Before the Nigerian music scene became the multi-billion naira industry that it is, currently, there were only a few women brave enough to join the movement. The Nigerian music scene, loosely regarded as the bestselling genre, Afrobeats, found its way to attract a mind like Osagie Osarenkhoe, who not only quit her job as a personal assistant to explore its male-dominated terrain, but ruggedly rose to the top shaping the careers of some of the country’s biggest acts.

Nearly two decades down the line, Osagie sits as the Director of African Operations at global music distribution powerhouse ONErpm, leading teams in Lagos, Abidjan, Nairobi, Dar es Salam and Johannesburg. Her passion for music still remains burning, as her early beginnings spent researching and analysing the industry from dusty cybercafes in Lagos. With a portfolio that includes, names such as Wizkid, Reekado Banks, Bella Shmurda, Reminisce, Kel, Runtown, Peruzzi, Zlatan, Psycho YP, among others, Osagie commands respect as a force majeure in Nigeria’s music industry. 

This week, in line with the International Women’s Day, Osagie makes a call to action for more Nigerian women to explore and build careers in Afrobeats. It’s not only a call to bridge the gender gulf within the scene; it’s an urgently needed hack to maximize the industry’s wins on a global scale, with more hands being put on deck. In this chat with Guardian Music, the music industry expert peels back layers of her come-up, detailing her experiences managing ace female rapper Kel, as well as Wizkid whom she managed for five years at the start of his career, and she sheds light into the present level of women’s participation in Afrobeats, as well as her plans to sustain a legacy as one of the industry’s biggest inspirations. 

How did you find yourself in music? 
SO, growing up, I was very fascinated by music. I was fascinated by radio shows, radio dramas and movies, as a kid. But as I got older, say secondary school, even in secondary school, I wasn’t quite sure how to make all of this work because I grew up in a time where essentially you had to either be in the sciences because you were trying to become a doctor or pharmacist. Or you were in accounting because you’re going to work in a bank. And then arts because you wanted to be a lawyer or you just had nothing to do with your life. I still didn’t understand how I was going to merge the fascination and love for entertainment, until I got into the University of Lagos to study mass communication for a diploma degree, right.

And that’s how I discovered even the world of advertising. I think it was just curiosity and just being inquisitive. I was trying to figure out how music got on TV, how music videos were shot, how people were being put on radio, who discovered the artistes, and at the end of the day, this curiosity led me into artiste management. A lot of people don’t know this. But, in the University of Lagos, my first official step into entertainment was as a dancer. I was a dancer and actor. I used to do stage dramas and dance performances on stage, almost every week of my life in the University of Lagos. And that transcended into a radio show on rhythm 93.7 FM. I also transcended into being the late Tosyn Bucknor’s assistant, at the time.  And while doing that, Ayeni Adekunle, who owns Blackhouse Media said to me that at some point, “Oh, you do a great job as a personal assistant. You would make a great artiste manager.” At the time, the only artiste manager I knew of in this country was Efe Omoregbe. I had heard of Sunday Are and Ayo Shonaiya. 

How were you able to stay motivated, despite competing in a male dominated scene?
So I was blessed to have met Joyce Ize-Iyamu, who, at the time, managed Tuface. This was at the point when I was managing Kel.  Kel was the very first artiste that I managed officially. And I met Joyce and she did help me a lot with learning from her and her experiences. And how she was respected and treated gave me insight as to how difficult it was being a woman and managing artistes. For me, a woman managing a young girl (Kel), and then the second artiste I now said I was going to manage was a very young boy (Wizkid). You know, it was quite difficult. I think one of the things that just kept me going was, first of all, understanding where each of these artistes were and who they could be. And I think that just drove me into discovering the ways to get them to who they could potentially become. 

How did you build knowledge base in the industry? 
It was a crazy deal of field knowledge and a lot of reading and research. I used to pay for one hour sessions in cyber cafes. Over time, I bought my own computer, and then got my own mobile Internet. It was Visafone. I remember it was one of those dongles that you had to plug into your computer. So, I used to do a lot of research. But, no matter how much I read online, what I was finding online were American ways of releasing music, managing and developing artistes. I had to now figure out how to do that in Nigeria. So, for example, I used to read about digital stores, but there was nobody in Nigeria that could tell me how to get music on digital stores like iTunes. I had cousins and friends in the US who listened to music on iPads. I couldn’t figure out how to get music on iTunes. I even opened a YouTube channel that still has about 600 subscribers where I used to upload music videos. Artistes didn’t even know how to create YouTube videos. Whenever I tried to explain it to them, they looked at it like rocket science. How did I learn it? From research and then just doing it. It took a lot of research, and trying to practice what I read online. I would see a few successful promotional tactics online and I would try to use it for Wizkid and Kel. Studying public relations and advertising at the University of Lagos also played a very huge role in my approach to the way I worked with Kel and Wizkid. I spent four years at the University of Lagos learning how to sell and market brands. So,  that was very influential in guiding me on professional ways of releasing music, like writing press releases, doing newsletters and all of that.  

Tell us about one significant experience that shaped your career as a talent manager then? 
There’s been very different keypoints in my career. I think the first one that I can remember is when I got Kel on the cover of True Love magazine. Nobody saw that coming.  I was a new manager, this was a new artistes that nobody knew, and even the label was brand new; it was Clarence Peters’ label. We got that cover and how everything just turned around at that moment. She got nominated for the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) and they flew us to Kenya. I had never been out of Nigeria before. They flew us to Nairobi. And it was just crazy seeing that. The dreams, the beliefs, the visions, the thoughts that we had, were actually happening in real life. Another moment was Wizkid’s first concert in the UK. I think that kind of just blew our minds. You know, the fact that we were able to get people out there and then he performed a very full set. You know, those are moments that you can’t explain. I tell people that even till now when I work at ONErpm, when I hear a song, say Chike and Mohbad’s Egwu, for instance, on the radio I still be like “Wow, we actually worked on that.” I never get used to it. Every moment where I spend working and doing what I love and seeing the results, it’s a blessing and I hope I have more of those moments.

With the current participation of women in music, what are your thoughts towards both their impact as well as their challenges? 
I’ll start with the commending women. Although, I am of a very unpopular school of thought that doesn’t exactly celebrate International Women’s Day or Month, because I feel like women are so incredible and they should be celebrated everyday. We don’t need a special month or a special day to be celebrated! Women are so phenomenal; I feel like these celebrations make it feel mediocre. I don’t know how International Men’s Day or International Men’s month is celebrated. I do commend efforts from everyone trying to make women feel very special in the month of March but I like to see us celebrate and pay attention all year round. I like to see in my industry. I like to see, all year round, women being put on playlist covers, or at the forefront of articles on social issues or political issues. I want to see women at the forefront of all these things every month in a year, not just in March. I would say that there’s room for every woman. Well, you need to break through those doors to get into those rooms.

And when you get into those rooms — just like many guys get opportunities and hold on to it because they’re trying to make bread — don’t expect people to do you favours because you’re a woman. You’re just as strong as the men and dare I say even stronger than men. I really want to encourage women to step up in the music industry. I’d like to have a lot more women releasing music. I like to have a lot more women creating, you know, as art directors; presently, I love the work from two female directors that have come up now. I love every time I see their videos. One of them is Director pink and then there’s the other lady called Director C, as well. I want to see more female music producers. There’s a young lady producer I like called Saszy. I like to see a lot more women producing music for both men and for women. And just the same dedication that men give to, you know, building their craft and getting better at what they do, I want women to keep building what they do and not just get satisfied and comfortable with a few claps here and there. I like them to keep pushing, to break all the barriers. I respect Tiwa Savage a lot, because it’s not easy to be where she is today, you know, with all the good and the bad, the wins and the lessons, right? And she’s still going!  It is not an easy thing to do.
But I would really like to see a lot more women you know, building and growing, at the same time. 

How do you think we can help women get more opportunities in music? Is there a reason most of these deals get secured by men?
So, I want to say something and I hope it upsets a lot of women enough to get them to change that and prove me wrong. Women are very emotional. We tend to react to things a bit more emotionally than men. I’ve been called very emotional all my career. But, guess what? The emotions make us strong, you know, and it’s the emotions that make us different. It is just managing and being able to put away grudges. It is understanding that first, with your career, as a musician, or as an artiste manager, or an A&R, it is your career. So, it is a job that you have to do, you have to do it excellently to get your respect and to get you rewarded. The world isn’t going to stop, because you can really sing well. There are over 1 billion other artistes that can sing well. You kind of have to keep going. You have to, you know, learn what you need to build your business. You get to be successful at your business to be successful in your career. You have to keep going no matter how you’re feeling. You can use your feelings to push yourself forward, because I’ve seen so many damaged relationships with female artistes. To be honest, it’s not an easy thing to do. You can go down, but don’t stay down. 

Finally, what is your vision for your career? 
I want to be remembered as one who did everything she wanted to do, as one who did everything she could do to make a very positive impact on the lives of everyone who dreams of having a successful music career. I want people to learn from my mistakes and my wins. I want people to be inspired by everything that I’ve done and become. I want people to even surpass and do better. It drives me when I realize that everything I do inspires someone out there to believe in their dreams and never give up on themselves. That is the legacy I want to leave behind, that I lived my dreams and even things I never imagined would happen in my lifetime.