Nigerian Media Mogul Mo Abudu to Give MIPCOM Keynote on Diversity and Inclusion

Nigerian Media Mogul Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media, will present a keynote on diversity and inclusion in the global film and television industry at the MIPCOM Cannes confab next month.

Abudu, a regular on The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Global Entertainment list, will present the keynote at MIPCOM on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the Grand Auditorium in Cannes. The event directly proceeds the 7th edition of Mipcom’s Diversify TV Awards, the only global honor recognizing the promotion of diversity and inclusion at international media organizations.

In her 20 years in the media industry, Abudu has built up EbonyLife Media into one of Africa’s leading production companies, with a slate of local theatrical blockbusters — Fifty, The Wedding Party, Your Excellency, Òlòtūré — and television series, including Blood Sisters, Netflix’s first original Nigerian series, which was a global top ten hit on the streamer, racking up more than 11 million hours viewed worldwide. In addition to its multiple project deal at Netflix —a first for an African company — EbonyLife has productions in development with such international studios and networks as Sony, AMC, Starz, Lionsgate and the BBC, as well as Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios, Will Packer Productions, and Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures.

Abudu has also set up the EbonyLife Creative Academy in Lagos, a school aimed at training the next generation of Nigerian filmmakers. In August, the U.K. government appointed Abudu the Creatives Champion for next year’s UK-African Investment Summit, where she will work to bring together stakeholders from across Africa to try and foster collaboration, innovation, and transformation in the continent’s creative sector.

“Mo Abudu is simply a powerhouse,” says MIPCOM Cannes director Lucy Smith, “a creative entrepreneur, producer, broadcaster and philanthropist, successful for exporting her own studio’s work and a major force in helping African stories reach a wider global audience in recent years. When last with us in Cannes in 2019, Mo received the Médaille d’Honneur in recognition of these achievements, and she joins this year as the keynote within a diversity and inclusion program at MIPCOM Cannes that serves to highlight those making an impact in this critical area. No one is better placed to inspire than Mo and we look forward to welcoming, and hearing from her next month.”

Mo Abudu joins an impressive executive lineup of speakers at this year’s MIPCOM, including Paramount Global president Bob Bakish, Warner Bros. Discovery International president Gerhard Zeiler and Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of Spanish production giant Mediapro Studio. Organizers expect to welcome some 11,000 buyers, commissioners, creatives and producers from more than 100 countries worldwide at the 39th MIPCOM Cannes, which runs Oct.16-19.