BEVERLY HILLS, May 10, (THEWILL) – Manager and mum to Burna Boy Bose Ogulu says she started managing him as a form of sacrifice and not ambition.
Mama Burna, as she is fondly called, disclosed this during a chat with popular TV host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu.
Ogulu said: “Burna Boy started in 2010 from Port Harcourt. Even before he took the name, he asked me to manage him. So, I’ve always managed him. It just wasn’t a full-time thing because I was raising kids and had bills to pay.
“He couldn’t pay me so I had to do my work. I signed the first deal on his behalf; handled most of his bookings. I’ve always been there but I hadn’t been involved in the day-to-day [tasks]. He was with the label; they had a Road Manager.
“And he seemed on top of things. So I was just managing him and protecting his interest. I think I went full-time in 2017 because it just became evident that the day-to-day and other things I wasn’t handling were not going as well.
“And I had more time, fewer kids going to school that I had to pay bills for. And his business could evidently grow to pay me. It was a question of, ‘This guy is honestly the most talented person I’ve met in the last decade or more.’”
Speaking on why she didn’t manage the singer full-time on the outset, she stated that she had kids to raise, a responsibility that came with bills and the earnings of the musician only grew into something that could pay her much later.
She said: “I just thought, ‘I can’t help you with talent, but I can help with everything else.’ Fortunately, that scene is not new to me. I’ve done business for most of my life. I’ve been touring for language immersion most of my life.
“There was a lot I could bring to the table. I thought, ‘If you work hard at this, it will pay you and your son gets to grow to his highest potential.’ It’s a win-win. Managers don’t get salary but commission on what the artiste makes.
“For me, I came to manage him as a form of sacrifice, not ambition. And it’s gratifying to know that it’s become work that I love and can come up to become a legacy. What’s next for me? I look to keep doing what I’m doing.
“And hopefully grow more talents. My real focus is on Catalogues belonging to us being [the] spaceship [label].”
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