Olufunmilola Aduke Iyanda (born 27 July 1971), known professionally as Funmi Iyanda,[ "Sharing a dawn with Funmi", The Guardian Life, 26 October 2009.] She produced and hosted a talk show, New Dawn with Funmi,[ Group Patron Funmi Iyanda' ] Iyanda is the CEO of OYA Media (formerly Ignite Media). In 2011, Iyanda was honoured for her web series
Early life
Iyanda was born in
Lagos to the family of Gabriel and Yetunde Iyanda. Her father was from
Ogbomoso and her mother from
Ijebu-Ode. She grew up in the Lagos Mainland area; however, her mother died when she was seven years old. She attended the African Church Princess Primary School, Akoka, and the Herbert Macaulay School in
Lagos,
Nigeria, for her primary education and the International School Ibadan for her secondary education. She then went on to the University of Ibadan, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography.
Good Morning Nigeria and Sports Journalism
Iyanda's foray into television began when she started producing and presenting
Good Morning Nigeria, a breakfast magazine television show. The "Heroes" segment, which exalted the achievement of deserving members of society, and "Street Life", which unlike many shows at the time, went out on the streets in search of compelling Nigerian human-interest stories.
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The show focused on the injustices suffered by Nigerians, particularly the vulnerable members such as women and children. The show was syndicated on national television.
The first show she anchored was called MITV Live, produced by Segun Odegbami and Tunde Kelani.[Jumoke Giwa, "Conversations: Meet Funmi Iyanda 'Nigeria's queen of talk'", Nigeria Village Square, 26 August 2006.] She also explored her deep passion for sports by entering the world of sports journalism. She worked on a documentary for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations and she covered the 1999 female Football World Cup, the All Africa Games in Zimbabwe, as well as the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens.
New Dawn with Funmi
New Dawn with Funmi started in 2000 and ran daily on NTA 10 Lagos. The success of the show made it the longest-running independently produced show on NTA.
Iyanda has also written regular columns in Tempo Magazine. On occasion, she still serves as a guest columnist for Farafina Magazine. She has also written for PM News, The Punch, Daily Trust, and Vanguard Newspapers.
Talk With Funmi
In 2010, after a two-year break, Iyanda returned to the screen with Talk with Funmi ( TWF), a television show directed by Chris Dada. Talk With Funmi travels throughout Nigeria, from state to state, capturing people and conversations around the country.[
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My Country: Nigeria
In 2010, Iyanda completed production on My Country: Nigeria, a three-part documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, which was aired on the BBC World Service. One of the episodes of the documentary "Lagos Stories" was subsequently nominated in the category for “Best News Documentary” at the 2011 Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.
Chopcassava
In 2012, Iyanda and her creative partner Chris Dada released Chopcassava,
Personal life
Iyanda is a member of the African Leadership Institute, Tutu Fellow, and a participant of the ASPEN Institute's Forum for Communications and Society.
In 2012, Iyanda was honoured by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for her commitment to gender advocacy as she returned from a five-day UN advocacy trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb was organised by the UN to raise global awareness on its campaign to end violence against women and girls and brought together climbers from more than 32 African countries in a historic advocacy journey up Mount Kilimanjaro.
Iyanda served on the Board of Farafina Trust and Positive Impact Youth Network. She participated at the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government's fuel subsidy removal policy.
Recognition
Iyanda was recognised as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.
Further reading
External links
