Before the Employment Agency

From Entertainment World International to a Career in Recruitment, 1999–2014

By Kingsley Obi Lekan

1. The Entertainment Ambition

My journey into entrepreneurship did not begin with employment services. It began with entertainment.

In 1999, following my graduation from the University of Calabar, I was living in Lagos and becoming increasingly interested in Nigeria's expanding home-video industry. Along Agboyin Avenue in Surulere, I encountered an environment where actors, producers, directors, screenwriters and aspiring performers gathered to discuss projects and pursue opportunities. Whenever I could, I observed their activities, auditions and casting sessions.

I believed I could do more than watch others produce films. I wanted to write screenplays, produce films, create television programmes and develop entertainment projects of my own.

During a trade fair at Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos, I took a formal step towards that ambition. On 5 November 1999, I registered Entertainment World International as a business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Its registered activities covered entertainment, public relations, advertising, corporate promotions, modelling, choreography, theatre, video, television and film production, and publishing.

The business address was 19 Oba Elegushi Road, S.W. Ikoyi, Lagos, where my immediate elder brother, Lekan K. Lekan, had made office facilities available to me. I had established a business identity. What remained was the more difficult task of building a sustainable enterprise around it.

2. My First Screenplay

One of my earliest creative undertakings was a screenplay titled *Never Tell With Women*. I approached Mr. David Lawrence, who was then living in Okota, off Ago Palace Way, Lagos, hoping he might support its production.

He arranged for the screenplay to be examined. The feedback was disappointing: the person who reviewed it did not consider the script ready for the production standard being contemplated. The proposed film investment did not materialise.

The experience was discouraging, but my relationship with David Lawrence did not end with that proposal. Another opportunity emerged.

3. Vogue in Africa

Through my continued association with David Lawrence, I obtained support for a television magazine programme titled Vogue in Africa, conceived around fashion, arts and African culture.

The programme aired on NTA 2 Channel 5, Television House, Victoria Island, Lagos. Its original broadcast slot was Thursdays, 5:30–6:00 p.m. We subsequently moved the programme to a prime-time slot. David Lawrence sponsored the programme for approximately two quarters.

The surviving NTA records include an independent producers' media order and an official receipt dated 16 July 2001 acknowledging ₦100,000 in connection with *Vogue in Africa*. Another document is the NTA indemnity associated with the original Thursday schedule. Those records document our dealings with the station; my recollection supplies the account of the programme's broadcasts and later scheduling change.

Producing *Vogue in Africa* was an important achievement. I had moved from a screenplay that failed to secure backing to developing a programme for television audiences. The programme eventually went off air, but I was not prepared to abandon the name or its broader ambitions.

4. Entertainment World International Limited

As my entertainment activities developed, I sought a more formal corporate structure. On 20 April 2006, Entertainment World International Limited was incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission, under RC 650791. This incorporation was distinct from the original 1999 business-name registration.

My immediate elder brother, Lekan K. Lekan, provided the ₦50,000 I used towards incorporation. He had already allowed me to use office facilities in Ikoyi and continued to support my attempts to establish a business.

The incorporation represented a further commitment to entertainment, although it did not eliminate the financial challenges of developing and financing creative projects.

5. Inside Nollywood

My involvement in Nollywood grew. I worked as a screenwriter and participated in productions with different practitioners.

Among them was Livinus Nwabueze of Busy Brain Creation, a makeup and special-effects practitioner who ventured into film production. One of his projects took me to Ngbidi in Imo State, with production locations including Concord Hotel, Oguta and Kedeni Hotel. Among the performers I recall in connection with the project were Jim Iyke and Ghanaian actress Paschaline Edwards; Lagos production activities involved Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Emeka Enyiocha, among others.

These experiences exposed me to filmmaking beyond the screenplay: location management, production coordination and the many professionals whose contributions bring a project together.

I also worked with Yinka Olaitan of Destiny Studios, whose association became particularly important during a difficult period in my life.

6. Leaving Sanya Street

During my attempts to attract sponsors for *Vogue in Africa*, I engaged a young woman to help follow up prospective sponsors. Our professional association developed into a romantic relationship, and we lived together in an apartment I secured on Sanya Street, Surulere.

Over time, we faced financial pressures and personal disagreements. I felt increasingly constrained in my ability to pursue professional opportunities. Eventually, I concluded that I needed to change my circumstances.

In June 2006, I left the apartment and took my computer, electricity generator and other belongings to my elder brother's office in Ikoyi. I initially intended to settle there permanently. But Nollywood drew me back to Surulere once more.

7. A Final Attempt at Screenwriting

After I had moved my belongings to Ikoyi, Yinka Olaitan persuaded me to stay at his apartment on Oduduwa Road, Surulere. He wanted me to continue writing scripts and participating in productions with him.

I accepted. We completed a couple of productions together. The work brought further experience, but I became dissatisfied with the financial arrangements. I could spend considerable time writing and working on productions without the dependable income needed to sustain myself.

By 2007, I had decided to leave the Surulere filmmaking environment and establish myself properly in Ikoyi. My first departure in June 2006 had been driven largely by personal circumstances; the final relocation in 2007 was also a professional and economic decision.

I was not rejecting what Nollywood had taught me. I needed a more sustainable livelihood.

8. The Awards That Never Took Place

Although I was reconsidering my involvement in film production, I had not completely abandoned Entertainment World International. After *Vogue in Africa* went off air, I attempted to develop Vogue in Africa Awards, intended to recognise achievement in fashion, modelling and the wider creative industry.

We circulated sponsorship letters to companies across Lagos. There were expressions of interest, but securing committed financial backing was difficult.

We made arrangements with the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos. The surviving records include venue invoices and a receipt for ₦165,000 paid in July 2007. My immediate elder brother, Lekan K. Lekan, provided that money. The venue records contain differing proposed dates, which should not be mistaken for evidence that a ceremony occurred.

At one stage, Mr. Okey Njideobi indicated an intention to provide sponsorship. He asked which Zenith Bank branch we should visit for the proposed transfer. I suggested the branch where a former secondary-school classmate worked.

When Mr. Njideobi asked my classmate whether he knew me well, he responded in my presence: “The Kingsley I have known since my secondary school days has been upright.”

Mr. Njideobi had previously advised me not to bring my partner to the meeting. When she accompanied me, he expressed concern about my ability to manage the proposed investment given what he perceived as difficulty establishing personal boundaries.

The anticipated sponsorship did not materialise. I cannot establish everything that influenced the outcome, and I would not attribute responsibility without evidence.

Without sufficient backing, *Vogue in Africa Awards* ended at the sponsorship and venue-preparation stage. No awards ceremony took place. The correspondence, invoices and receipts document a genuine undertaking, not a completed event.

9. Three Years at A.D.R.A.O. International School

From approximately 2007 to 2010, I worked as an English Language teacher at A.D.R.A.O. International School, on Victoria Island, Lagos, near NTA 2 Channel 5.

The school was established in 1963 by Chief Frederica Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele. Its historical expanded name is associated with Abimbola Da Rocha Afodu Omololu. It is among Nigeria's longstanding independent schools; I do not claim it was definitively the first private school in Lagos.

Teaching gave me relatively dependable income when my entrepreneurial activities were uncertain. From my earnings as a teacher, I funded activities at my Ikoyi office.

For years, I hesitated to mention this period publicly because teachers are often undervalued and poorly remunerated. Yet I cannot faithfully tell my story without acknowledging it. Teaching sustained my business and brought me into contact with colleagues who redirected my career.

10. Two Teachers and Success Digest

Among my colleagues at A.D.R.A.O. were Oyomi O. O. Ayenibiowo, a Fine Arts teacher, and Adeoye Israel Kolawole, an Introductory Technology teacher.

I allowed Adeoye to use my Ikoyi office facilities for computer-related work at a reduced rate. He saw photographs of my work with entertainment practitioners on the office walls and spoke to colleagues about my professional background and facilities. He wondered why I was not concentrating more on business.

Adeoye and Oyomi gathered copies of *Success Digest* containing information about establishing an employment agency and brought them to me.

Their intervention introduced me to an opportunity I had not previously pursued. I had experience in entertainment, publicity, production and business development, but not in operating an employment agency. Those magazines gave me a new direction.

11. Building an Agency Through Advertising

Around 2010, I began developing an employment agency from my Ikoyi office. My first concern was attracting jobseekers, so I turned to posters and handbills.

For months, I went out late at night, often from about 11:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., pasting materials on trees and walls where I thought people would see them. It was a crude, risky approach, and not a method I would recommend today.

The advertising attracted jobseekers to my office in large numbers. I introduced application forms priced at ₦500.

There was a serious weakness in that early arrangement: I had attracted applicants before establishing a sufficient network of employers with vacancies. I was learning that an employment agency needed to serve both sides of the labour market.

Eventually, the same advertisements began attracting employers. Some discovered that my office was conveniently located in Ikoyi and approached me for staff. The two sides of the business gradually came together.

12. New Year's Day, 2011

My nighttime advertising continued until the early hours of 1 January 2011. At approximately 3:00 a.m., while putting up advertising materials, I was stopped by the police.

The encounter frightened me; I came close to being shot in the leg. I had gone out to promote my business and found myself in a situation that could have caused serious injury.

That was the last night I pasted posters and handbills. Fortunately, the publicity had already attracted substantial attention to the agency, and the business continued.

13. Mojisola T. Owodunni and the Power of Referrals

One of my earliest important clients was Mojisola T. Owodunni, Chief Executive Officer of Clearview Optics Limited. She came to me for both corporate and domestic staff.

I successfully recruited and placed the personnel she needed. Those placements encouraged her to introduce me to three of her sisters and two of her brothers, who operated businesses in Ikoyi and Lekki.

The introductions opened doors to further employer relationships. Members of the family referred additional prospective clients, including Col. Samuel Dare (Rtd), Chief Executive Officer of International Masters Security Systems (IMSS) Limited.

I was discovering the value of referrals earned through service delivery. My agency no longer depended entirely on advertising. Employers who had experienced my services were introducing me to others.

Attracting enquiries was only the beginning. Satisfactory placements could generate relationships that continued producing opportunities.

14. EWIL Consulting Finds a New Purpose

On 16 May 2011, I registered EWIL Consulting with the Corporate Affairs Commission under Business Name Number 2165167.

My original intention was to continue the entertainment business. The registration certificate therefore described its general nature of business as Entertainment Consulting.

By that time, however, employment agency activities were already developing around my Ikoyi office. As recruitment opportunities expanded, I gradually repurposed EWIL Consulting for employment consulting and staff placement.

This was not a carefully designed restructuring exercise. It emerged from the realities of the market. The skills I had developed in entertainment—advertising, negotiation, communication, coordination and relationship-building—proved useful in recruitment.

All my staff placements have continued under the EWIL Consulting name. The original registration purpose and its later operational role are distinct parts of its history.

15. Capt Kingsley Consulting Limited

As the business developed, I established a further corporate structure. On 12 August 2014, I incorporated Capt Kingsley Consulting Limited, under CAC registration number RC 1209546.

The company subsequently became my parent outsourcing and employment company. In later years, it obtained additional registrations: a SCUML certificate issued 6 August 2019 and SMEDAN registration dated 29 January 2021.

Those later certificates document registrations, not blanket endorsements of the business's activities. They belong to the continuing story beyond the 1999–2014 period covered by this memoir.

16. Looking Back

When I look back at the years between 1999 and 2014, I do not see a straightforward journey from one profession to another. I see experiences that gradually prepared me for the work I would eventually undertake.

Entertainment taught me creativity, publicity, production and relationships. Failed sponsorship efforts taught me the difference between expressions of interest and committed support. Nollywood exposed me to the difficulty of earning a dependable income from creative work.

Teaching provided the income that helped keep my office functioning. Two fellow teachers introduced me to the employment-agency opportunity. Months of advertising brought jobseekers. Employers followed. Successful placements produced referrals.

I remain grateful to those who helped me, especially my immediate elder brother, Lekan K. Lekan, whose financial and practical support made several important steps possible. I also remember the colleagues, clients and professional associates who opened doors.

My journey included mistakes, disappointments and difficult decisions. But those experiences became part of the foundation on which I continued building.

Years later, when I began developing Afruniverse, I drew upon lessons accumulated across decades of connecting people, promoting opportunities and working with individuals and organisations.

The technology was new. The underlying challenge—bringing together people who needed opportunities and those who could provide them—was one I had known for many years.

Author's Note

This memoir combines founder-provided recollections with documentary dates drawn from surviving certificates, receipts and correspondence. Personal recollection supplies the account of broadcasts, scheduling changes, relationships and daily operations where the documents do not. Documentary exhibits are presented as evidence of the dealings and registrations they record — not as proof of every outcome remembered alongside them.

The former partner associated with the Sanya Street period is not named here. Unknown persons in unpublished photographs from the source archive are not identified.

Kingsley Obi Lekan

Founder, Afruniverse

Further Reading

The related Founder’s Archive memoir, Apollo 13: My Father, Emmanuel Kejuo Lekan, is a son’s portrait of Emmanuel Kejuo Lekan — Apollo 13.

The related Founder’s Archive memoir, The House That Felt Like a Village, is a personal account of growing up around family, work and the agricultural estates of old Cross River.

The related Founder’s Archive essay, Why Vogue in Africa Mattered, reflects on the television programme and its place in the founder’s longer journey.