Mo Abudu's qualifications as a UN Goodwill Ambassador candidate

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Proposal Letter: Mo Abudu to Become a UN Ambassador The year 2018 is increasingly being recognized as the year of the woman. There is a growing international movement to identify the unique contribution women can make to leadership, a contribution that has been too long ignored. This is particularly the case of women of color from developing world nations. Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu, the Nigerian talk show host and producer would be an excellent choice to become a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador given her impressive career in the media as well as her work as a human resources management consultant, entrepreneur and philanthropist. The UN has long solicited individuals from the fields of art, music, film, sport and literature. While Mo Abudu is a prominent celebrity, she has also made a considerable contribution to the intellectual life of her nation and broadened the perspective on what is considered possible for women to achieve. She also has business experience that would be valuable for her as an organizer and can act as a champion to increase women’s economic clout worldwide. As part of its growing commitment to gender equality, the UN has launched a number of pro-equality campaigns, including the UN’s “Step it Up for Gender Equality Media Compact.” The UN, in recognition of the growing need for women to have a voice in the international media to achieve its goal of gender parity, has made raising the profile of women in the media an important part of its pro-woman platform. Mo Abudu’s background and knowledge in this area, as well as her impressive resume, makes her ideally suited to be an advocate and an informative resource to reach the goals of the United Nations. Mo Abudu is also not simply an advocate for women; she is also an advocate for the vitality and the importance of telling the story of Africa. As the creator and hostess of “Moments With Mo,” Abudu became known as Africa’s “first lady of chat” because of her engaging showcasing of African contemporary life. Her show was the very first of its kind to be syndicated throughout the entire Africa continent. Abudu interviewed guests as diverse as Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Muhammadu Buhari, and Christine Lagarde. Her show embraced both political and lifestyle issues in its lineup. In 2013, Abudu began to grow her media empire, launching EbonyLife TV, Africa’s first Global Black Entertainment and Lifestyle Network for premium homegrown entertainment. The diversity of media with which Abudu is experienced as well as the fact that only five years later, EbonyLife TV has eight million regular viewers in over forty-nine countries in the African continent and in the Caribbean, is again testimony to her success as an advocate and her ability to reach a wide-ranging audience in a persuasive and engaging manner. Abudu identified the fact that there is a hunger in Africa to learn about the continent from Africans, with an African perspective. EbonyLife TV disseminates information and bolsters African pride. It believes that an independent Africa is an Africa with a voice of its own. All too often in the past, other nations and outsiders have defined what it means to be African. The inability to speak for one’s self has been a particular affliction of women, particularly women of color throughout history, and EbonyLife TV is committed to encouraging those who were once voiceless. Abudu has the ideal platform and listenership to promote the UN campaign for women in media and an ideological commitment to advancing the role of women. In 2014, Abudu introduced “The Sisterhood Awards,” specifically given to women who have excelled in helping their communities. Encouraging women to move forward in the world requires positive role models. Women are doing extraordinary things but quite often their accomplishments are simply not known or acknowledged. With this in mind, Abudu wished to shine a light upon women who have shown innovation, excellence, commitment, and integrity as well as made a substantial impact on the lives of others. Seeing what others have achieved is often the first step in accomplishing great things one’s self. In addition to her journalism, Abudu has been the executive producer on many feature-length films, including Fifty (the top grossing Nigerian film in 2015, which was selected to screen at the 2015 London Film Festival). Her second feature-length film, The Wedding Party, premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and was the highest grossing film in the history of “Nollywood” (the Nigerian film industry). Abudu’s 2017 The Royal Hibiscus Hotel was recognized at the Toronto International Film Festival as a “hidden gem” of international cinema. In the future she has plans to produce a movie about Aisha Bakari Gombi known as the “Queen Hunter,” an uneducated woman in the Northern part of Nigeria who took it upon herself to fight the Jihadist Boko Haram in her village. As well as her work in the media, Abudu was an executive at ExxonMobil for nearly a decade, a promoter of the Protea Hotel Oakwood Park, and was the founder of Vic Lawrence & Associates, one of Nigeria’s leading outsourcing firms. Her business experience, her media savvy, and the breadth and depth of her experiences as an advocate and a leader in the world of African media all suggest that she can make a vitally important contribution as a Goodwill Ambassador and offer a unique vantage on how better to leverage the media to truly express a female perspective with a uniquely African tone.