Mo Abudu, Omotola make list of ’50 women doing extraordinary things’ in showbiz

Mo Abudu, chief executive officer of EbonyLife TV, and Nollywood star Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde have been named among 50 women making an impact in showbiz by Variety magazine.

According to Variety, the 50 women on the list are “doing extraordinary things on the worldwide stage”.

The list, which was compiled to mark International Women’s Day, also features Adele, British singer, Hollywood stars; Nicole Kidman, Lupita Nyong’o, and Muccia Prada, creative director at Prada.

“Abudu used her star-making springboard as the face of daytime talkie ‘Moments With Mo’ to launch the EbonyLife empire, with a film production unit and upscale lifestyle TV network; she’s been dubbed the Oprah of Africa,” Abudu’s profile read.

“As a woman in a male-dominated industry, I’ve had to be strong, focused and relentless — and work twice as hard as the men around me,’ she says.

“Determined to push for gender parity in the Nigerian biz, she estimates that nearly 80% of “key positions” at EbonyLife are filled by women.”

Jalade-Ekeinde, who was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2013, was described as a Nollywood icon.

“With more than 300 acting credits to her name, Ekeinde is an icon of Nigeria’s prolific Nollywood film biz, although she says that, “at heart, I think I am an activist first,” read the profile written about Jalade-Ekeinde.

“An ambassador for the UN’s World Food Program and campaigner for Amnesty Intl., she’s used her big-screen platform to drive her humanitarian goals.

“Her next step is developing a film village in the former slave port of Badagry, where she wants young Nigerians to hone their filmmaking skills while learning about “our rights and future as Africans.”