Josbert Mofe Duncan Exclusive Interview!

He is young, dashing and multi-talented, his name is Josbert Mofe Duncan, CEO of 5ive Entertainment, the artiste management company that manages reputable artistes including Nollywood damsel, Stella Damasus. Underdarock’s Habeeb Lawal took out time to chat with this hardworking, resourceful and charmer of a guy whose personality is just as gripping as he looks. Enjoy!

Well, my name as you know is Mofe J. Duncan, born of a medical doctor father (Professor J.T.K. Duncan) and a banker mother (Ms. Molly Thomas), but you didn’t really need to know that. I am a proud Deltan (from the same town as RMD even). Have 6 siblings… 5 sisters and 1 brother, am the last. Studied Biological Sciences Education in Unilag, no regrets.

I’ve been in the industry for close to 6yrs now. Been modelling since I was very little (age 5) for a nestle product. The experience was horrible, I throw up on set. Then I had my first big advert when I was 12, for Maggi 2 minute noodles. Didn’t do much till I was much I was 18, with various calendar jobs and billboards.

At 21 I got a major break presenting the Saturday morning show on rhythm 93.7FM, which was my major career booster. Met a lot of good people along the way and made a couple of good friends. From then, it’s been climaxing. I worked alongside IK, Isis, Anita, Nnamdi, Ceasario, Sasha, TEMI and my first anchor then… Olumide Macualay.

Umm… acting puts you out there, but artiste management opens doors for others as well as yourself. I like acting, and now I’ve found a new passion, Directing. I’m loving being behind the camera these days.

They were fantastic! Being on set with other actors n directors is always so interesting. And no I haven’t stopped, just been a bit picky with scripts. My last project isn’t out yet even. And my Management company too has been filtering my scripts.

Well, my first break at anything media was modelling. I enjoyed it a lot, seeing your face up on a calendar or a billboard can be very gratifying. My biggest till date was my Celtel billboard, which light on the skyline when the network just newly changed its name. Modelling was hard though, I mean the rigorous auditions and rejections, but like I tell most people who come to me for jobs, never model for the money, do it because you love it and most importantly, because you can!

I love to teach, and help, and build people’s character. I’ve assisted so many artists in the past during my time at Rhythm and till date I still get calls for one thing or the other, even when I MC events, I always get contacts and re-invite the strong artiste to other events. My first major artiste is Stella Damasus.

Right now, 3!

I’d say this categorically. Stella is a fantastic person. I’ve known her since my days at rhythm even before Jay died. She is an amazing artiste. She would never make decisions without consulting her management (in this case… ME! *wide smile*), never disrespects or blames if things don’t go her way. She carries everyone along. Her working environment is so relaxed and her mood is light, as long as… you do what you’re supposed to do, when you’re supposed to do it!She manages me too, so it’s a business partnership. Besides managing her, I am the Project Coordinator for SDA Productions (Stella Damasus Archives Production).

Yes I do. I am the Manager, she is the brand. Everywhere I go I have to be able to represent her in the best way possible and as professionally as I can. And so far there hasn’t been any complaints from either side of the divide.

Good question! It’s 5ive, not Five. And in any rating, 5 star is perfection or the highest rating. And I was born in May, the 5^{th month. I’m actually working on renaming it to 5ive28 Entertainment (after my birthday May 28th) because there are too many Five entertainment brand names.}

Ah plenty, you get hated. You have to be the one to say “Am sorry I cant accept that!”. You get to break a lot of hearts and reject a lot of clients. And then when it’s time to bargain fees, problem! And for someone like Stella Damasus, who can get 5 jobs, 5 days a week, 5 different briefs, 5 different projects. Can be hell I tell you, but that’s what I live for!

In one word… Piracy!

Check this, Stella Damasus has close to 40,000 fans on her fan page on facebook, not once have I read one nasty comment on her thread. Not once! There are, of course people that cant stand her, as everyone does, but my word to those kinda people is… “Your loss!”. I don’t think Nigerians are patronising because they are direct and speak their mind as they feel. If they like you, they like you. And if not, well… you’d read it in the papers.

Well I don’t know if am the right person to ask o, but I think we have a strong media habit in Nigeria. We like to get up close and personal with our stars. It’s a good thing.

Marry me? …lol!

The ability to Change a Life for the better everyday!

Goals: To be not the best, but the most essential.

Objectives: Artiste Management. Event Planning. Brand Management. Entertainment Consultancy. Content Building. Consumer Research.

Firstly, you need to have the talent, then the skill, then the determination, then hard-work through practice, and of course no one can be good at what he or she does without God.

Believe in your dream… No matter how many rocks life throws at you, use them to build your castle.

Agreeing to Manage Stella Damasus. Still learning the ropes even. J

Women. People, for some reason believe, that I have a dozen and some women. Let it be known that I AM A ONE WOMAN MAN!

Hahaaha! You think am good looking? Wait till you see my Dad! Do females stalk me? I wouldn’t use the word Stalk, but some of them don’t hide their intentions.

To be a successful businessman, father and husband.

Mathew 5ive vs 5ive: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Posted by Habeeb "UnderDaRock.com" Lawal on Apr 12 2010. Filed under Interviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry