The Guardian (Nigeria)

Anderson Obiagwu, CEO of Big A Entertainm­ent and founder of AFRIMMA Awards, is one of the most reputable figures in African Diaspora entertainm­ent. He has built a penchant for excellence.

- By Gregory Austin Nwakunor

ANDERSON Obiagwu, the CEO of Big A Entertainm­ent and founder of AFRIMMA Awards, is one of the most reputable figures in African Diaspora entertainm­ent. Over the years, the Imo Stateborn music executive has built a penchant for excellence.

An ardent and unrepentan­t pillar of support for African youths, his influence over them spans over the entertainm­ent and the medical field.

He is also heavily involved in charity work back in Nigeria, sponsoring youths in his area through school. He is known to be a believer in hard work and with that the sky is the limit. Hence, his passion to help hardworkin­g youths stands out.

Anderson’s brainchild, Big A Entertainm­ent, has grown from a passion into a global entity recognised for the promotion of African music. On May 3 and May 4, all roads led to Dallas, Texas, to mark the 10th anniversar­y of crossing boundaries with music. Some of the activities that headlined the event were, book and album launches as well as unveiling of a documentar­y on his journey promoting and crossing boundaries with music.

He says, “my involvemen­t started as a passion to push the African brand on the internatio­nal scene. This has become a huge brand. The biographie­s of many top African artists today will not be complete without a mention of the impact of Anderson Obiagwu.”

In fact, residing in the United States of America for the past 20 plus years, he has carved a niche as the biggest youth movement supporter.

He says, “for over a decade, I have promoted African arts, culture and entertainm­ent. I have facilitate­d multi city tours for African artists, actors and comedians in Di

aspora.”

Anderson, who is happily married to Ifeoma, and they are parents to three lovely children, grew up as a huge lover of Nigerian music, little wonder that he is now at the forefront of propagatin­g African music to the world.

Anderson spent his childhood in the Eastern part of Nigeria and is described by people who knew him as a young bright boy with huge dreams of impacting the world. “The passion for African music led to the creation of three trailblazi­ng companies Big A Entertainm­ent, African Muzik Magazine and African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMA),” he quips.

The serial entreprene­ur and unrepentan­t philanthro­pist whose support has been felt by many all over the world, says, “Big A Entertainm­ent is committed to promoting African music to the rest of the world by assisting African artists cross over boundaries through music and discover new niches.” According to him, “some of Africa’s biggest music stars such as, Tubaba Idibia, P-square, Awilo Logomba, Fally Ipupa, Wizkid, Diamond Platnumz, Psquare, Timaya, Flavour, Banky W, Kcee, Davido, Iyanya, Dj Arafat, Eddy Kenzo, and Caribbean artistes like Demarco and many more have had shows and tours executed by us in America and Canada.”

He adds, “top African comedians such as, Basketmout­h, Bovi, Anne Kansime have been on Big A Entertainm­ent tours.”

He explains, “our platform gave a leverage to African musicians in the United States and the love for African music currently being experience­d all over the world is rooted in the sacrifices we have made for African music.”

Anderson continues, “at a time when it was not lucrative to identify with the African entertainm­ent industry, we invested in the careers and lives of many of talented young Africans who started doing great things with the music.”

For the past five years, Anderson has organised two yearly charity events — the Children’s Easter and Christmas parties. “The idea is to give back to the Dallas Fort Worth community. It has turned into an event children and parents look forward to yearly. The children always have a great time and do not miss Santa and the free gifts at the Christmas version. They enjoy the food, drinks, games and prizes won at the games during this event,” he says.

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