My first encounter with
Nabil Alhassan Mohammed was somewhere in 2010, then a staff of Charterhouse
Productions, a member of the Multiple Concepts Group. Nabil had come in to meet
with my immediate boss, Ms. Juno Abena Turkson (now Mrs. Juno Abena Dadson) to
discuss some ideas for media and marketing he had developed for the then MTN
Ghana Music Awards and Miss Malaika Ghana. Being the media executive assigned
to execute campaigns for those brands in that year, Ms. Turkson asked me to
join in the meeting. Though his ideas were not approved by management for
implementation, we would later work with him on other projects.
Nabil can best be
described as a cool and unassuming dude. He is accommodating and fun to hang with. Young, smart and multi-talented, Nabil is the Chief
Executive Officer of Event Factory Ghana, a company which specializes in event
management and production and also known to be the power behind the successful
execution of some of the biggest events in Ghana for the last ten years.
His journey into the
world of show-business began at the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation, where he worked with the outdoor broadcasting unit. There, he
usually found himself at various events as the major part of their job was
outside the studio, doing outside coverage of news and events.
“It was an exciting time for me as a young person entering into the media.
Sometimes, you felt you were the luckiest person getting access to all the big
and nice events in town by virtue of your work. Due to youthful exuberance, I
would go beyond my limit sometimes doing other things that isn’t part of my
defined roles as a result of excitement being on the job and seeing a lot of
great and important people I admire a lot”, he said.
After working with the
outdoor broadcast team for a while, Nabil wanted to do more and be exposed to
other aspects of broadcasting. His next option was to move into radio programming
and production. That was another
important period in his life during which he described as “a period of finding himself and identifying his direction in the
industry”.
Nabil will soon start a
business on the side, rental of equipment and other logistics for event
management and production. Luckily for him, he found himself assisting one of
the best Ghanaian event producers around, Fred Darko, then head of production
at Charterhouse Productions and currently the Chief Executive Officer of
Evolution International.
“Meeting and working with Fred Darko was overwhelming. He is one of the
best brains you can have around when it comes to event production and
management. It was from him I learnt the rudiments of the trade and got the
opportunity to work on some of the biggest shows to have been held in Ghana. I
realized the need to work harder and be innovative with the grooming I had
received from Fred and that has been my philosophy till date”.
That was the genesis of
Event Factory Ghana and Nabil’s attempt at ensuring he kept himself and his
company relevant within the industry at all times. He achieved this by strategically
positioning himself to either work solely on projects or partner other bigger
competitors at the time to execute projects. He either provided the logistics
for the event or got paid for his services as a member of the production team.
On challenges he
encounters on the job, Nabil outlined a host of them but his approach has always
been to have a positive attitude towards everything to deal with each project
and the challenges it may come with.
“One of the most challenging projects was the Shaggy Live in Ghana
Concert in 2007 where I had to produce the event from scratch. MTV later come
on board and had a totally new plan for the execution and also had high
expectations from the production team. The bar had been raised and you cannot
afford to disappoint. The thought of that alone placed a lot of pressure on me
and the entire team working on the project.
Another challenging project was setting up for Crossover by
International Central Gospel Church at the Accra sports stadium 3 years ago
when we experience a heavy storm the night before the event day.
We nearly lost all our equipment, from lighting rigs, lights to sound machines.
We had to be in the rain climbing the rigs to pull down
the hoisted equipment in a bid to save the equipment from getting damaged.
Other big and challenging events I have worked on are the Mo Ibrahim Concert in
Ghana as well as the Sonni Badu concerts at the Accra sports stadium and Baba
Yara sports stadium”.
According to Nabil, his
high moments on the job has to do with the satisfaction he gets after any great
production. “I am always fulfilled after
seeing how excellent I perform on the job and interestingly, almost all my jobs
well executed have led to other jobs. I did an event for Stanchart Bank at La Palm
Royal Beach Hotel which was code named Iron Man sometime in 2006, delivering my
part of the event alone was fulfilling. Other I could say the same about are Lauryn
Hill Live at the Afrobeat festival in Ghana a few years ago, Black and White
Concert with Samini and Amakye Dede and what is now an annual event, the Lord
of the Ribs Comedy show”.
According to Nabil who
recently worked with other producers to successfully execute the 2016 edition
of the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards in Nigeria said he is looking
forward to executing his biggest project to makes headlines around the world.
