Our People

Chude Jideonwo (Creative Director)

A lawyer and award-winning journalist, Chude has, for almost a decade, garnered key experience in all forms of traditional and new media, and has translated that practical experience into successful media campaigns. He also works as an expert in youth development across the country and beyond.

He began his career as a researcher with Inside Out with Agatha, a TV show syndicated across the country. He was also with New Dawn, which showed on the NTA Network, for three years, rising to become Associate Producer as well as heading the Special Projects division. His credits as scriptwriter, assistant director, and host include The Academy, The Sunday Show (NTA), Patito’s Gang , Big Brother Nigeria and Moments with Mo (Mnet). He now hosts Rubbin’ Minds on Channels Television.

He began to write professionally in 2002 with the defunct Tempo magazine. Other writing and editing credits since then include Time Out Nigeria, Farafina, Thisday, The Guardian, True Love West Africa, Made, Takaii, Soundcity Blast, Bank PHB’s Inspired, Celtel’s Share.Our.World and the Big Brother magazine. He has also been commissioned by Thisday’s Arise. Contributing Editor for arts journal Sentinel Nigeria, he has also been consultant editor to a number of magazines including Tour Nigeria (for the Federal Ministry of Tourism), Variety, Takaii, and an official magazine for the Nigerian Airforce.

His novel, His Father’s Knickers, written when he was 13, was launched in 2001 in conjunction with the National Orientation Agency and the French Cultural Centre.

As a communications professional, Chude was Assistant Publicist with Common Ground Productions in 2006, was appointed Publicist for Bank PHB’s The Apprentice Africa in 2007, and served briefly in the External Relations department of the Nigeria LNG, before moving to Virgin Nigeria Airways, as Asst. Manager, Media Relations in 2008; the youngest in a managerial position. He joined NEXT Newspapers as Copy Editor in July 2009, again the youngest in that position. He is also a member of the paper’s editorial board.

Chude is founder and Creative Director of RedSTRAT/The Future Project, a full service public engagement/communications company. He is primarily in charge of Strategy, Planning, Content and Communication.

In this position, he has created several direct impact platforms including The Future Enterprise Support Scheme (TF-ESS), the Young Writers Network, Get Your Green On, the Do-Something Youth Conferences amongst others, and has overseen very successful national campaigns, with responsibility for the viral ‘I represent Naija’ and ‘I am the future’ campaigns in 2008 and 2009.

Chude also founded EnoughisEnough Nigeria, the largest coalition of youth and youth-led organizations in the country. It is now one of the country’s foremost civic participation groups as well as the premium voice for young people in politics. He chairs the Public Relations & Communications Committee, and has in that position secured buy-in from national and international media including CNN (International), BBC, Radio France, Reuters, the Associated Press, amongst others,

He is a public speaker who has motivated youth across the country, as well in Ghana, South Africa and in the United Kingdom and has been facilitator at capacity building sessions by the Lagos State Government, AGDC/Samsung Real Dreams, amongst others. He has also been Project Defence Panelist for the the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) Nigeria.

Chude was called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2007, after emerging Best Student in Land Law from the University of Lagos. His awards include the British Council Telling Stories Competition. He is also the youngest recipient of the Nigeria Media Merit Award, winning for Entertainment Journalist of the Year. Other awards and nominations include the Olive Award for Media and Production, the Inside Out role model award, the Green Yaggy Achievement Award, the Just U award, and the Dynamix Awards.

In 2007, he was selected as one of 101 Young African Leaders by the African Business Forum, in 2009, he was selected for the US Government’s International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) and in the same year he was invited as a Youth Expert to the ‘Strategy Review and Consultative Workshop’ with youth leaders on the African Union Development Youth Corps Initiative. In May 2010, he was selected for the Nigeria Leadership Initiative’s (NLI) Future Leaders Fellowship. NLI is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Debie Magnut (Director, External Relations)

Debie is a young media executive who has mastered the art, style and digital dimensions of the modern media. She innovates with content and creates new paradigms in digital media entertainment. With this mastery, she has been able to set fresh grounds and define new trajectories for the media practice and business in Nigeria and internationally. This has been Debie Mangut’s passion since she enrolled at the Communication department of the University of the Nations in 2001.

Debie’s passion is to use the media to influence national culture, social development, corporate behaviour and political ideologies. She has set her mind on the over 200 million habitual viewing audiences across Africa and the Diaspora, appreciating that this is perhaps the largest platform of socio-cultural interaction ever to come out of Africa, and has committed energy to using the levers of regulatory authority to shape an industry (Nollywood) that will project the greatest positive influence for Nigeria across the globe.

In 2001, she joined Media Village, a South African media outfit where she led and graduated a class of 8 students from 7 different nations in the school of creative writing, She dreamed up the possibility of a media-entertainment hub dedicated to growing and establishing start up companies and a few years later, Debie mid-wifed this to reality and launched ‘Kairos Konsulting’, a media technology, and entertainment consulting firm based in Abuja, with Operational Offices in Cape Town South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. The firm is into providing specialised consulting service dedicated to bringing world class expertise to companies engaged in digital media technology, media and entertainment.  It is also to her credit that a favourable platform for content enterprise was developed for Radio CCFM, a Cape Town based Radio station where she also served as the programs manager.

Before joining Radio CCFM, Debie was a producer at the South African Broadcast Channel (SABC1). She actually started her career as a reporter with the Echos Newspapers, Cape Town, South Africa.

In barely three years since relocating back to her home-country, Nigeria, Debie has admirably managed media projects with tangible results.

She holds a BS.c Communication and a MBA in Film business development, and serves on the Board of Directors of Taxi AD Nigeria, a German mobile advertising company. Widely travelled, she has attended several courses and training programmes in Nigeria and abroad, oftentimes as a panelist at local and international Film Festivals speaking about the New Distribution Framework she spear-headed for the National Film & Video Censors Board.

In RedSTRAT/The Future Project, she oversees a portfolio that includes Marketing, Client Service, Relationship Management and the whole gamut of External Relations, including Government Relations.

Adebola Williams (Operations Director)

Adebola is a TV producer, an actor, a journalist and a youth development expert.

As an actor, Adebola has performed in plays like The gods are not to Blame, Wedlock of the gods and Oke Langbodo, which was his last major production at the Nigerian National Theatre, earning him a Lagos State government award. He took a break with the dearth of stage productions and worked for a while as a volunteer with rescue missions.

However, his first love has always been the media, and at the age of 17, he began co-presenting Youth Talk on NTA Network. He was also presenter and associate producer on a business television show, Economy Watch, also on the NTA.

At 19, Adebola moved on to be full time producer of rave TV show Nigeria International, which showed on AIT International, NTA Network, Ben TV in London, Silverbird TV, MBI and online on NigeriaVillageSquare.com In this role, he was responsible for highlighting Nigerian life around the world from a balanced perspective, getting hard interviews from the ‘high and mighty’ and discovering exquisite locations across the country. The show also pioneered the trend of celebrity presenters every week. He left the employ of the show after a successful 3-year run to concentrate full time on RedSTRAT, though he has retained a position as consultant producer.

He has also been producer with Patito’s Gang and has been consultant producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Commission and Lifestyles in Africa on Mnet. He also helped with recruitment on Close Up’s Salsa Challenge TV show, worked briefly with The Apprentice Africa in publicity, and then went round Nigeria scouting for talents for the Amstel Malta Box Office reality TV show as producer and content director. In addition to this, he has produced documentaries for brands like MTN, UBA/Arsenal, Virgin Nigeria, amongst others. Adebola currently produces Rubbin’ Minds Live on Channels TV and the Nigezie Spirit of the Nigerian TV show.

He has also moonlighted as a writer, with credits including The Guardian, Thisday, Share.Our.World and Tour Nigeria, and as a public speaker to youth in conferences within and outside the country. One of his major interests is in advocacy and counselling on issues surrounding child sexual abuse and family values.

As Operations Director of the RedSTRAT/The Future Project, he has spearheaded the Town Hall meetings and Roadshows around Nigeria and internationally, in the UK and Ghana. He is also responsible for the smooth running of the post-awards seminars and conferences.

Adebola was selected as one of the Top 100 of Our Generation by Top 100 UK in 2007 and 2008 and was selected as a Global Changemaker by the British Council in 2009, attending the Changemakers Conference and World Economic Forum in Cape Town. In 2010, he was invited as a youth expert by the Africa Union and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to work on the African Youth Charter for the decade of youth in Zimbabwe.

He also maintains a role as Director in Harambe Nigeria, an alliance of Harambe Endeavour International. Harambe focuses on youth development through agriculture.

Adebola has, in a personal capacity, consulted for major brands and companies including Close Up, EXP Productions, Work Station, True Tales Publications, DM Audiovisuals and Giant Strides Media, and is partner with Tesify Music Group, which is a consultant to Zain Central Station and organiser of the Hiphop International competition and Naija Facebook Carnival, amongst others.

Emilia Asim-Ita (Founding Director)

Emilia has been Lifestyle Editor of Variety Magazine, Editor of Sleek magazine, Editor of Tour Nigeria, a publication of the Federal Ministry of Tourism. She started as a contributor to The Guardian and has written for a number of magazines and journals for over six years.

As a presenter; Emilia co-presents Rubbin’ Minds on Channels TV, Patito’s Gang, and anchored a book review segment, BOOKED with ‘Milia’ on Silverbird TV’s breakfast show, Today on STV. She was also Content Director with the Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) Season 4 and Associate Producer, The Academy - a Docu-reality series by Common Ground Productions. Her foray into Television started with Mind your Grammar before producing and presenting YouthTalk with Emilia on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); completing a 5-year beat in 2008.

Currently, she doubles as PR/Marketing Director, RedSTRAT [Organizers of The Future Awards/The Future Project, Nigeria] and Communications Director for 3AL; a foremost automobile lifestyle initiative. She is also the Contributing Editor, Esq; a legal practice magazine. An avid reader and speaker; Emilia likes to critique the arts especially – books, films and music.

In 2007, she clinched the highly coveted LEAP Africa youth leadership awards (Media Advocacy category) and was earlier chosen amongst the 101 young African leaders to attend the African Business Leaders’ Forum (ABLF) in Ghana. She also bagged the Green YAGGY Achievement Award in 2008.

In 2006, she was chosen as the West African Representative to the Helen Kim Memorial Scholarship [HKMS] Programme of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women [WFMUCW] in Jeju and Seoul, South Korea and invited to the Strategy Review Consultative Workshop for Youth Leaders for the proposed African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AUYVC) and consequently shortlisted as a youth expert to the AU’s Department of Youth in 2009.

She has served as facilitator; APTECH/Cisco Women Empowerment IT Seminar series, Skills Workshop of the Youth Leadership Initiative and Integrity Institute for LEAP Africa and a Project Defense Panelist for UNITeS Nigeria. Emilia holds several leadership positions in diverse youth and adult groups for her outstanding qualities and talent.