Sultry Nollywood actress and movie producer Funke Akindele has opened up about the role that Afrobeat singer Dapo Oyebanjo aka D’banj played in her rise to stardom.
The mother of two who opened up on the sidelines 2025 Media Sales Conference of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) in Lagos, explained how D’banj encouraged her to expand the Jenifa brand.
She disclosed that she once met with D’banj amid the buzz of her popular TV series and he asked her what she was doing with the Jenifa brand. Funke said that she told him that she wanted to do something else but he encouraged her to milk the series.
The actress stated that she hearkened to D’banj’s advise and ever since she has released several installments of the Jenifa with the latest being the 2024 edition of ‘Everybody Loves Jenifa’.
Funke said; “Nobody made me a star, only God. I wrote my script, and that was it. The first ‘Jenifa’ was released in 2009, which was the turning point.
“Amidst the buzz, a club owner reached out to host me at his club, and I met D’banj there.
“He asked what I was doing with the ‘Jenifa’ brand. I said, ‘I have moved on. I will do another thing.’ He said, ‘No. You have to milk it. It should not go like that. That’s a brand. Go and write another script.’
“He gave me some money, and I went back and continued writing.”
Source: Ripples
