His parents reluctantly let him stay in the United States of America after a holiday visit at the age of 12. Football, his first love sport wasn’t available in America back then , so he learnt to  play Basketball and eventually won the scholarship that took him through college.

And that was the beginning of a life that’s successfully played out especially through the MTv platform. Alex Okosi, 35, is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of MTv Networks International; the highest ranking Nigerian in the ever-expanding international conglomerate. Humble and fun Alex takes us through his beginning years, opportunities, challenges and his establishment’s plan for Nigeria and Africa.
Background

Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President, Managing Director MTv Networks International

I was born in Enugu State when it was still part of Anambra state. I grew up in Enugu till I was 12 when I moved to the United States of America. Actually I was on holiday with my parents to see my older brothers.

They still live in the US. I told my parents I wanted to stay back . My mother refused initially but finally, they allowed me to stay back. I stayed in the US, studied there and lived with my brothers and graduated from the University and started working at Mtv.

How did you convince your parents to let you remain in the US?

I thought it was an option for me to go to school in the US because at that time it was becoming increasingly difficult for Nigerian students to get visas for the US. So while I was there, I thought of studying there and got a study visa immediately. My brothers are much older than me.

How many siblings are you in all?

We are six. I have two sisters and I’m the last. My immediate older brother was in Nigeria at that time.
So what was the first twelve years of growing in Nigeria like?

The first 12 years was great because my father was a civil servant and my mother was a really industrious house-wife.

Did you have everything you wanted as a kid?

I don’t think I had everything I wanted as a kid but I think that I was very comfortable and my parents were very good. That’s why I’m a true believer today that if you train your children in the right way until a certain point, its going to be hard for them to go astray. They’ll rather come back the same way.

My father was a tough hardworking man. Whenever he came home, you had to be studying, sweeping or doing something. You can’t be found sitting idle. But he is a great man. My mother is a very loving mum. I was a big football fan. I played football.

My life consisted of studying and playing football. But when I moved to US, football wasn’t so popular so I started playing Basketball which is exactly what ended up paying for my education. I won a basketball scholarship.  Were you the Mummy’s boy or a rebellious one as a child?

No, I was definitely Mummy’s boy.  I was the last child; it explains why it was difficult for her to leave me in the US.

Was your childhood life ambition television-related?

My ambition was to be successful. Not successful in terms of making a lot of money. Its never been about making a lot of money or fame for me. I’ve always thought about making a difference and inspiring people.

It sounds a bit cliche but I’ve always been driven by achieving. Consequently I’ve been successful and made money as I grow but its always been about delivering more value and being excellent at what you do. That’s what its always been about.

Is this the success you dreamed of?

No, I’m eternally driven. I’m a workaholic who’s eternally driven to achieve more particularly when there’s so much more to do. I feel fortunate, blessed and thankful but I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of the things I feel can be done. I feel like there’s even bigger things to do.

So you never had any particular profession in mind as a child?

If there was anything, there was a time I wanted to be a teacher because I was always inspired by my teachers.

I remember being in the US and one of my teachers called me to the side and said, ‘you know you’re a really bright kid. You’ve got to stay always focused and keep working hard and you’re gonna be successful’. And that has always stuck to me.

I’ve always had that teachers are always interested in pushing one hard and I wanted to do same for someone else. I think it (teaching) is one of those careers that are real careers.

What gives you the excitement on your job?

I get excited when I see artistes becoming more successful; When you see the world looking at Africa as not just a place where we are dying and starving rather our music is being celebrated. That makes you feel great.

I can feel that some young persons now want to be in the creative space, or be on television as an artiste; that makes me feel like my job is worth the while. The youth culture movement excites me but comparing that to a doctor who’s saving lives or a teacher who’s really doing his job, its like a whole different level of impact.

Was there anything in your growing up that pointed you in the direction of entertainment business?
When I was in the University, I’d put shows and I always enjoyed seeing a lot of people show up. I was a media fan.

I love music; I ‘consume’ television. I go way back when it comes to music videos. I would stay up late just to catch the music video hours. I always loved that and I always loved sports, so those were the two things that I can do that will be fun to me no matter what. I read the newspapers from the back to the front; by that I mean sports and entertainment first.

Those were things I naturally love doing. On my job, the reason I can afford to be a workaholic is just because I love what I do. It can be stressful but I’m never exhausted.

What did you study at the University?

I had a double major in Business Administration and Economics so I can handle from business to marketing/finance. Then the Economics major was also great because you learn the micro and macro forces that affect the public sector procedures, demand and supply and other intricacies. That was a good foundation.

It enables you to go in like a General Manager because you’re looking at all the aspects of how to run a business. From strategy to the product, logistics, programming, finance, your costing, how you’re going to make money and a whole lot. But if I were to advise a son on what to major now, I’d say English or History.

Why?

Ninety per cent of what you do in this world is reading and writing. That is a skill that 90 per cent of people don’t know how to use. The average trader in Onitsha market knows how to trade probably better than anyone in this place but what he can’t do is to articulate the services he offers he offers in a way that enables us him to package and sell it better.

So reading and writing are skills that I think are so undervalued. You do a lot of thinking there than anywhere else. You can learn other stuffs but if you want to be able to do different things I’d say major in English.

How long have you been with MTV for?

All my working life.

Haven’t you thought about trying a different line of work like a job elsewhere?

I’ve worked somewhere else within MTV. I’ve worked with different products within MTV. My work is not just about MTV Base. I get to think about what to do with VH1 in South Africa and Nickleodeon, our kids channel.

How do I launch into Nigeria? Those are my concerns on this present job. On my previous job I was looking at international strategies in terms of how we enter different markets with our products: How do we enter the Asian market? What do we do in India? What do we do in UK? Before that, my previous job was concerned with how to distribute other MTV network channels and conquering music television among other things.

What attracted you to joining the MTV brand in the first place?

It wasn’t just me. They (the MTV management as a t then) also wanted me to join them. It was a two-way thing. I wanted to join them because in the first place, I loved MTV a s a brand. I loved music, I loved the youth culture, I loved marketing. My first job at the MTV was in the marketing department. For me, I couldn’t have had more fun.

I love the youth brand because the youth are quite dynamic. Today they want to be this, tomorrow they want something else, so you’ve got to have your finger on it. They can consume what you do. When I get home, I don’t listen to anything else. I listen to the stuff that we (MTV) play and that’s actually what gets me excited.

Was there anytime you felt you should try things out on your own?

Yeah, people and other companies come to me everyday but my work at MTV is still not done. I don’t think my mission is accomplished yet. I’m not the kind of guy that likes to stay in one place forever. This is the reason I’ve worked with MTV in four different headquarter cities.

I started in New York, moved to LA (Los Angeles) to do something pretty different, then to London – another division and now I’m in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya…So even though it’s the same parent company, I’ve gone right over and I’m doing different things.

And how would you know when your mission is accomplished?

Now that is the question…but I think my mission would be accomplished when I stop waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning thinking about what to do.

So at 35, you’re Senior Vice President, Managing Director MTVNI, how does such achievement make you feel? Is this it?

It can’t be it. There has to be more because if this is it, that means I’m only gonna go back but I don’t want to go back. There has to be more and I think the ‘more’ isn’t about titles. Titles don’t matter. What matters is the impact of the work that you do. How do you create ideas, propositions that can change cultures and empower folks.

We had this campaign in the US on MTV, that we called ‘choose or lose’. Its about getting young people to participate in the voting process- choosing a President. How many young Nigerians believe that their votes count?

There’s actually a similar campaign called ‘Cool to vote’ in Nigeria right now. Its equally trying to sensitize youth to voting. Is it something MTV can come into?

I think that’s a powerful thing but it still needs a platform to champion it. Because unfortunately 10, 000 people can do 10, 000 different things but they need a powerful platform to channel it. And that’s something that we can play a role in authentically because it (getting involved) is not something that we’re making up to be cool but its something that is part of us.

Young people don’t want to be preached at. It should matter to the average young person who is ruling the country. Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world where there is hope and that’s because our people are resilient. You see a guy run a thousand miles only to sell you a loaf of bread but things are getting so bad we’re sending our kids to Ghana to school. Its sad.

Do you have projects in progress that will directly impact on the Nigerian community?

We’re cooking up some stuffs. I can’t tell you right now but its all in the realm of youth empowerment. It’s a campaign with rallies to go with.

Also we have a programme called ‘MTV Base Meet’. Here we enable young people meet and ask questions from political figures like Jacob Zuma, Tony Blair…so why wouldn’t we want a forum whereby young Nigerians can ask questions like ‘where are we going in the future?’, ‘how is this government going to interest them (youths)’ and the likes.

Music and celebrating artistes is part of what we do already. But being able to bring in (to Nigeria) all these other things that can impact our country and which we’ve done successfully in other places, are the things we’re going to do now.

Why did MAMA debut in 2008?

When we started, music videos were crap. They were awful. But with the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) show, the PR was heavy. Al Jhazera covered it, CNN, Sky, BBC, CNN China, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) all covered the award show. What do you think that does for the image of our country?

And don’t forget, all these people covered it because it was the MTV Based doing it. That’s because when we do a show at MTV, it has to be right. I think the reason we don’t make good progress as a continent is because we make one step forward, then we start tolerating mediocrity, inherently, it hinders all our success.

So what’s the plan for this year’s MAMA?

I can’t tell you the plan now because I want you to come back and write about it (laughter). It’ll hold this year and in an African country and that’s all I’m telling. It should hold between October and November.

About how many Nigerians do you have in your employment?

We have about twelve Nigerians working in MTV Nigeria.

What fraction of your total employment is that?

Our focus is on building a bigger Nigerian team. Between now and the end of 2011, we should have a significantly bigger team in Nigeria.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

I actually enjoy interacting with young people in the line of what they do, what excites them, how they interact with the media. Its not about the celebrity status. I enjoy interacting with the artiste than I do with music.

That way I understand what inspires them and all that. I enjoy hearing their (youths’) criticisms, likes and dislikes and how their world is changing. I’m a consumer of different stuff. I enjoy finding out who the next person to blow would be, sitting down with my team and having a great debate about ‘this is going to work…this is not going to work.

How do we approach this…How do we make it happen…’. I enjoy dreaming about something and watching it come to fruition in the next days or months.

Are there any plans of coming back to live in Nigeria?

I’m in Nigeria a lot; like three times every four weeks. My parents live here. This is my biggest market.

How do you spend your past times?

Naturally I’m a low key person. When I ‘m not spending time with my son, I’m watching movies. I talk a lot on the phone- though that’s still work. I enjoy having good conversation with good progressive thinking people.