TORONTO — The Banff World Media Festival announced EbonyLife CEO Mo Abudu (above) will be a keynote speaker for the festival’s Summit Series, a premium lineup of keynote sessions featuring influential media leaders.
As previously announced, Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, is also confirmed as a keynote speaker for the Summit Series at Banff. This year’s Festival takes place June 14-17 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta.
Abudu is “a bold and visionary leader in international media and an inspirational figure for entrepreneurs in our sector. In particular we know that her words will be important and guiding for the participants of our new Banff Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media program which empowers and trains women who are launching and growing their own companies within the screen-based industries,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director of the Banff World Media Festival, in the news release.
“I am really pleased to be a part of Banff this year,” said Abudu, in the release. “Launching and developing a media company can be extremely daunting, therefore I am grateful for the opportunity to inspire women who are participating in the Spark Accelerator program. As a film and television studio based in Nigeria, it has been critical for us to tell our own stories, rather than reinforce the outdated images of Africa perpetuated by Western media. I hope that by sharing my experience, these women will be encouraged to shape their own narratives, forge ahead and keep fighting until they win.”
Abudu is a broadcaster, entrepreneur and philanthropist hailed as “Africa’s Queen of Media” by CNN. As CEO of EbonyLife Media, Abudu oversees all six divisions of the company, which includes EbonyLife TV, EbonyLife Films, EbonyLife ON, EbonyLife Studios, EbonyLife Productions Limited (UK) and EbonyLife Place, Nigeria’s first luxury lifestyle and entertainment resort.
She is also the executive producer, creator and hostess of the talk show Moments with Mo, which over the years has attracted internationally renowned guests, including Hillary Clinton, Christine Largarde as well as African presidents such as Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo and Paul Kagame.
In 2018, the University of Westminster awarded Abudu an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts, in recognition of her outstanding services to broadcasting and enterprise in Nigeria. In the same year, Abudu was appointed a director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for staging the world-famous International Emmy Awards, and in 2019 she chaired the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala.
Abudu was named on The Powerlist 2018, an annual list of the UK’s top 100 most influential people of African and Caribbean heritage. She was one of four honourees to receive the 2019 Médailles d’Honneur in Cannes at MIPTV.
For more information about the Banff World Media Festival, please click here.
