric Media has an establishment of over 45 people, both in Enugu and Abuja. To manage this number of people, you have to learn patience and empathy, readily have solutions, and be able to think way ahead of others. You also have to understand the peculiarities of human relations because, along the line, I’ve come to understand that relationship is key to success. Initially, I thought all I needed was skills, but I have come to realise that I have to relate better with people and improve my work ethic because there are no second chances in the media sector. You either blow up the first chance or make it blow into seconds and thirds. You also have to uphold value because money will only come when your value has been established.

What is your biggest motivation?
People. I want people to experience here what they could experience somewhere else. That is the dream that keeps me going, and that is what we are doing at Blueafric Media. We are not just a media company. We are transforming and diversifying into other sectors. We are beginning to build more subsidiaries, and it’s very exciting. Things like this are what keep me going when I wake up every morning.

What’s the one thing in your life that you are so happy you did?
Partnership. If I had started this company alone, it would have folded by now. Partnership allows you to share in people’s strengths, and I think I have amazing partners. If I were to count one of the best things God has done for me in my existence, besides my salvation and family, I will count my partners, Chukwuanugo Osadebe and Michael Ikechukwu. The support that comes from partnering with the right people is one of the best things ever.

What do you feel that the world needs most right now?
The world needs more people to show love. In a world like ours where people are becoming more self-centered and less empathetic, we just need a little more love. So I encourage everyone to wake up every day with the goal of finding up to 10 people along the way to tell nice things, just to see them smile.

How do you define risk?
Risk is going all in without backup, even when there is a chance that things will not go according to your primary plan. Good friends. Having good people who love you genuinely even with all your flaws is very underrated because, when you move into the inside world, you will see that people are not always what they say they are.

If you could use one mantra for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The same golden rule my father has always used; “Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.”