Alex Okosi left Nigeria as a young boy in the late 1980s to seek a better future in the United States.By the early 2000s, the music executive was carving a successful career with broadcasting giant MTV, holding strategic positions within the influential medial company both in the United States and Europe.Yet, Okosi never forgot where he came from. His dream had always been to promote his continent’s diverse music scene and vibrant youth culture.Today, as the senior vice president and managing director of MTV Networks Africa, Okosi runs MTV Base, the company’s first localized television service targeted exclusively at sub-Saharan Africa. “We’ve been quite lucky in being able to create a brand that we have taken from our international stable and bring into the continent to be able to create content and experiences that people enjoy, localizing them to make sure that they cater to the attitudes and tastes of African audiences,” says Okosi, now based in South Africa.Okosi’s determination and academic excellence helped him land a job with MTV straight after university. His talents soon started to shine -- Okosi worked both in MTV’s New York and West Coast offices before moving to London to be part of the company’s international strategy team.He first planted the seed of bringing MTV to Africa during a business lunch with the head of the broadcasting giant. Okosi was convinced about the power and value of the African market, but putting together a viable business plan was far from easy -- a lack of data on the size of the advertising market, coupled with infrastructure challenges, hampered Okosi’s ambitions.Yet, despite all the challenges, Okosi was determined to succeed.“I just focused on the fact that there’s this great opportunity to do something that I believe would enable us and our youth culture to be projected in the most different way,” he says. “The excitement and the passion to do what we’ve been able to do completely overshadowed everything that was there to consider.”Okosi says the future of Africa lies with the millions of young people across the continent, who are willing to work hard in order to succeed. CNN
