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Speaker 1: Hi.

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Speaker 2: I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making

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Speaker 2: Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show

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Speaker 2: provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other

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Speaker 2: people's success stories and start living your own. If you

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Speaker 2: want to be a guest on my show, please visit

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Speaker 2: our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the.

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Speaker 1: Be a Guest button. Chris submit and information will come

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Speaker 1: directly to me. Now let's get this show started.

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Speaker 2: My guest is the CEO and co founder of Amplify Africa, Inc.

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Speaker 2: And leading African entertainment and media company in the US.

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Speaker 2: Under his leadership, Amplify of Africa has averaged a digital

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Speaker 2: reach of twelve million people monthly across the US, United

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Speaker 2: Kingdom and Brazil. Notably, the company has organized over toward

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Speaker 2: events worldwide, including his acclaim Afrikaan and Afro Ball. He's

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Speaker 2: on the show to discuss who he is. We need

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Speaker 2: to know what his brother is. Please welcome to Money

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Speaker 2: Making Conversations. Dommi Kujabola. How you doing dom?

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Speaker 1: Very well? Thank you man. I need to take you

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Speaker 1: around everywhere I go so it can make interest from me.

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Speaker 1: But this is dope.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate First of all, thank you for coming on

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Speaker 2: the show. I've heard about your event. It's Africaan. Yes,

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Speaker 2: talk to us about that, and we're gonna get in

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Speaker 2: detail about you, but I want to really highlight that

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Speaker 2: at the start of our conversation.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it's super exciting. We're bringing together a cultural event,

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Speaker 1: a cultural moment where you know, we want to unite

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Speaker 1: the global black diaspora with the continent. The event essentially

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Speaker 1: started out of the needs to again bring together the

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Speaker 1: diaspora and create access to resources that we feel like

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Speaker 1: its lacking. And you know, as far as like the

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Speaker 1: diasporas concern, you know, one of the things I feel

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Speaker 1: stronger about is that we need more information and like

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who have that information

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Speaker 1: and they don't purposefully want to get keep they just

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Speaker 1: don't have the means to be able to share that information.

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Speaker 1: So for me, the events is purely get towards access.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, one of the major reasons I wanted

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Speaker 2: you to show down me is that the lack of

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Speaker 2: education about Africa, a lack of education about it because

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Speaker 2: people the motherland, you know, all the cold words mother land,

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Speaker 2: the colors, and but when I went over to Africa.

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Speaker 2: Steve Harvey and I went over to Africa. We actually

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Speaker 2: went over to Durban, which is right just south of Johannesburg,

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Speaker 2: and I was ignorant about the technology.

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Speaker 1: I really was worried about how we were going.

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Speaker 2: To broadcast where they have their technology, because I have

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Speaker 2: been a victim of the stereotypes of how the lifestyle

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Speaker 2: the technology of Africa. You're from with Legos, right, yes, okay,

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Speaker 2: tell us about Legos Nigeria and are you upset with

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Speaker 2: the stereotyping that is being promoted here in America about Africa?

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Speaker 1: And that's actually the key reason why I said my

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Speaker 1: company Amplify Africa. So to tell you a little bit,

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Speaker 1: I came here from Nigeria and immigrant, so I came

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Speaker 1: in from grad school and you know, I landed in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles at USC and like one of the very

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Speaker 1: first questions that I got from people who knew us

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Speaker 1: from Legos, Nigera was hey, like, do you guys have

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Speaker 1: lions in your country? And right, the truth is this,

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Speaker 1: I've probably never seen a lion in my entire life.

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Speaker 1: I'm living in Legos because it's so metropolitan, right, So,

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Speaker 1: being Nigerian, being very proud about where I'm from, knowing

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Speaker 1: the level of like interest and access that we have,

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Speaker 1: an influence that we have. You know, my goal is

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Speaker 1: to essentially try to and so that people also know

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Speaker 1: that like what we see on the media, the vision

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Speaker 1: of staving kids and hey, you know that's not really

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Speaker 1: what it is. And you know every country has its

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Speaker 1: like short comments, right, So I think I don't think

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Speaker 1: it's fair that Africa has been portrayed as this backward

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Speaker 1: dark nation over the past couple of years, and so

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Speaker 1: our goal as a company is to try to change that.

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Speaker 2: Now I'm talking to Dami Kujambola. You know Legos Nigeria.

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Speaker 2: Stereotyping is as people of color in America, we have.

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Speaker 1: To deal with a lot of that too.

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Speaker 2: You know, people assume because of the color of my skin,

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Speaker 2: I'm this type of person. You are coming from Africa,

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Speaker 2: you have a double stereotype you have to deal with.

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Speaker 2: How do you overcome that? And because you are seeming

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Speaker 2: to overcomment, but you still have a lot of setbacks

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Speaker 2: to be covered it correct?

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Speaker 1: Yes, well, I think you know stereotypes are also uh

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Speaker 1: you know, largely based off of like media projection, right right, huh?

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Speaker 1: And so, like you know, in terms of overcoming it

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Speaker 1: to my goal has always been to leverage the same

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Speaker 1: medium right, which is media, to try to change that

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Speaker 1: we're seeing that in like on TV, like you know,

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Speaker 1: with the right with the right images being portrayed about

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Speaker 1: Africa now. And I think it's also about leveraging moments

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Speaker 1: like when people ask you our questions, leveraging as a

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Speaker 1: teachable moment as opposed to being upset about it. So

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Speaker 1: I personally, in my personal life, I try to use

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Speaker 1: my personal platforms to say, hey, this is what's Africa is,

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Speaker 1: this is we're no longer We're not the stereotypes that

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Speaker 1: you that you that you think we are. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I also try to sort of make make it the

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Speaker 1: points to teach people how to see or view Africa.

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Speaker 2: Great transition into what I want to talk about is

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Speaker 2: Dollywood Netflix And I'm not trying to promote Netflix, but

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Speaker 2: Netflix I believe has done more for people of color,

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Speaker 2: black people, people are from Africa who are promoted in

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Speaker 2: major productions than any streaming network because of the fact

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Speaker 2: that they have, you know, they they promote and they

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Speaker 2: put out and produce content that is being done in

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Speaker 2: these other platforms in particular Dolledgwood tell us about Dolledgwood.

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Speaker 1: So, Nollywood is the actually the third largest production intry

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Speaker 1: in the world. Right, it's it's Indian. Bollywood in India

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Speaker 1: is the separate and they not mess around. India is Nigeria.

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Speaker 1: Nollywood is Nigeria. And when you think about like outputs, right,

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Speaker 1: we you know, our people are very resourceful and so

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Speaker 1: there's always there's a ton of output when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the industry. And you know, a country that has

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Speaker 1: over three hundred million people, you know, you think that

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Speaker 1: there's so many original stories that come out of the continent.

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Speaker 1: Every day is like you know, it's either a cause

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Speaker 1: for chaos or laughter. And you know, so our people,

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Speaker 1: because of the level of talent that that we have,

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Speaker 1: have channeled that into like an industry and that's not

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Speaker 1: you would, right, And so when you see the level

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Speaker 1: of output, it's representative of the daily struggles. But like

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Speaker 1: I said, it's one of the largest producing film industries

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Speaker 1: in the world, and you know, we we boast of

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Speaker 1: some pretty amazing talent. Like but you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you're familiar with her, but like even Interest

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Speaker 1: has invested exactly and it's like, it's great to see

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Speaker 1: the world's paying a lot more attention, right, Like, so

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Speaker 1: it just Elba. There's uh trying to I'm trying to

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Speaker 1: remember some names now, but it just Elba is a

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Speaker 1: great example of what of of someone from the outside

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Speaker 1: who's seeing the potential of Nollywood. Damnson interests is one

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Speaker 1: that's also somebody who's trying to do something.

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Speaker 2: You don't know, one starting it right now with yes, yes,

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Speaker 2: it's the next superstar.

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Speaker 1: He is is and he's thinking about how to sort

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Speaker 1: of go back, sort of how to implement more of Nollywood.

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Speaker 1: But Nollywood in itself right is doing is doing amazing

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Speaker 1: work recently at some I don't know if you you

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Speaker 1: knew this, but there was a a movie I think

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Speaker 1: it was a cant that got one of the highest

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Speaker 1: at Can't Can't Film Festival is called My Father's Shadow, right,

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Speaker 1: and it's Nigeria and from Nollywood as well. So there's

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Speaker 1: a big emergence coming up from the continent right now

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Speaker 1: with African talent actually doing amazing things, and I'm super

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Speaker 1: excited to see all the potential. My company actually partnered

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Speaker 1: with we did a we partnered with the regal cinemas

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Speaker 1: here in the US and did a nationwide release and

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Speaker 1: it was probably one of the like the reaction from

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Speaker 1: people in the US to Nollywood. I think it's one

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Speaker 1: that needs to be like for the emphasize or for

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Speaker 1: that like looked into its Honestly, I think that, like,

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Speaker 1: there's so much potential and I'm excited to just see

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Speaker 1: how that industry continues to grow.

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Speaker 2: You know, I love talking to you becaure's a certain energy,

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Speaker 2: but I'm also.

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Speaker 1: Get rabbed up. Eleven years ago you show up and

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Speaker 1: now you got this.

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Speaker 2: Twelve million global following in the US and Brazil and

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Speaker 2: Africa and the United Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: How did you pull that off? Monthly? Now that's twelve

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Speaker 1: million monthly. So I think I think it was an

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Speaker 1: evidence of a need, right, a need. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not special. I say this a lot and actually

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Speaker 1: been on cameras, But you're humble. It's very unuseful for

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Speaker 1: Nigeria to be humble. But I guess you know, I

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Speaker 1: think I am actually not special. I think that it's

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Speaker 1: really representative of the need of people right now. People

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Speaker 1: are looking for strong, real connections. People are looking to

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Speaker 1: understand their heritage. People are looking to connects back to

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Speaker 1: where they're from, and all we've done is to key

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Speaker 1: into that. We've there have been so many years of

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Speaker 1: people try to promote the culture and what my company

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Speaker 1: tries to do best is to amplify that. But where

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Speaker 1: you know, where we are one of the many people

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Speaker 1: who are doing amazing work in the space. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you've heard, but there's a big festival in

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Speaker 1: Detroit called Afrofuture, as well as one of our colleagues,

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Speaker 1: and it's just I think there's where seeing the African renaissance,

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Speaker 1: so to speak, with more people, especially here in the US,

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Speaker 1: saying hey, I want to learn more about my heritage.

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Speaker 1: You know, I want to learn more about where I'm

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Speaker 1: from and now I want to go back. So you know,

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Speaker 1: the Year of the Return kind of started that, I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you're familiar in Ghana, where a turn

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Speaker 1: of African Americans a record rates went back to the

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Speaker 1: continent to learn more about their w they're from, and

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Speaker 1: people like you and Steve Harvey a beginning to show

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Speaker 1: the light on you know, what means to be black

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Speaker 1: and African, and I think that is where the energy

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Speaker 1: is coming from. That's why our platform is growing the

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Speaker 1: way it's growing. Don't go anywhere.

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Speaker 3: We will be right back with more insights from Money

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Speaker 3: Making Conversation Massic Class. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation

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Speaker 3: Mastic Class with me Rashaun McDonald.

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Speaker 2: Well, congratulations. First of all, you talk about black communities.

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Speaker 2: You just mentioned that black communities and people from the

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Speaker 2: black community are going back to get educated and living

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Speaker 2: in these communities and growing and prospering because we're cutting

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Speaker 2: through the stereotypes. You know, people going living in the Italy,

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Speaker 2: people going to living in France. We may not have

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Speaker 2: went because guess what we were looking at television and

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Speaker 2: seeing flies and seeing movies that were not a pool

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Speaker 2: portrayal of what that community was and how prosperous that

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Speaker 2: community was. And I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, if

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Speaker 2: you go there, you will be blown away because the

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Speaker 2: stereotyping of the of commercialism, commercialized and how Africa is

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Speaker 2: really horrible. Over here, you'd be like it may be,

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Speaker 2: it might be drawing the tears, ignorant you are of

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Speaker 2: the of the amount of information that's being presented to

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Speaker 2: us over here, and when you land, you see the reality.

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Speaker 2: But We've talked about that earlier. Now let's talk about

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Speaker 2: this festival.

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Speaker 1: Atlanta is such a great place, like just thinking about

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Speaker 1: the proximities of the continent, thinking about like the also

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Speaker 1: the level of black wealth and business that's been that's

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Speaker 1: been here for years. I think that like it's one

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Speaker 1: that like, you know, I kind of wish I started

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Speaker 1: I came here earlier. You know, I've met a ton

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Speaker 1: of people here who are the and it's is so infectious,

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Speaker 1: Like the support that the city has for like everything black.

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Speaker 1: I think it's something that like more people need to

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Speaker 1: key into. And so for me, like thinking about you know, this,

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Speaker 1: Atlanta reminds me of home when you walk around the

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Speaker 1: street and you see everyone around you is black, right,

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Speaker 1: And I think like that is representative of the kind

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Speaker 1: of energy that we want to see. I think if

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Speaker 1: there's any place that you need to we need to

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Speaker 1: start like making those strong connections between the the you know,

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Speaker 1: the US and the continent. It needs to be here

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta. So we're super excited about like what's the

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Speaker 1: come we have, you know, the support of the Mayor's

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Speaker 1: office again representative of the fact that like you know,

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Speaker 1: of how support of the city can be about about

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Speaker 1: the continents, and you know, I think from a position

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Speaker 1: in standpoint, Atlanta just makes sense. Well, you know, but

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Speaker 1: we're in the changing times dommy.

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Speaker 2: Where race specific events are being challenged.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about that?

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Speaker 2: And you an immigrant, talked about your journey, about you

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Speaker 2: personal and then let's talk about what you how the

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Speaker 2: impact is happened on the event you're trying to do,

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Speaker 2: would amplify Africa.

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Speaker 1: So you know, like I said, I moved here, and

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Speaker 1: you know, back then it was a little easier. Things

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Speaker 1: were a little easier in terms of you know, accessing

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Speaker 1: like resources and sort of the exchange rates, and you know,

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Speaker 1: the economy itself was a little a little better. It

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Speaker 1: was much better than than it is right now. I

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Speaker 1: think with the current sort of dispensation, you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of fear about like sort of the immigration

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Speaker 1: process and people been fearing that they'd be deported. And

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Speaker 1: you know, if you think about like institutional organizations like

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Speaker 1: U S. A I d in us us US, I

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Speaker 1: think Prosper Africa is another organization that was set up

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Speaker 1: by the U. S. Government to support sort of African

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Speaker 1: aid or African African government with those sort of lines

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Speaker 1: of support being caught right, those are things that like

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Speaker 1: typically those are places where we will typically get support

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Speaker 1: for conferences and initiatives like ours, and unfortunately those promote

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Speaker 1: the values of Africa exactly, but unfortunately those things are

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Speaker 1: no longer available, right, And then you think about like

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Speaker 1: also wanting to bring a lot more people here into

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Speaker 1: the US to have these conversations about bridson the gap

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Speaker 1: between the diaspora and the continent, Like you know that

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Speaker 1: that their concerns about the abilities to come here, you know,

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Speaker 1: and so like you think about like like you know,

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Speaker 1: freedom of trade between these countries and like you know,

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Speaker 1: the diplomatic relationships that are sort of very like that

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Speaker 1: sort of at risk. Right now, you think like how

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Speaker 1: can this help? How can how can our events survive?

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Speaker 1: And those are things that like I real that I'm

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Speaker 1: constantly thinking about. But you know, one of the things

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Speaker 1: that you know we do best is making the best

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Speaker 1: of any situation. And so for us we can only

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Speaker 1: take think positively, and our hope is that like, like

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Speaker 1: our intention during this period is mid known, and like

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Speaker 1: our people are able to come out here and again

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Speaker 1: connect and do business with folks who are going to

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Speaker 1: be on ground here, which is one of the major

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Speaker 1: reasons Domi.

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Speaker 2: I'm speaking to Domini Kujuinbola, he's the CEO and co

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Speaker 2: founder of Amplify Africa, Inc. Because I know the times

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Speaker 2: we are there and I know there's resistance to be

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Speaker 2: able to promote your cultural values. And that's what this

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Speaker 2: this event, it's about promoterial cultural value. But people are

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Speaker 2: now twisting it to make it feels like you're you're

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Speaker 2: not saying nobody can come, You're not restricting anybody from

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Speaker 2: coming to this event at all, But then they're twisting

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Speaker 2: corporate sponsors and all those things to believe that there's

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Speaker 2: something negative happening there. But when you let's walk through

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Speaker 2: the steps. Oh, the experience of going to AFRICAAN. So

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Speaker 2: you know African is, like I said, trull immersion. So

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Speaker 2: for the first day is an open air reception.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So we have a long day of conference programming,

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Speaker 1: We have a big export hole that's going to feature

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Speaker 1: about one hundred businesses and then we're like a marketplace. Yes,

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Speaker 1: the market place. We're inviting the likes of like Kroger

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Speaker 1: and Walmarts to meet us sort of buyers and retailers

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Speaker 1: to meet with some of these businesses are small businesses

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Speaker 1: are going to be at the export hole to talk

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Speaker 1: about scaling their businesses and scaling distribution. And we also

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Speaker 1: have pitch competitions happening throughout that. Talking about the pitch computer.

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Speaker 2: That sounds creative, yes, but they talked to us about that.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's on two ends, right, we want we

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Speaker 1: have one for startups. So if you're able to if

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Speaker 1: you're running a business, a tech business, which is the

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Speaker 1: term obviously it's called like if you're running a startup,

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Speaker 1: which is the term that's been used for businesses in

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Speaker 1: this space, you're able to pitch to sound and investors

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Speaker 1: like Collab Capital, who's who is also local and Atlanta

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Speaker 1: based for investment. But we also have on the creative

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Speaker 1: side a short film competition and so you're able to

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Speaker 1: also pitch as well your short film to get funded.

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Speaker 2: Wow, this is really good and exciting. Now I know

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Speaker 2: you're not a one man operation, Dammit, talk about your setup,

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Speaker 2: talk about your team.

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Speaker 1: So I think you think about like bridging the gap

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Speaker 1: between the content and the disk where there are tons

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Speaker 1: and tons of countries, ethnic groups and interests, right right,

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Speaker 1: Rights itself has fifty four countries, and so my team

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Speaker 1: itself is made up of people from multiple multiple countries,

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Speaker 1: parts of the disk where and you know, our goal

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Speaker 1: has always been to make sure that we're very diverse

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Speaker 1: in the way that we're thinking about programming for the conference.

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Speaker 1: And so our team it's made up a diverse group

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Speaker 1: of people from all over the world.

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Speaker 2: Now, you don't tell me that there's no music there, man,

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Speaker 2: there's no event.

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Speaker 1: It's an amazing experience. Man, I think it's amazing experience.

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Speaker 1: We cover all the different all the different parts of culture,

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Speaker 1: from music to film to fashion. And if you love

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Speaker 1: African fashion, I love what you're wearing right now. I

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Speaker 1: think I'm probably going to get you an African fit

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Speaker 1: for sure. But if you touched it, I'm not right

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Speaker 1: no that I said I love it. I love it,

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think honestly, like the events

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Speaker 1: itself is supposed to be a culture expertly, so from

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Speaker 1: the music to the fashion to the food, all of

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Speaker 1: those things are things that you get to experience from

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Speaker 1: being in the environment. And you know, our goal is

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Speaker 1: to make our world smaller, right and so like, if

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Speaker 1: you're here in Atlanta, We want you to feel like

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Speaker 1: you are in Lego Snatcher and you're in or in

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Speaker 1: South Africa, depending on like what you like or you.

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Speaker 2: Know the beauty of it I mentioned earlier, I'm talking

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Speaker 2: to Domi and uh and Kujambola.

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Speaker 1: You know he came and go just tell me Domi,

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Speaker 1: I say, brother, don't. We don't do it like that.

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Speaker 2: On Money Making Conversations Master Class, we speak the truth

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Speaker 2: about who you are and what you're trying to do,

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Speaker 2: and that's important. Your last name is important, just as

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Speaker 2: important your first name. I don't want to handicabin your

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Speaker 2: promotional experience or what you're trying to do here now.

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Speaker 2: But you're done over two hundred events. You have another

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Speaker 2: event called afro Ball. What is that?

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Speaker 1: So one of the things that like I thought I

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Speaker 1: was missing when I moved to this country was I

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Speaker 1: I didn't know where to find successful people who are

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Speaker 1: who look like me, right, and now there's like platforms

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Speaker 1: like LinkedIn, but I didn't know how to start. The

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Speaker 1: afro Ball itself is supposed to be a platform where

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Speaker 1: we are people of African desire graduations who are doing

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Speaker 1: really amazing work in the fields. And so at the

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Speaker 1: closer of the conference is it's an annual gala hold

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Speaker 1: the Afro Bawl, and we'll be hoary in about five

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Speaker 1: to six amazing folks who are doing amazing things so

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Speaker 1: that like they can inspire other people who are coming

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Speaker 1: up and to let them know that regardless of your

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Speaker 1: skin color, your dreams are valid. I'm talking to the

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Speaker 1: CEO and co founder.

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Speaker 2: Amplify Africa, a leading African entertainment and media company in

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Speaker 2: the US. Under his leadership, I mean's Domine's leadership, Africa

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Speaker 2: has to tease a digital reach of twelve million people

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Speaker 2: monthly across the US, United Kingdom and Brazil. You know,

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Speaker 2: when you talk about eleven years ago talking to my audience,

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Speaker 2: how were you able to achieve it? Being an immigrant

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Speaker 2: coming to this country, going to the USC, and I

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Speaker 2: know this is not the endgame for you because you

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Speaker 2: have visions, but how have you dam been able to

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Speaker 2: get it to this point?

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Speaker 1: Now it's been again, it's been the work off I

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Speaker 1: know you. I know that, like you know, anyone else

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Speaker 1: would be tempted to say, hey, this was all me,

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Speaker 1: but it's really the work of the community. I think

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Speaker 1: people coming together and saying, hey, we really want this

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Speaker 1: to succeed and like and you know, and that has

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Speaker 1: really been my experiences that whenever I make phone calls,

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Speaker 1: I think people are really keen excited about promoting that

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Speaker 1: push in the culture. And we've been able to leverage

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Speaker 1: that effectively over the years to reach more people. You know,

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Speaker 1: I could call the likes of Jackie Irono, who has

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Speaker 1: over a monthly reach of probably like two hundred million

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Speaker 1: people online, but she can say, hey, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: come out and support your events to tell people about

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Speaker 1: where I'm from. I think that has been that's really

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Speaker 1: been the reason why our platform has been able to

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Speaker 1: succeed over the past years.

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Speaker 2: With my friend, I want to thank you for coming

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Speaker 2: on my show. You know, it's by education, man, it's

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Speaker 2: by education and about your entrepreneur, your small business owner,

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Speaker 2: building a brand in this country that impacts the world.

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Speaker 3: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass

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Speaker 3: hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests

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Speaker 3: on the show today and thank you our listening audience. Now,

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Speaker 3: if you want to listen to any episode, I want

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Speaker 3: to register to be a guest on my show, visit

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Speaker 3: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is Money Making Conversations.

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Speaker 3: Join us next week and remember to always leave with

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Speaker 3: your gifts.

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Speaker 1: Keep winning.