By Ogechi Uche-Ebosie
Recently, BTA Investment celebrated three years of BTA TV. The company’s Chairman/CEO, Mr. Blessing Tunde Agofure, a movie producer, marketer, content distributor and former actor opens up on the journey so far.
Tell us briefly about yourself
My name is Blessing Agofure. I am Urhobo from Delta State. I am married with kids.
What is BTA all about?
BTA is an acronym from my full names, Blessing Tunde Agofure. I got the inspiration 27 years ago, precisely 1990, when I was thinking of setting up a company. I didn’t even know the kind of business the company would be doing, but I just needed to have a company and I got the name. Nine years later, when I wanted to register a company, the name came up again and here we are.
What was the motive behind BTA?
BTA was established in 1999 and was officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a limited liability company. We’ve been into movie production and distribution. We’ve also delved into broadcasting and online streaming of movies. You can reach our channels online on BTA TV and its allied channels.
Can you assess BTA from when you started till today?
Of course, like I said we started in 1999 and 18 years down the line, we can only but give glory to God. We started like a child’s play but today we are very established and are thriving. We are not where we wanted yet but the future is very bright and prospect great.
Where do you see BTA in the next five years?
If you say in the next five years, then you are asking me to prophesy. Yea, the next five years, we will be bigger; and like the Bible says, as far as you can see, I have given you. We have a lot in our plans, and as we go, we will be unfolding them one by one.
What’s your view about the movie industry?
The Nigerian movie industry called Nollywood has come a long way. Though, it’s not where it should be, it’s not where it was three or four years ago. It’s making progress but a whole lot still needs to be done. It needs investment from government and the corporate world. Individuals have been the ones carrying Nollywood and the country is taking the glory. For a movie industry, government should look for how to grow it by direct involvement.
How has the online marketing of movies helped the industry?
The online streaming has helped a lot but it’s been abused now. A situation where every individual opens a channel because there is no regulation, it looks like renting shop. These individuals can’t even run the channels; they carry laptops all around and want to earn money just because they hear its dollars. The online sector has been bastardised but I thank God for what Youtube is doing to sanitise the platform. But online is the next phase of movie distribution, whether we like it or not. The world is going smart and fast, we can’t slow it down.