Adebola Williams popular known as ‘Debola Lagos’ was born on March 7, 1986. He is a Nigerian media entrepreneur, journalist, political activist and motivational speaker.
He was once described as “the man with the golden touch”, by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Williams has helped three African Presidents get elected.
In his early teen years, Williams wanted to become an actor and was paid a paltry N100, thus he decided to quit.
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Business
Debola is co-founder of RED Media, which is the 11-year-old parent company that houses StateCraft Inc. Red owns the brands YNaija, Red Media Africa, The Future Awards Africa and StateCraft Inc.
Red Media Africa, a Public Relations company working in West Africa for Facebook, Uber, Union Bank and Heineken; Generation Y!, a TV and online content company, with one of Nigeria’s most popular online newspapers and The Future Project – a social enterprise that hosts Africa’s biggest youth social change event, The Future Awards Africa.
Impacts
Williams has turned out to be one of Africa’s leading authority on winning elections, running a governance communication company that won the presidential elections in Nigeria in 2015 and then won the presidential elections in Ghana in 2016. Williams alongside Chude Jideonwo started The Future Awards Africa; an annual award that recognises young people between the ages of 18 and 31, who have made outstanding achievement.
In 2014, Red led a global campaign to pool 1 million young Africans to act against Ebola virus disease in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The campaign was designed to support the World Health Organization in the fight against Ebola by encouraging people to post updates on social media and by donating at least $25 to the United Nations Ebola Response Fund.
He is using the media to drive development across Nigeria and the African continent through his company; RED. Adebola got a standing ovation from the audience, including Barack Obama, at the end of his speech at the Obama Foundation Summit, USA.
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What you need to know about ‘Debola Lagos’
- He started working as an assistant with a counsellor and a psychologist as a freelancer without any relevant qualification by which time he had chalked up 3 years worthy experience with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
- He has helped former President Goodluck Jonathan win his election in 2011 and also helped current Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari and current Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo win his 2016 election. This was what made Debola Williams a household name and parachuted his fame.
- Debola was able to start RED 2005 Media with partner Chude Jideonwo. They started the public relations firm from nothing and now it is one of the number one the PR firms to reckon with in Africa.
Quotes from Adebola Williams
- “Africa is a very attractive place to live as a young entrepreneur, and Nigeria where I live is a very attractive place to build businesses.”
- “What we wanted to do was to build a critical mass of young, hopeful people who believe in the power of their own gifts to create a different future.”
- “The media is the most powerful estate in the world. The media defines our choices. it determines what brands you buy, where you live, what you do.”
- “Media must drive agendas. Media must shape the conversation. Media must provoke action.”
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