MultiChoice Elevates Atinuke Babatunde, Appoints Her Academy Director, West Africa
MultiChoice Nigeria has appointed Atinuke Ngozi Babatunde as the new Academy Director, West Africa, MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF). She succeeds Femi Odugbemi, who occupied the role between 2018 and 2021.
In her new role, she is expected to drive the development of Nigeria’s creative industry through the MTF, an initiative conceived to source and up-skill young West Africans in film and television production as well as expand the capacity of already practising professionals.
Taking to her LinkedIn handle to make the announcement, she wrote, “If you hang around me long enough, you will know I love these two things: content/telling the African stories and capacity building through coaching, mentoring and training. When you combine the two and put it in a role, you’ve given me a precious gift wrapped with the finest ribbon.
“I’m excited to be appointed as the Academy Director for West Africa at the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF). In my new role, I’m expected to drive the development of Nigeria’s creative industry through the MTF, an initiative conceived to source and up-skill young West Africans in film and television production as well as expand the capacity of already practising professionals.
“I thank the management of my organisation MultiChoice for this opportunity and I look forward to exciting times ahead in this new role,” she wrote.
A statement by MultiChoice Nigeria described Atinuke Babatunde as a seasoned professional with over 20 years’ experience spanning entertainment, branding, research, media management, marketing, and strategy.
“Atinuke Babatunde will deploy her wealth of knowledge gained from over 20 years in the media and marketing industry to lead the MultiChoice Talent Factory by ensuring that highly talented creatives are given world-class training at the academy.
“Having previously demonstrated vision, innovation and skill in her previous roles as the Head of Channel for Africa Magic Entertainment (now Africa Magic Showcase) and Head of Channel for Africa Magic Urban, she is poised to offer her expertise as the Academy Director of the MultiChoice Talent Factory,” the statement said.
Atinuke Babatunde joined Mnet (Africa Magic) in 2014 as the Head of Channel for Africa Magic Entertainment (now Africa Magic Showcase). In 2015, she was appointed Head of Channel for Africa Magic Urban where she led the team that converted the channel from a movie-only platform to one that currently provides general entertainment. She also led the team that launched the Africa Magic Igbo channel on the DStv platform.
In 2018, Africa Magic Epic channel was added to her portfolio of channels, and she drove the content acquisition strategy for the four channels. In partnership with different production teams, she ensured that all large formats contents like Big Brother, Nigeria Idol, AMVCA and The Voice were strategically positioned within the channels.
She started her career in Research with Direct Market Communications and moved to a South African Startup, MediaTrak that pioneered Electronic Media Monitoring agency in Nigeria as the Admin Manager before leaving as the Client Service Director a few years later.
She joined Vmobile (Now Airtel) as a Media Monitoring Specialist, a role where she started the media monitoring department and was responsible for the monitoring of all ATL (Television, Outdoor, Radio and Press) activities for the brand, tracking the media delivery budget across all media – planned versus actual as well as monitor and anticipate competitive activities in the areas of media options.
She was a participant at the Africa Brand Conference in London, United Kingdom and also a participant in a tour organized by Lagos Business School and University of Wisconsin in Illinois, Chicago where participants engaged with several startups, multinationals, public sectors and Universities to learn global best practices across sectors. She has travelled extensively for trainings and workshops within and outside the country. She is one of the 200 women selected into the 1st Cohort of the Africa Women Entrepreneurs Cooperative (AWEC) out of an application of 2300 from 52 Africa countries.
Atinuke Babatunde is passionate about mentoring and coaching with a bias towards young adults and women. She is a Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Mentor alumni, a mentor at the Light House Women Network and has mentored in Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ). She is also an Adjunct lecturer at the Lagos Business School (Pan Atlantic University).
A graduate of Botany from the University of Ilorin, she holds an MSc degree from the University of Lagos and an MBA from the Lagos Business School where she graduated with distinctions in Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Strategy.
She also holds a post-graduate certificate in Business Research and is currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (DBA) at the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University in the UK. She is an Associate Member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, and a member of the British Academy of Management.