No doubt, James Ikechukwu Esomugha, popularly known as Jim Iyke has written his name in sands of time with his craft. His roles as a villain or lover boy resonate at the mention of his name.
Jim Iyke who just bounced back into the entertainment industry after a few years hiatus in a recent interview revealed some of the things he learned being away that he believes will help better navigate the industry.
Hear him: “I’ve spent so much time in the business world, I’ve spent so much time thinking deeply about what we got right, what we are getting right now, what we got wrong, what we are doing wrongly now, and how we should position ourselves for the future. We need to be careful because this industry is getting bigger by the day. So many international giants are coming to not properly partner with us, not giving us our due, and leaving nothing to our legacy but just want to take our content without due returns. So, we need financial experts on board, we need to deliberately begin to engage entertainment lawyers that understand the nuances, that can read between the line and write our contract properly because the negotiating power is with us now and if we lose it in the nearest future, we will leave no proper legacy for the generation to follow and that, more than anything else, is what concerns and disturbs me at this point.”
Comparing the Nollywood of his yesteryears and the one it has grown to become, Jim Iyke further listed certain areas he wants the industry to further improve on.
He said, “As a structure, there’s so much we could improve on. As an establishment, the financial institutions, the leadership, the government are yet to take their place in Nollywood and the entertainment structure. I think that’s where it’s falling short. We could argue from now till tomorrow about an establishment that is of global recognition and yet not well structured financially for the arrow eyes, that is the common questions asked across the table when we approach the financial world to partner with us.”
