We survived …..we celebrate
On one chilly Lagos night, I went to see a friend Deji Balogun. We got talking business, and he said to me; Dapo it takes 5 years to get into the game and 10 years to win. Trust the process. I almost nearly died in that moment. Nobody has five years to survive this brutal Nigerian business climate?
Five years ago, on July 19, 2013, we sowed a seed. The soil around the seed was gravelly. There wasn’t any watering supply of note, but with sheer determination and the belief in our idea, we held the first Green36 event, aptly named” The Green 36 Concert” in Ikeja.\
It was a memorable night. It was the night that Iceberg Slim united to perform with long time Hip Hop rival M.I. Remember those lines from the track Beef by M.I
“ See musicians tryna beef me for real son / Maybe they doing it to promote they album / They know that using my name will help em sell some/ So Iceberg its alright, ur welcome / But I’m not in their league help me tell them / The Super Eagles don’t play against the Falcons”
A much younger, under-celebrated Falz performed on the night, EFA the actor was on stand as an artist on the night. Kayswitch performed too. I am not sure many have seen him grace a stage like that ever since.
Becca came in from Ghana with all that vibe to show support. Victoria Kimani and her dancers from Kenya and some 50 exchange students from Harvard, Yale and other Ivy league schools were present courtesy the Tony Elumelu Foundation. The students had so much Nigerian beer, they were knackered before the show even started.
A relatively unknown beverage drink company subtly introduced their drink ”Wilsons Lemonade “ to Lagos glitterati that night. The drink has since gone on to win several awards, to become one of the best selling indigenous drinks brand and won the two founders Seun and Seyi the All Africa Business leaders award, and features on Forbes, CNN and several other outlets.
As is the case every year, we were right in the middle of the monsoon rainfall season and it rained cats that night, and the ensuing traffic in Ikeja was hellish. I received several calls from friends turning back mid-way to due to the traffic logjam. Our experiment to bring quality entertainment to Lagos mainland had met a brickwall from nature, but we knew the show must go on and we did have a great show.
I remember waking up in the morning feeling like we had just put together a Coachella or Summer jam edition. I was inundated with calls that morning of media reports about the event. The bulk of the news was about the extra-ordinary moment, when someone in the crowd had been yelling at M.I. His voice became over powering and he had to be led on stage. He performed few lines of the Anoti track and M so impressed took off one of his gold chains. Now M doesn’t just give out his gold chains, so this was a special moment. That young artist, Papex stole the show. They rounded up the performance of African Rapper No 1 together. I still wonder if Papex slept for days after that.
It was in reading the news that the mission became clear. Green36 is a mesh platform to showcase underground talent, for celebrities and established brands to really connect and express the stories behind their music, art, product or service. That is how I sought to start up Green36, The Experiential Events Promotions & Touring Company with truly no finance except some capital borrowed from IknowAfrica Ventures and VFD Bridge Finance (there are other stories attached there, but that will be for another day) and about 10 people who gave us their mite who are immortalized on the walls of our office in sticky notes. Many come into our office and ask, who are the names on these sticky notes on the wall? We call them our day 1 supporters. Strangely, the glue on the sticky notes haven’t worn out in 4 years plus. Amazing.
Running a business in Nigeria is not just a different cup of tea It is actually about 10 cups of different teas. I think it was Big Chief Victor Asemota who said something to this effect, we may not have entrepreneurs in Nigeria, but survivors.
We have taken several turns and we are happier for it. We are survivors as well as entrepreneurs. We have organized several events, trying to understand the market at every turn, whether to position globally, continentally, regionally, city-driven, corporate driven, talent driven, fad-led, substance driven, popular culture focused and several other combinations we have thought of over the years. To our credit, we have done the following on our own ( The Green36 Concert, Rock Alive, Vibin Indie Music Launch, Stringed Out the documentary, RUNISOLO, Studio 36, Isolo Shopping Festival, 3rty & You, Studio 36) and have worked with several others to make their events both memorable and profitable.
We wish to thank all those who have ever bought a ticket to our events, spread the word about our brand and events, been a vendor at one of our retail fairs, shareholders, street team members, team leads, suppliers for our events and productions, employees (past and present), artists, comedians, independent sales people, advisory board members, sponsors like Wema bank and you, yes you rooting for us. Thank you.
We will hold on to our drinking glasses for now. The real party will be at the relaunch of Green36 on October 5, 2018, alongside 500 other businesses also launching a-new or introducing new products and services at the same venue, If you would like to participate in that champagne flow atmosphere with celebrity performances, ton of press people with opportunity to connect your customers and prospects, Reach Michael on Whatsapp 08094664651 or by email fd@retailfest.com.ng . Read more here about the Grand Launch party. https://retailfest.blogspot.com/2018/07/grand-launch-your-company.html
