Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) boss,
Olubankole Wellington popularly known as
Banky W, tells his story of grass to grace in an
interview with Josephine Igbinovia of Vanguard
Newspapers .
Although many see the fame and fortune music
has brought to Banky W , it is hard to believe
that the the R&B superstar who is responsible
for producing monster hits and artistes the
likes of Wizkid, Niyola, Skales, once did menial
jobs including selling CDs in Salons while in the
United States just to eke out a living
Starting small
His appearance bellies his personality and
generally gives the illusion of a young man
with a history devoid of sweat. But no, Banky
did not only pay his due but also mastered
certain principles which he wouldn’t forget in
haste.
“One of such is to think big but start small”,
he said.
“Everybody knows me to be the Chief
Executive Officer, CEO, of EME, but what
people do not know is that EME started when I
was in my third year in university in New York.
You see, we all dream dreams, but it is
important to think very big and start where
you are because God never gives you
everything but gives you enough to start. At
that time, I knew I wanted to do music, but of
course I understood nobody starts by selling a
million CDs or the big screen!”, Banky stated.
Menial jobs
Indeed his tale solidifies his emphasis on little
beginning because to achieve his dream of
becoming a music superstar, Banky had to take
up to three jobs while also in university!
He said: “I worked in fast foods outlets,
clothing stores and as a knife salesman, selling
knives from door to door. That way, I gathered
money to pay for studio recording time. I was
recording with a close friend at that time.
Begging at saloons
“After making that music, we printed a
thousand CDs though we didn’t have any fan. I
had one battered car that broke down virtually
everywhere, so, we would print black and
white posters, stick them on the sides of the
car, sell from the car’s trunk and drive to
salons to do marketing. We would walk to the
owners of the salons, greet politely, and ask
them to let us entertain their customers.
Sometimes, some would kick us out and
sometimes some would say yes. If told yes,
after singing for a minute or two, we would
sell our CDs to the customers! That was the
beginning!
“A lot of people see you on stage and see the
success but do not know what you had to go
through! I never had one really big break; it
was always two steps forward and a couple
backwards. But I just decided that I was going
to make music work for me. That was why I
moved on to a new salon each time any salon
rejected me! I just kept going because I believe
failure is when you give up. Albert Einstein
said he tried a hundred times to make the light
bulb. When he was asked what kept him going
during the 99 times, he said: ‘I didn’t consider
those 99 times as failure; rather, I considered
them 99 ways that it didn’t work!’ We went
about selling CDs and, on the days we couldn’t
sell much, we would sit down and be broke
together. I remember my friend was a member
of a church that usually served food after
service. So, on the days we didn’t sell CDs and
were too broke to buy food, we would attend
service in that church so we could pack rice
and store in the fridge.
Work, school, music
“At a point, being a student of industrial
engineering, I was working for an engineering
company and was recording as well. I would go
to work from 7am till about 2pm and then go
to school till about 8pm, and then drive two
and a half hours to New York City where the
studio that would let us record for less was,
and record until about 2am. I would then
drive two and a half hours back home to be
back at work at 7am the following day. One
day, I was driving home from work and was so
tired that I fell asleep while on a bridge. I
would have driven off from the top of the
bridge to God knows where, if not for an on-
going construction work. God really saved me!”
After a while, Banky’s hard work began to pay
off and, even while in school, he began
winning awards, beginning with the ‘Albany
Idol’ competition. Other international awards
soon followed.
Returning to Nigeria
In 2008 when he decided to move to his home
country Nigeria after the completion of one of
his albums, Mr Capable, Banky was
consistently told his genre of music ‘would
never appeal to Nigerians and therefore
wouldn’t ‘sell’. As he turned down pressure
mounted on him and his manager to change
their genre of music, Banky strongly held on
to another long-standing principle which had
taught him to stand out by being unique rather
than trying to imitate anyone’s skill. He
therefore insisted on sticking to R&B, and this
paid-off as he soon became a household name
in the Nigerian entertainment industry!
Lessons
He advised: “You cannot say enough about the
grace of God and I therefore do not want to
claim any form of glory. Falling down is
inevitable but getting back up is optional!
Frankly, you can’t appreciate sunshine if you’ve
never been through a heavy rain. Yes, life is
tough, but what do you do in those tough
moments? Do you learn the lesson, stand up
again, consider yourself stronger and keep
going? Or do you sit down and feel sorry for
yourself? The graveyard, they say, is the
richest place in the world because therein lies
so many who died with their dreams. So, my
advice is, do not give up! If Banky can be
where he is today, you can be where you want
to be if you put to mind to it.”
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