“The day I left the company, I left with nothing but a backpack” – CEO of Pop Central TV, Yinka Obebe tells #WithChude

On this week’s episode of #WithChude, CEO of Pop Central TV, Yinka Obebe, discusses with host, Chude Jideonwo, the high and low points of his career, especially his journey from rock-bottom to becoming the CEO of one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing television stations.

Speaking on a life-altering and reflective season of his career when he had to leave his former employment at Nigezie TV and resort to selling personal property to make ends meet, Mr. Obembe said, “When I was to leave Nigezie, I had a personal car and an official car. I had to sell my personal car because the engine was bad and I needed over 1 million naira to buy another one. With the money I got for the car, I got myself cameras and other production equipment. Back then, I was living an excessive life with constant clubbing, but the day I left the company, I left with nothing but a backpack.

“I already had a son who was in the first year and a half of his life. If you know anything about children, you will know that in their first 3 years, they could need medical attention at any time. My wife and I were never used to a life without a car in the least, not to talk more of doing that with a toddler. I remember getting home, and my wife was surprised to see me without a car. From that time, I took cabs because I couldn’t afford to get back to the life I was living. That experience was necessary for me because it had helped me to focus and cut off any excesses in my life,” he said.

With a positive attitude to life and his wife by his side, Yinka Obebe was able to get up from the difficult time life had thrown him to become the CEO of one of Nigeria’s boldest television stations.

“I didn’t think of it as a downtime. I just looked at it as part of life. I was not bothered, although it had affected me because I knew that my job was to keep showing up. For me, having a wife who was also my partner in every sense of the word helped me to do just that. We could not have pulled Pop Central if we didn’t have the partnership we have. We were simply enough for each other,” he concluded.

Today, Pop Central is one of the fastest-growing media home-grown media platforms for young audiences, redefining content co-creation, television viewership and social engagement in Nigeria and across Africa.

#WithChude is a special series of targeted multimedia conversations and investigations focused on narratives that enable and strengthen the mind, heart, and spirit. New episodes of #WithChude show every Saturday at 9 pm on TVC Entertainment, with reruns every Sunday on Wazobia TV at 5 pm and every Thursday on EbonyLife TV at 7:30 pm.

An extended play podcast is up on Spotify, iTunes, among other podcast platforms every Wednesday at 10:00 am. Everyone can join the conversations.