The Rise & Rise Of Movie Marketer OLASCO •How He Now Controls YORUBA Movie Industry •Why They Call Him Jagaban Of IDUMOTA



Alhaji Akeem Olatunji Balogun owns Olasco Films and Record International, a  leading Yoruba movie marketing outfit, as well as Headmaster Music and Films, a sister company he established years after.  The light- complexioned businessman hails from Ilala in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. Olasco got into the business of Yoruba movie Marketing  in 1998. Within a space of 14 years, Olasco has become the most powerful Yoruba movie marketer among the legion of marketers at their popular Idumota Market base in the Central Business District of  Lagos Island This Movie Marketer extraordinarie wields so much power that a lot of practitioners in the industry and members of the umbrella body of movie marketers, Yoruba Video Film Producer/Marketers Association of Nigeria (YOVIFPMAN) believe he has a special bond with the incumbent YOVIFPMAN Chairman, Alhaji  Toyin O. Uthman of TOYMAX Films Holdings. To underscore the role Olasco played in his becoming the Chairman of YOVIFPMAN, Alhaji Uthman said in his acceptance speech during the inauguration, “….I salute the courage of all who participated in the democratic process that gave birth to this government…..the master masquarade himself, Akeem Olatunji Balogun (Olasco)….(sic).” With this statement, Olasco has become a Kingmaker  of sort, in Yovifpman. Obviously, because he formed and oiled the structure of ‘Ireakari’ caucus (which means goodness and wealth will  go round all), which wrestled power from the ‘Asejere’ caucus which produced the out-gone administration under the  Chairmanship of  Olufemi Odunuga, GEMINI Films Boss. Alhaji Akeem Olatunji Balogun, without mincing words is the new Kingmaker and Leader of Yoruba movie marketers. The soft-spoken Kwara State-born businessman has a lot going for him and he sure has the ears of a large number of movie marketers. Little wonder, the newly elected Chairman, Toymax acknowledged him as a force to reckon with during his acceptance speech.  It’s no surprise that many of Olasco’ colleagues  and others who know his clout in the industry call him the “Jagaban of Idumota”



It is worthy of note that Olasco was leader of Yoruba Movie Marketers from year 2004 to 2006. Then it was known as ‘Yoruba Parapo’ (Yoruba Union) before it metamorphosed into YOVIFPMAN. In the same vein,  Olasco’s outfit is reputed for sales and marketing of  top rated Yoruba movies. To his credit, he has marketed blockbusters like ‘Jenifa 1&2’, the movie that brought star actress, Funke Akindele-Oloyede to fame,   ‘Apaadi’, ‘Ija Ola’, ‘Akorede’, ‘Aye Olomo kan’, ‘The Return of Jenifa’, Igboro ti daru’, ‘Alagbato’, ‘Kujenra’ and several others. His outfit has won several awards as the Best Marketer for many years now.
 He had his primary school education at Ilala and secondary school education at Iganmu-Oro also in Kwara State. He gained admission to study Business Adminstration at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin  in 1986. After a National Diploma, he left for Lagos in 1988 to start business in movie marketing as a retailer. Over the years, Olasco has become a household name among movie lovers in  the Nigeria. Recently, he funded the shooting of ‘Jenifa’, a comedy block buster that has continued to make waves in the  Nigerian movie industry. He was also saddled with the responsibility of marketing the movie.  In an interview, some years back, Olasco opened up on how he got into the movie industry,  “I started as a movie retailer in 1988, then I sold only American and Indian films. In 1990 I had become a Yoruba movie marketer. I shot my first movie with N2000 the movie was entitled ‘Jangun Aso’. Then, I co-produced the movie with Alhaji Toyin Uthman of Toymax Holdings, also a movie marketing outfit. After that we also co-produced ‘Kini Kin Se?’ By 1991 I had started my own outfit which I named Olasco Films and Record International.”
Olasco is one of the few respected Yoruba movie marketers  with  fleet of posh cars and who are also power dressers.  Olasco attends social events with the likes of Alhaji Toyin Uthman (Toymax),

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