BoI boss visits set of Kunle Afolayan's movie set...Praises his ingenuity

It was a kind of moral boosting for award-winning film maker, Kunle Afolayan and his team weekend, when the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Industry,BoI, Mr. Olaoluwa Rasheed stormed the popular Inagbe Grand Resorts & Leisure, Lagos, where he’s currently on location shooting his latest movie, The CEO".

Filmmaker Kunle Afolayan with the MD of Bank of Industry,  Mr.  Rasheed Olaoluwa, during the bank' s visit to the set of Afolayan's new movie,  The CEO, at Inagbe Resort recently.

The BoI boss was at the place to show solidarity as well as appreciate the level of progress that the award-winning filmmaker has recorded since he started shooting his latest film two weeks ago.

The bank is one of the major financiers of the project. Briefing Mr. Rasheed, on the progress he has recorded so far, Afolayan said, the team will be moving to Nairobi, Kenya, and South Africa to shoot some scenes soon. He said, his new film will lead a revolution in African cinema, adding “It is no longer about Nigeria, it is taking Africa to the world.”

Responding, Mr. Olaoluwa said the bank is proud to be associated with Kunle Afolayan, who he describes as a pace-setter in the movie industry in Africa. “We are proud that you are a pace setter in this regard. You have done very successful productions in the past. We have no doubt that this film is going to be a blast."

According to him, being the first beneficiary of the NollyFund, which the bank introduced recently to support film makers and to take the industry to the next level,BoI boss has no doubt that Kunle's new film will raise the bar in African cinema.

 Speaking further, Mr Rasheed said, while the bank is still working actualizing the community cinema project to boost film distribution in the country, BoI is also planning to support the establishments of international quality movie studios in Nigeria. "At the bank of industry, we have decided that Nollywood should be supported and very strongly for us to move to the next level.

When we introduced the fund, we have three objectives, one to ensure that people like Kunle who have shown that quality and helped in elevating African films to international standard, and secondly, we ensure we can support the movie distribution in a different paradigm." "We are still working on the community cinema and we will continue enterprenures that want to do business in that regard. The third objective is to support the establishments of international quality movie studios in Nigeria we are really pleased to be here.

You happened to be the very first beneficiary under our NollyFund and we thought it was important that we come here to show our support for you and the cast while you are still on set. This is just the beginning, we plan to do a lot more, we are development bank and our objective is to ensure that all the critical sectors in Nigeria get support from Bank of Industry.

We are proud that you are a pace setter in this regard. You have done a very successful productions in the past, w have no doubt that this film is going to be a blast." The cast of The CEO include Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, entertainer and activist from Benin, Angélique Kidjo; Haitan actor and model Jimmy Jean-Louis, best known for his role as The Haitan on the NBC television series Heroes; consummate actor, and founder of the New Nigeria Cinema movement, Wale Ojo; French-Ivorian actress and model, Aurelie Eliam; South African actor and presenter, Nicolaos Panagiotopoulos; Nigerian actress, Kemi Lala Akindoju; Moroccan star, Fatim Layachi; Kenyan actor Peter King, and Nigerian actress, Hilda Dokubo among others

Posted by Linda Ikeji