Funke Akindele: How D’banj inspired the revival of ‘Jenifa’ brand

Funke Akindele, the Nigerian actress, says D’banj, the singer, inspired the revival of her movie franchise ‘Jenifa’. 

‘Jenifa’ was first released in 2008 as a two-part movie. The first sequel was then released in 2011 titled ‘The Return of Jenifa’.

Speaking at an event celebrating D’banj’s 20-year music career, Akindele revealed that the ‘Why Me’ hitmaker initiated a career-changing conversation with her after she stopped producing subsequent content on ‘Jenifa’.

She also disclosed that he gave her money to start the production of ‘The Return of Jenifa’.

The film star recalled how D’banj encouraged her to create a sequel to ‘Jenifa’ because it had “become a brand to feed on”.

Akindele said she could not feature D’banj in the movie as intended because the singer was not around during production.

“In 2009, we came up with ‘Jenifa’, the brand. And after the big break with Jenifa. Everybody loved ‘Jenifa’ so much. I was out there. People were celebrating. Then Mr Foli Coker invited me to his club then and said ‘I want to host you. You are very hardworking. I love ‘Jenifa’. Come with your cast and crew members’,” she said.

“So, we went and I saw D’banj for the first time. He said ‘I am here to serenade you’. We danced, happy. So he gave me his number. He then took me to a private place and said ‘why did you let Jenifa go like that? He said is there another Jenifa’? I said it was over. He said ‘that is the brand you can figure out for the rest of your life’. And I was like what was this guy saying?

“He said Jenifa has to come back. Nothing bad happened to Jenifa. She will wake up from the dream. He said to get in touch with me. Any support you need I will give you. So I reached out to him. He said when you have a brand you feed on the brand. You milk the brand very well. Make money out of it. And out of his pocket, he gave me some money and said go and write another ‘Jenifa’ I support you with this money’. I was surprised with tears in my eyes. No strings attached. So I filmed it. And I wrote it. But he was not available to film the ‘Return of Jenifa’. And till date, the brand is still relevant.”

After the 2011 sequel, ‘Jenifa’ became a franchise that created spin-offs like ‘Aiyetoro Town’ (2019, 18 episodes) set in Jenifa’s village, and ‘Jenifa on Lockdown’ (2021).

Akindele has won several awards for her roles in the franchise. In 2009, she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’.

She was named the ‘Best Actress in a Comedy’ at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards in 2016 and 2017.

The movie star also won the same award in 2020 and 2022, making it her fifth win in the category.