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By Ayo Onikoyi

Kene Okwuosa, Group CEO of Filmhouse Cinemas and FilmOne Distribution, and Moses Babatope, Group Executive Director/MD, FilmOne Distribution & Production have collectively bag Harvard Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Lagos.

They were honoured recipients of the 2018 Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at the Association’s Annual Black Tie Event. This award recognises individuals for significant entrepreneurial contributions in their corporate fields and/or exceptional leadership in their respective business careers.

During his acceptance speech, Babatope alluded to the fact that he and Okwuosa were just a bunch of lads who grew up in South East London who had a dream to make an impact on the Nigerian film industry. He also added that their initial inspiration was borne from noticing their parents and family members order a lot of DVDs and VCDs of Nollywood film.

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“We wondered what it would be like transporting the experiences to a cinema environment and 10 years later that dream is now what is Filmhouse Cinemas and FilmOne Distribution and Production”, beamed Babatope

Okwuosa had this to say on his acceptance of the Award:

“We are extremely grateful for this recognition of our modest efforts in the film industry but none of this would have been made possible without the invaluable contribution of our over 512 employees spread across 7 states in the country. They are indeed the true super heroes in the Filmhouse and FilmOne story. We would also like to pay homage to our co-founder Kene Mkparu whose contribution to the birth of both companies we are grateful for”.

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Under such exceptional leadership, neither Filmhouse nor FilmOne appear to be taking any breaks or slowing down as the companies have already set a number of milestones for 2019 including but not limited to;Membership of the newly formed Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria, three high-tech cinema sites including the second IMAX theatre in West Africa, a 4D screen and state of the art sound.