Olamide Yousuph is best described by her mentors and mentees alike as innovative, a goal getter and a team player who is fiercely passionate about the Nigerian Dream. Olamide Yousuph is the Co-Founder of Utopia Media Group, which consists of Utopia Media, Arcadia Mobile TV, Section 84 and Arcadia Premium Tv with 6 years’ experience in business.
She has a strong academic background to ground her work, being an alumnus of the prestigious Babcock University with a Bachelor of Science in Banking and Finance. Gaining experience and knowledge working with Digital Communication Consult Limited (DCK). Olamide’s love and passion for the Media increased. Since taking up the reigns at Arcadia, she’s shaken things up at the channel with her proficient Strategic project management skills. Her strongest skills lie in proactively managing important and time sensitive projects, developing innovative solutions, balancing stake-holders expectations with the company, and also working collaboratively with other team members to establish efficient systems of operations.
Thirsting for more than the digital world, and to acquire the necessary exposure that she needed in pursuing her interest in the Media, Olamide worked at AIT(African International Television) as a Media Production Assistant for 1 year and 6 months. This further introduced her to different aspects of the media world. Olamide played a crucial role at Arcadia Mobile Tv, focusing on pushing the platform by curating awesome user experience and content presentation, as well as also being instrumental at Utopia Media Group. Together with her partner, she spear headed the transition of the platform from online to television performing tasks that were central to the project.
Today, Olamide Yousuph is the Chief Operations Officer of Utopia Media Group which introduces international standard processes and frame-work that ensures optimal delivery of content for the Television Platform. She is a female execs who leads a team of 7 other female producers and is re-writing the rules of how we watch TV. Her goal is to make shows that are relatable, express the diversity of the African continent, and that are socially relevant; as well as commercially successful.
We are so inspired by Olamide’s story and journey and we believe you will be too once you read our Q & A with this Visionary Woman!
As the COO of Arcadia, what does your work entail and how is it making a difference in the lives of Nigerian women? My job at Arcadia involves ensuring every department runs smoothly, making sure that they have all they need to get the job done. So basically, I am responsible for the day to day running and efficiency of the business. With every single content that we broadcast we ensure that there is representation of the Nigerian woman in all her glory in front and behind the scenes.
Do you have a background in TV and content production? I worked for a bit behind the scenes at AIT, learning with some veteran producers and content creators after which I took a few online courses and made YouTube my best friend, by watching videos and improving on myself.
In a male dominated Space, how are you thriving? Well I thrive everyday by working ten times harder than I did the previous day, I don’t take no for an answer and don’t believe anything is impossible. I don’t wait for things to drop in my lap, I go for what I want and make things happen. I thrive by pushing for excellence every single day because I realise that excellence can’t be argued with.
Tell us what to expect and how are women going to benefit from Arcadia? Arcadia Premium TV is set up to push the African narrative and the narrative is nothing without the role of the African woman being highlighted as much as that of the man. Expect to see the African woman of every shape and size, educated or uneducated being represented. The African woman is a rare breed that must be celebrated, and Arcadia will definitely be putting the spotlight on her.
It is safe to say that you have broken the glass ceiling. What advice would you give to younger women who want to be in the same position as you? I am standing on the shoulders of amazing women like Ibukun Awosika, Tara Durotoye and Mo Abudu so I would say these women really made it easy for women like me to thrive in different spheres of society. To younger women out there pursuing their dreams remember that your dream is specific to you so have mentors and role models but forge your own path, be unafraid, do you, forget the naysayers and as you achieve don’t forget to raise and inspire other women.
What were the major challenges you faced in your journey to becoming the COO of Arcadia Premium TV? The major challenge I faced was internal, the fear of not being good enough, the fear of not getting the respect of my subordinates, the fear of failing but I had to get out of my head and just do. Failure isn’t a bad thing but staying in a box because of fear of failure is unacceptable.
Arcadia Premium TV seems to have mostly women in leadership positions from Producers to presenters. Is this a coincidence or something you orchestrated? Let’s call it a little bit of both. It was unintentional at first even though we knew we wanted to have a large percentage of females on our team, but it eventually became a conscious effort to get these fantastic women on board. It was just exciting to see women doing amazing in their respective fields and we knew we wanted them to be a part of what we are building.
Arcadia TV was only focused on online content and now you are moving to Cable TV. Should we be expecting something different? Just stay with us as we have a lot up our sleeves. We are a group of young people with so many ideas so of course expect something new soon, but Arcadia Premium Television is our focus for now.
If you were not heading a Premium TV station, what would you rather be doing? I would have been an interior decorator. This is still a passion of mine that I might eventually take on. Our office space at Arcadia was solely decorated by me.
Are there other women in business who inspire you? There so many amazing women that inspire me, from Ibukun Awosika to Mo Abudu and Tara Durotoye to Oprah Winfrey.
How did you go from being a content producer to the Chief operating officer of a TV platform like Arcadia? Has this always been the plan? Two words: Consistency and Hard work!
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