The Nigerian born Aligbe launched a branch of his Brooklyn-based media concern, Empire Africa, in Divine Estate, Lagos some years ago.
The company, which plays in the entertainment content creation sub-sector, runs a website as well as a partnership with Silverbird TV and Superscreen TV for content broadcast on Saturday at 2.30pm and at 9 am respectively.
Apart from from funding two yet-to-be-released Nollywood movies including one that will be shot in Nigeria and the United States later in the year, Aligbe is also the founder of Face of Africa, a platform he uses to recognize outstanding men and women who are contributing to the development of Africa in terms of job creation and professional excellence. The platform also distinguishes organizations promoting African values and pursuing development in the continent.
While speaking with Tribune Online during a recently held cultural pageant christened Miss African Roots in Miami, Florida, USA, the Edo State born entrepreneur said his goal was “to connect African entertainment and culture to Western audiences and vice versa”.
He said he was driven by “the consistent artistic innovation of young Nigerians” and “the respect entertainment gives Nigeria abroad.”
“I believe necessity is led on some of us who directly benefit from the huge respect the Nigerian entertainment industry (be it movie, music or comedy) gives us abroad to protect and promote the creativity and artistic innovation in our young people.
“I believe that this sector has the capacity to remake our national image as well as create jobs. This is why I registered Empire in Lagos; and that is why our motto in Empire is to instill the culture of excellence in our youth.
“We must come together to protect and promote what gives us great value; we must respect what makes us different from the rest,” he said.
Speaking further he said, “Our contents in the movie, music and comedy have gained global recognition; most black people and some Caucasians love Nigerian movies and we have consistently exported musical contents across the globe with people like Wizkid, Davido and Flavour travelling all over the world performing and also our comedians touring the world with their talent. These are indicators that this sector is viable”.
However speaking about the challenges of scaling a media concern in Nigeria, the Minnesota media lord, who recently splurged on a Nollywood movie project said, “I have lived in the US for 20 years. If we could fix the challenges of power among other things doing business in Nigeria won’t be as fiscally draining as it is right now.”
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