GET INSPIRED: With Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, the Future is RED!

THE JOURNEY ACCORDING TO RED MEDIA CO-FOUNDERS ADEBOLA WILLIAMS AND CHUDE JIDEONWO 

The success story of these dynamic young men can be attested to by the biblical saying “Seeth thou a man diligent in his works he shall stand before kings and not before mere men”. It’s not an overstatement to say that a part of the Red Media group played a part in the unprecedented victory of Nigeria’s presidential elect General Muhammadu Buhari’s new image.

The duo Adebola Williams and Chude Jideonwo

Jideonwo and Williams are co-founders and Partners of Red Africa - a leading full service Media-content, Communication and Development Company in Nigeria. The firm also owns YNaija a youth magazine and online platform where information and entertainment materials are constantly updated, Rubbin Minds TV talk show, The Future Project (TFP) – a strategic social enterprise/change communications firm which hosts the annual Future Awards Africa, Nigeria’s most important awards for outstanding young Africans.

 Chude was born in Lagos as the only child and grew up with both patents who were civil servants. His father was a writer. He studied at the University of Lagos where he read Law, and went on to the Nigerian Law School, after which he obtained a Master's Degree in Media and Communication. He is a seasoned Journalist, who has been involved in several projects both locally and internationally. He has a book “Are We The Turning Point Generation?” to his credit which challenges young people to take up leadership rules and take charge of their lives.

Debola on the other hand, is an indigene of Lagos and he has been involved in many viable project while growing up. As an actor he was involved in quite a lot of stage performances. He also worked as a volunteer for a rescue missions.

At 17, he started co-presenting Youth-Talk on the NTA Network. He also produced and presented Econonmy Watch on the NTA. He also worked with Rave TV, Ben TV in London, Silverbird TV, MBI and online NigeriaVillageSquare.com. Having gained a lot of experience as a TV personality and consultant, he left his employment and joined his partner Chude to fully concentrate on Red Media Africa. 

The Red Media Group

The Red media group co-founded by the duo Adebola is Africa’s leading omni-media company with a focus on youth. It holds a network of premium media companies built across media tools and platforms. Their communication division holds Red Communication, Red Marketing, Small & Medium, State Craft and #OnTheScene; and a content division which holds the Y! brands, including Y! TV, Y! Radio, Y! Magazine, YNaija.com, Teen Y!, Y! 2015, the Y! Tech 100 and the Y! Annual Black Ball/Y! 100 Most Influential List. They also anchor a development firm, The Future Project, which co-presents Africa's leading youth platform, The Future Awards Africa, and other projects including the Nigeria Symposium for Young & Emerging Leaders, 100,000 Jobs and #StartupsAfrica.
 
The group is known for defying norms, and is proud to change the narrative of what is possible using the media, harnessing the relentless spirit of the general populace. 

Their achievements through the Red Media Group

Y Naija.com is a collection of online content that is a digital expression of the Y! Spirit. YNaija.com is known as the leading Internet Newspaper for Young Nigerians.
From the serious to the mundane it brings to life the issues that spring up daily across the world with a major focus on how these issues affect Nigeria. It provides information ranging from politics to entertainment, lifestyle, enterprise and features opinion articles from prolific and objective writers.

Enterprise54 is an entrepreneurship news and magazine site founded to inform, network and empower African entrepreneurs.

As a social enterprise, this publication aims to develop entrepreneurial capacity by publishing actionable advice and incisive opinions from leading authorities on subjects as varied as management, branding, execution, finance, technology et al. This site also reports the latest entrepreneurship news and events, and the freshest stories from startups and entrepreneurs across the continent.

Y African formerly known as Y! Magazine, Y!Africa profiles the lifestyle, issues, trends, and personalities that define the character and aspiration of the evolving Y! generation. Using the best and most well-known young writers, interviewers, photographers, stylists and other professionals, a 150-page glossy is delivered, focused on the ideas and issues that matter for young Africans.

Y! Politico is a platform that places the political landscape of Nigeria in balanced perspective through discourse, in-depth analysis, and expert coverage of all electioneering activities. With strategic partnerships it provides the young Nigerian an outlet to express views and analyze the political landscape exploring the possibilities that lie before during and after the elections. From The Election Situation Room which is broadcast live to the Election Photobooth, it deployed innovative tools to interprete the elections for young people. 

Tech Africa is a media startup – to tell the continuing African technology story. Stories of ventures made by and for Africans in the technology sector. Tech Africa is made up of technology enthusiasts who love to tell stories about everything tech in every corner of Africa, from the Nigerian blogger that turned gossip into an art, to the Tanzanian whose tragedy inspired innovation. This is a community, only hosted by the organisation and stretched across the continent. It is a community of people who love to hear and tell about the lessons gained by those who venture into technology.

Teen Y! is a first of its kind platform that focuses on the lifestyle of teenagers. It is a community of young people in a niche for teenage content and engagement while maintaining a language that is entertaining, informative and educative. It excites and challenges the teenage generation through dynamic and engaging contents in areas of fashion, lifestyle, inspiring topics. The Teen Y! Community share stories about their lives and enjoy mentorship from professionals in their areas of interest. Highlights are interviews with young celebrities and achievers from across Africa.

Rubbin’ Minds is Nigeria’s number one talk show for young people. It is broadcast every week, 3pm-4pm on Sundays, on Channels Television and on DSTV Channel 134. Past episodes can be viewed on its own YouTube channel. The show seeks to engage young people on the issues and ideas that matter and have featured a cross-section of several guests.

However, the duo remains unrelenting in their chase for a better life for Nigerian and African youths at large, as they consistently create innovative programmes that are geared towards human capital development. Looking at their success and huge involvement, hence, the participation of Debola who is one of the young bright minds who worked with the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari in reshaping his image, advising how best to win the youth in the just concluded campaigns and polls is also worthy of note.

Eventually Debola's strategies worked! It's evidence in the wide acceptance of Buhari both online and offline by Nigerian youths which eventually resulted in the politicians success on March 31st.