“Stip” Champions Content Production

As a young boy growing up in Teshie, a suburb of the nation’s capital, Accra, Ezekiel Okletey Tetteh dreamt of becoming a professional boxer and the biggest sporting personality to raise high the flag of Ghana. His decision was hugely influenced by his immediate society, where most people had love for boxing.

Widely known within the arts and entertainment fraternity as Stip, he had a humble beginning with parents who placed a premium on education and wouldn’t compromise on the education of the children for anything. The family considered education as a priority and would go the extra length to ensure the children received the best of education.  

After his elementary education at the Mensah Sarbah International school, Stip attended the Teshie Boys School for his Junior High School education. Discovering his love for the arts, he enrolled at the Ghanatta College of Arts for a diploma course in Graphic Designing and later obtained a certificate in Television Production from the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI).  

He is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Solid Multimedia Limited, one of the most sought after television content production company in the country at the moment. The company also specializes in event management and has successfully executed some of the biggest shows held in the country.

      

“I remember when I was growing up, anytime a child was asked about his or her future career, the child will either mention becoming a doctor, lawyer, pilot or architect when he or she had no clue as to how to get there. For me, I always said boxing because the people closest to me in my society always talked about boxing and viewed boxers as great people whenever they talked about Azumah Nelson and others. On the other hand, I loved to draw so my dad decided to assist me realize my dreams and that was why I opted for a course in graphic designing instead of what I fancied, boxing”.

Explaining his journey into the world of multimedia content production, he said “on the completion of my course, I had my mandatory internship at Sifex Digital, now known as Ohene Media (OM) Studios. There, I was introduced to television production by Abraham Ohene Djan and it didn’t take long for me to start as a music video director in addition to designing CD labels. To succeed in this new field, I knew I had to get back into the classroom to learn the basics and be properly tooled”.

That was the genesis of Solid Multimedia Limited, a company he had to start with his personal savings and just a laptop in the bedroom of his then girlfriend, who is now his wife, Mrs. Phillipah Tetteh and mother of his daughter Dulcie Dede Tetteh.

“I came up with the name of the company after my first client described my work as solid to signify it was a good work. I was thrilled by the term and decided to name the company Solid Multimedia. After three years working in my girlfriend’s bedroom, I rented an office space and moved my operations there. I then employed two people as I was getting overwhelmed with the workload. After directing music videos for some of the best musicians at the time, we went on to win the Best Music Video Director at the Ghana Music Awards in 2008. To remain relevant in the industry, we continued to work hard and strive to raise the bar with each project we handled.”.

For the last five years, Solid Multimedia has been the power behind some of the best content on Ghanaian television at the moment including the very popular entertainment magazine show on multiple television channels, 30 Minitz, which also won the Best Entertainment Show at the 2015 Television Awards. Other content owned by Solid Multimedia are FASHIONgh, Extra Play List and Footprint TV. Other shows produced by Solid Multimedia are Who Is Behind and Celebrity Delivery TV.

As an event management company, Solid Multimedia in partnership with Bullhaus Entertainment has for the last three years been organizing Bass Awards, an annual awards scheme which seeks to recognize and celebrate musicians and other players within the Reggae and Dancehall fraternity. Other events managed by Solid Multimedia are FashionGH Weekend, an annually held fashion show, Sallah Carnival to commemorate the Idr Adhar celebrations and Footprint Poolside Praise.

In 2014, Solid Multimedia won a bid to manage the digital television platform, TV7, with Stip as the Channel Manager and head of the business unit responsible for the day to day administration and the planned strategic growth of the channel.     

“It was another chapter in my career going in to manage a television channel after producing content for various television platforms in Ghana and beyond. I took up that challenge knowing it was an opportunity to implement some of the ideas I have had for several years. The vision is to transform TV7 into a channel of choice for exciting family entertainment content”, he said.

According to Stip, his dream is to expand his operations to other strategic markets on the continent and also start movie production. “Without a doubt, I am hopeful of becoming the first Ghanaian to win an Oscar in the next decade or two and this is very possible. My advice to the younger generation is to believe in themselves, keep working hard and put God first”.