Oritsegbemi Emore

In what seems like an eternity ago, I was getting ready to take the Junior secondary school Exam. At that time it was the most important test I had to take. I dreaded all subjects except Technical Drawing and Fine art. The latter was divided into two and a half parts. The written exam and the practical part which is normally themed and has an oral part if I remember correctly. And I kind of remember bombing this part. For the practical aspect, we are given time to come up with artwork around this theme.Eko o ni baje o baje

For my work, I decided to depict both sides of Lagos; the near village looking parts and the more refined part with a road in the middle in a perspective view. Stating no matter what economic background one comes from, one could just grind intelligently and with the seamless opportunities, the city offers one could make it.

More or less, that’s a great representation of Nigeria as a whole, well that depends on which generation of Nigerians you ask. You see to the older generation, The giant of Africa is just a shadow of what it once was but to my generation, it’s at the beginning of what it could be. So how do we bring the country to it’s fullest potential, we invest in it and That’s what Oritse has done.

For my first interview, I got the immense pleasure of speaking with Oritsegbemi Emore. Co-creator of both MXVO, a budding photography agency and We Want The Youth To Know (WWTYTK) an annual event which seeks to equip the creative youths of the country. Listening to him talk passionately about his experiences and projects, the ideas behind them and how they were birthed was such a pleasure. He’s had to work hard to get where he is and what inspired him to invest in other people in an OYO (On Your Own) motivated society. And how he keeps his head around overwhelming negativity and pessimism. Enjoy!

Question: Why don’t you introduce yourself?

Oritse: My name’s Oritsegbemi Emore, I am 24 years old and I was born August 15 1995.

Q: What are you currently doing?

O: Currently, I am doing two things, My project you know, MXVO and I’m also open to Business development and project management jobs.

Q: Tell us a bit about your family

O: I come from a family of….. two, four, five … yeah we're five, I have a half brother who is in the states, whom I’ve never seen before. I have a sister, she is two years younger than I am, she skipped a class, I repeated one so we found ourselves in the same class in JSS1. My dad is a landscaper, my mom is an international maritime lawyer. We are a family of artists; my dad is a landscaper he draws and sketches a lot and my sister she studied textile design. So she’s into Design and also draws a lot and then I’m into photography, cinematography and whatnot, so yeah that’s my family.

Q: How was growing up like?

O: So I went to Lycée Français Louis Pasteur in Lagos, which means that most of my life, I studied in french. Growing up was cool because in my school I spoke french and outside school I spoke English with my dad, my cousins and friends. Fun fact, my dad doesn’t speak french but my mum does, so sometimes when we, my sister and I, don’t want my dad to know what we’re talking about we just speak in french with my mum.

Q: Who is your role model?

O: So, my role model is my uncle, Weyinmi Edodo. He is my role model because we have so many things in common; we were born on the same day, he has a good heart, he’s caring, loving, he has a good business that’s working. He inspires me, he’s innovative, he pays attention to details and he’s an inspiration. He helps people often, he’s a giver. Any good thing you can think of he does. He’s a cool dad. I know If I need anything he’s there.

Q: So, Why France? Why not another English speaking country?

O: I came to France because I wanted to study. When I got my Baccalauréat, I had to choose amongst different schools both in the UK and here in France. I really wanted to go to the UK, I was kind of tired of the french system and my mum, at that time, said “ you guys can go anywhere you want to go but just go somewhere. I want you to go to school”. So I was like…. Alright, alright….. I applied to schools in England and I needed to get 12 or 14/20 in the Bac but I Got 10 which schools in France were willing to accept. So I came to France and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve been here for 6 years and It’s been uh... I just know its God that has brought me here.

Q: How would you describe your experience in France?

O: My experience in France has been chill, you know, obviously ups and downs but more ups than downs. The switch between living in Nigeria and living in France wasn’t too brusque for me. I already had had teachers that spoke french and I was already used to the french system. Taking classes all day in french was something that I was already used to. People that didn’t know me would not have thought that I wasn’t from France, so I didn’t get discriminated against. In all, my experience has been really good. I’ve been able to start MXVO. Nice weather, beautiful people. So yeah, It’s been such an amazing experience and I thank God for that.

Q: How did your photography journey begin?

O: So my first camera was gotten for me by my dad, it was a birthday gift for me. And it was a 550D canon camera with an 18-55mm kit lens. A few months later, I had my first official gig, a paid gig, I think I got 25,000 naira for that gig. I was so happy! It was through my auntie. From that, I was able to buy a new lens, a 50mm prime lens. The 50mm lens allowed me to take even better pictures because it gave the pictures this nice background blur. It went on from there, anytime I had a gig and made money from it, I would always reinvest it into photography. That is how I went from one camera to another lense, to other modifiers.

Q: How did MXVO start?

O: MXVO started as a way to make money on the side. When I got to France in 2014, I did not want a student job. I told myself “I’m not working for anybody oooo” I don’t want to work in Mcdonalds or work as a security guard. I have nothing against those jobs, it’s just it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to be flexible, I wanted to be able to study anytime I wanted to, I wanted to be independent. So the year after, I went to Nigeria, got the equipment and yeah that’s why I started MXVO or rather WE started MXVO. I wasn’t the only one. It was with my colleague, his name is Maxime, we were in the same class and we both had a passion for photography. So it started as a side hustle to the main hustle.

Q: How has it evolved?

O: MXVO evolved into a photo and video agency. The year I started shooting, I made 10euros off photography, the second year 1000euros. We had photoshoots that were 25euros an hour. Then we moved up. We registered MXVO in 2016 officially we have the statut “Auto-entrepreneur”. We don’t do only pictures now, we also do cinematography. We do that for bars, startups to present their products and their services. We are also branching out into the music videos. We’ve shot our second video this year and we have more lined up by the grace of God. It has also evolved into a team because before it was just me but now we have a creative director that helps out with the shoots, helps out with the videos also. We also have an editor that we work with, He is Nigerian. That’s not all but it is still growing and hopefully, it will become a multi-billion dollar company. I thank God because right now I can stand my ground and say “Je vis de ma passion pour le moment”.

Q: What has MXVO Taught you?

O: It has taught me to trust in God and that God can use anything and make it lucrative for you, ‘cause photography, (take a pause ) it all falls to pushing the shutter, seeing things maybe differently. This has taught me to persevere, it has also taught me to push myself further. Anything you want is possible, you just need to know how to go about it. Errrr….what else? It has taught me that, (hesitates) MXVO has made understand verses in the bible better, you know? Like for example in proverbs, something, something which says your gift will bring you in front of kings and queens, or your gift will open doors for you, and MXVO is it. Through photography I’ve met Presidents, CEOs, I’ve been invited to different events with royals. All Glory to God! He used MXVO as an avenue for him to express the promises in the bible.

I would say that my faith has gotten stronger. I rely more on God than on man and that’s it. You see its a channel, a channel that’ll bring you in the presence of these kings and queens but when you’re before them, like what next? you feel me? It’s not just about being in front of them but when you’re there you should have a project, something that is impactful, something for generations to come.

Q: And that project is for you We Want The Youth To Know (WWTYTK). How did that start? What inspired it?

O: WWTYTK was birth is 2017, September 2017. We, Busayo and I, realised that there was a certain difficulty in photography and where you could take pictures in Nigeria. I had gotten arrested quite a lot and my friends too. We also realised that, wow, to buy equipment in Nigeria is hard. You couldn’t pay in instalments, I don’t know if that is possible right now but at that time it wasn't possible. You had to pay for everything at once but as a student where are you meant to get money from, you know, if you don’t have a daddy that’s a rich man, how can you afford a 4000$ camera?. So, those were some of the problems that we realised and WWYTK was an avenue to try to solve those problems, to shed light on them.

So what we did was, we brought together influential photographers and the youths and we made them share the same stage; speak, talk, share their experiences. The youths were allowed to ask questions to these different people; how they, in their time, managed to solve the different problems that the youths are facing in this society regarding photography or just art in general.

Q: This seems like a huge challenge, how did you go about it?

O: Before 2017, we had organised our first masterclass in 2016 which was a success, so in 2017 we said “ why don’t we do an event that’s sponsored by a company” not our parents, not their contacts, not anyone they knew. We wanted to do something ourselves. The whole point of it was obviously to empower and enlighten the youth but also to do it our way.

I reached out to my contacts asking “do you know anyone that’s in a bank?” and there was a junior of mine in school at that time whos father works in Zenith Bank. So I reached out to her and I told her that I just needed her Dad to read the proposal. We didn’t know how to write a proposal, we didn’t know anything organising an event. We started from SCRATCH!

The idea just came, Oh!let’s do this, we’ve never done this before or we had no idea how to go about it N-A-D-A! Even, our proposal was different from other proposals that companies receive.

She gave it to her dad, he read it and he called us in for a meeting. The first day we went there, we had two meetings, one with my friend’s dad who then referred us to the person in charge of Brand management of Zenith bank who In turn referred us to another person. Long story short, they said no. They sent us back, they told us that the plan was unsustainable and that Zenith bank was too big to sponsor one-hit-wonders.

Q: That must have been a huge disappointment? How did you take it? How did you deal with it?

O: We were truly pained, but the week before TD Jakes came to Lagos and we had listened to his sermon “ Your battle is your bread” the bigger the battle the bigger the bread. We were just like yeah men THIS IS OUR BATTLE!, they sent us out 2 weeks before the event was meant to take place. We’d told everybody that we’re organising the event, we’d gotten the speakers, we had made flyers for the event, we had put the venue, put everything. We had chosen Terra Kulture as the venue which was one million naira a day; We had put them on the flyer, sent it out to everybody but we didn’t know how we were going to get the money but we knew we would get it. Zenith Bank, our only hope had thrown us out, so that was super crazy, I wish I had vlogged it.

That was a huge test of our faith. This all happened around noon that day. We decided to go to some restaurants, hotels because we needed the internet. We got chased out of so many of them. We ended up at the Oriental Hotel and I remember being chased out of there too because I only bought groundnuts.

Eventually, we sat down and thought the whole thing out. We came up with a 6-month plan, a 2-year plan, a 5-year plan for the bank and also a way they could make money off the event. We went back to the bank that same day around 4 pm. This was the head office ooo and when we got there the Brand Manager was like “ahhn ahnnn you guys are back again?” And we were like yeah and we’re back stronger”. We handed him the new proposal with an increased budget. He read through it and gave us another meeting. After that, we waited a while and finally, two days before the event it was approved. We cashed the check they gave us, paid Terra Kulture and other expenses.

Q: When you got rejected, why didn't you just move the date of the event? That would have given you enough time to look for sponsors?

O: Like I said we had already sent out all the flyers, contacted everyone that need to be contacted. The thing is the idea came a month before I had to go back to France. We organised everything during that month; writing the proposal, searching for speakers, searching for space, searching for sponsorship and fixing a date, everything in one month. Let’s say I was meant to travel on the 9th of September we did the event on the 8th and bam! I travelled. So there was no way we could change the date because the ticket has already been paid for.

Q: 2020 will be the 4th year of WWTYTK, has organising the event gotten easier?

O: Not really. The second year, we thought it was going to be easier but it wasn't. We wanted it to be bigger, better, stronger blah blah….. At first, the bank didn’t want to work with us but it worked out. Neither of us was in the Lagos at that time, we were both in school. So we had to do everything over the internet. We had meetings over skype.

We got the opportunity to work with Canon through Linkedin. That’s what we still use. We looked for the Brand Manager or the CEO of the brand we’d like to work with it on the app and get our proposal before them. We know that our deck is on point; it’s very sexy and God’s favour is on it. All we need is for the right person to read it. We’ve learnt that talk is cheap, so many people will promise you stuff like “Is it not one million, don’t worry”! But they hardly ever keep it. Its just talk.

So right now we’re organising a start-up weekend this month, from the 28th of February -1st of march and Its also going to be big. We have a few partners, we have The Guardian on deck, Zenith Bank, Ntel for free Wifi and some others. We really thank God.

Q: If you had a catchphrase what would it be?

O: Ephesians 3:20 which says God has provided exceedingly abundantly above all I could ever think or Imagine.

Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?

O: I’m still young, hmmm, my younger self, I’ll just say man omo just keep focusing on God and every other thing will be added on to you.

You've made it! If you'd like to know more about Oritse you can follow him on Instagram @oritse_mxvo. To know more about We Want The Youth To Know and the upcoming events, you can check out their website: www.wwtytk.com