VIVID VERSES- A NEW AVENUE FOR POETIC EXPRESSIONS BY EMEBIRIODO UGOCHUKWU.

Vivid Verses A new avenue for Poetic Expression - by Emebiriodo Ugochukwu

It's no news if you're a fan of poetry and spoken word in Nigeria. That there are few radio programs for the promotion of the art, even outlets for Poets to express themselves in the media but well there's good news, Komson Studios has bridged that gap.

Poets and poetry in the past few years have been on a rise. A rise that has led to the creation of various platforms, competition even journals to help promote the art form. Poets and spoken word artists before now have been reduced to event hunting, platform and open mic seeking intellectual MC's while their counter parts in other genres and even contemporary music enjoy maximum exposure in the media.

On the 1st of November 2014, a new platform was introduced. A platform created by Komson Studios, named Vivid Verses, a platform managed by Poet and Media Merchant Ayokunle Komolafe. The platform was and still is, aimed at promoting poets and poetry, taking poetry back to its rightful place in the society and also giving a voice to both the known and the unknown in the Nigerian poetry scene. In the words of Ayokunle Komolafe "Vivid Verses was born out of my love for poetry and believing that poetry should be given its rightful place in the society". The program since its inception over a year ago, has hosted the biggest and brightest of poets from across the country; slam champions, upcoming and established poets, local and international poets. The program is currently on two Lagos based radio stations, Metro 97.7 fm, on Saturdays at 11:15am - 11:30 and on Rhythm 93.7fm on Sundays at 7:30pm - 7:45pm and can also be streamed online on the websites of the stations.

Recently Komson Studios organized a spoken word competition which was won by Promise Osigwe, a final year student of Federal University of Technology, Owerri. He clinched the first prize of audio and video recordings of his winning poem entitled "Three Bullets". The company has also made efforts to assist poets in developing their concepts into video and assisting them to promote it on television. These efforts would go a long way in repositioning the art and placing it on a pedestal where every other art form would strive to catch up.

In coming years Vivid Verses plans to organize events that would bring old and new poets together on one platform, hold workshops, organize competitions at the secondary school level to encourage budding writers and of course help in the growth of the art form.

Wordaholics is the newest addition to the poetry platforms being offered by Komsons Studios. It is a monthly open mic event that is being held at Barbecue City Lounge at Apapa Road every last Monday of the month. It is an opportunity to take poetry to where people are.

In the coming months, they shall be launching the television platform named Rhymes Time. This program is geared towards putting faces to the voices and also to encourage production of spoken word videos in Africa.

In the words of Matthew Arnold "poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive and widely effective mode of saying things and hence it is important". Vivid Verses is helping to promote poets and poetry, two vital tools in societal development also seeking to change the world one poem and poet at a time.

I really appreciate your interest.

You can find more on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/vividverses

And on YouTube - vividversestv

Thank you and God bless

Omo Akin- Sisi Maria ft. Skales and Koker.

AfroPop Star Omo Akin is celebrated his birthday on the ’23rd of May with the unleash of a hot new single titled “Sisi Maria”.

 He has teamed up with music sensation Skales and Chocolate City shine shine Bobo Koker on this outstanding piece of music. It’s a track every music lover ought to hear.

Download this music

Mercy Aigbe looking fresh in new photos.

Isn't she a sight for sore eyes? wow!

TWO YEAR OLD CHILD ABUSE VICTIM.

Musa is a two year old who was brutally beaten up by his step mother, She cut his genitals,broke his legs, injured his eyes and other parts of his body. The child is now in a hospital receiving treatment after suffering from physical and emotional trauma. The stepmother has since been apprehended. The stepmother ,father and grandmother are claiming that the injuries were from evil spirits and have refused to pay for medical care. Sad.

Selebobo Dazzles in New Promotional Pictures.

Udoka Chigozie Oku also known as Selebobo has released new promotional pictures.

MASSIVE CROCODILE CAUGHT IN FESTAC, LAGOS.

Don't we have like conservation laws in this country? According to the user who shared this photo, the crocodile was caught in a canal in Festac, Lagos.

PRESENTATION: AN IMPORTANT SKILL IN BUSINESS BY STRIVE MASIYIWA.

In July 1997 I learned about a public tender for a GSM cellular license taking place in the southern African country of Botswana. I decided that we must submit a bid, even though I knew the competition would be fierce.

Having purchased the bid documents, I sat down with my team and carefully went through each page, line by line. We must have spent three days, working over 20 hours a day, reviewing this document which was not more than 50 pages long.

# You must understand fully what is asked for. Seemingly small details make the difference between success and failure!

I had a staff of 35 people and I divided them into teams, working on different sections of our response. None of us had ever submitted an international bid before, and we didn't yet even have experience operating a cell phone business.

We knew there were 20 other bidders, and most of them were well established international operators like MTN, Vodacom, Bharti and France Telecom (Orange).

There was really no Internet in those days, so we couldn't just "go on the Net to do research." We called friends in the industry and asked them to share with us information on how such bids were put together. We kept calling and sending "faxes" back and forth because that was the technology available to us at the time. Of course, there was no "email"!

Don't let anyone say to you that "hard work can kill you.” There's no such thing. We worked up to 20 hours every day. We ate pizzas, and slept in the office.

Once we had completed the substance of our response, we turned our attention to the presentation.

"Our presentation must solicit a ‘wow’ when it is opened," I told my staff.

I brought in a friend from an advertising agency to help us with the design of the presentation. (I promised to pay him by giving him the advertising contract when we won!)

Color printers had just come on the market, and I went to a guy who had one, and asked him to print everything in color. Our presentation was bound by a professional printer, who worked all night to get it done. The presentation was thematic and told a story about the people of Botswana. We designed a logo for our new company: Mascom Wireless.

On the day of submission, we delivered our bid documents: 10 x 900 pages! And it had taken just two weeks to put together! All the bidders were present, as was the media, and government officials. We made sure we were the last to arrive.

There was a collective gasp! "Wow!"

Three weeks after our submissions were presented, we were invited to make oral presentations before a panel of experts hired from Sweden, as well as the Botswana regulator led by a formidable lawyer (the best regulator I ever met in my life), Moses Lekaukau.

We knew this would be part of the process for the selected final bidders: Mascom Wireless, MTN, Vodacom, France Telecom (Orange) and Bharti. Each bidder was given a day to make their presentations and answer questions.

We were ready: I had drilled my team like commandos. This was our moment. I left nothing to chance. We even agreed how each member would dress, and we entered the room and greeted the panel members in Botswana language!

We knew our document, and we knew the numbers! Altough we were facing such tough and experienced competition from around the world, and we were unknown, I had deep faith that we would win.

Three weeks later, the government of Botswana announced that Mascom had come first! France Telecom was second and Vodacom third. Two licenses were granted.


# All the skills I had honed in SELLING ever since I first sold sweets to my friends at eight years old were needed. I had come a long way!

# If you’re going to play in the big leagues you must go the extra mile. Don't settle for mediocrity!

# Always present your work with passion and excellence

One day a few years later, a senior executive at a big Swedish company said to me that one of the consultants involved in the bidding process had told him after he retired that he’d been totally shaken by the quality of our presentation, describing it as "out of this world, and beyond anything he saw in Europe." The executive then asked to see a copy of the presentation, so I gave him a copy and it was taken to their headquarters for display.

The company we established in Botswana in 1998 is there to this day. This was actually my first cell phone license, not Zimbabwe. It is called Mascom Wireless, and it’s not only the biggest operator in the country, it’s a world-class business, run mostly by Botswana people. And why not?



I saw this on a WhatsApp group and decided to share.