Organisers of the continental African Movie Academy Awards(AMAA) last Saturday, hosted Corporate Nigeria and other business leaders to seek support for the award organisation that has promoted the film industry in Africa in the last 11 years. The event which took place at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos had in attendance, business leaders and professionals in the entertainment industry covering the Nollywood, Music, Comedy and fashion.

Okey Bakasi
and Zack Orji at the event.

The Founder of AMAA, Ms Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who is now the President of Africa Film Academy, took the guests on an excursion into the history of pan-African award body and how it has served as a platform to showcase the best in the industry to the rest of the world.

“We have invited you here to tell you about our plans for the future and seek your support to help us in our determination to make the creative industry a major contributor to African economy.

We need the private sector and government to continue to support and invest in the creative industry and we are here this evening to let you know the way you can support us as the government of South Africa hosts this year’s AMAA in Port Elizabeth, the home of the legends.”

She used the evening to announce the partnership deal between Facebook and AMAA and how the working relationship with the social media business will boost creative enterprise, brand visibility for sponsors and increase revenue for content owners. The Facebook partnership with AMAA will drive digital impact in film and entertainment with over 1.4billion users, 120million of who are in Africa.

“Facebook partnership with us is a commercial and cultural one leveraging our platform which covers film and the whole entertainment sector and the Facebook global platform. This will give an unprecedented opportunity for brands to engage with millions of African movie fans as well as Africa’s film making community leveraging the digital reach of the world’s most pervasive social network,” said the AMAA founder.

Supporters at the event

In the same vein, the organisation at the dinner unveiled the AfricaOne initiative targeted at bringing together all contributors to the African Creative industry, on the same platform. Fundamentally, the idea of AfricaOne is to create an avenue for the realisation of the Pan-African dream using Africa’s creative industry according to Anyiam-Osigwe.

“AfricaOne seeks to rewrite the African narrative. As Africans, now more than ever, we must have our own voice in our story: our story, by us and for us. For this to come into fruition, it is crucial for Africans to come together; thus, the structural establishment of AfricaOne.

“The AfricaOne road show will include music concerts, film screenings and the film-in-a-box initiative. In its strive to showcase all of Africa’s creative innovators, the AfricaOne show will also showcase all other aspects of Africa’s creative sphere including visual arts…”