I  Can’t Do Unprofitable Business- D One 

Dayo Adeneye is one of the successful men behind
Kennis Music. He is the Vice President Kennis Music.
The helm of affairs at Kennis Music, the famous
recording label that signed on 2Face Idibia, Baba Dee,
and others artistes usually celebrate Kennis Music
Easter Fiesta, a musical concert that aims to
celebrate Nigerian artistes. In this chat with Tijani
Adegbola, D One as he is well known in the
entertainment industry bares his mind on the
challenges of Kennis Music Easter Fiesta. 

Challenges of Kennis Music Easter Fiesta
Anything worth while in life, be it project, plan you
have in mind, the major challenge is always capital. I
mean money to execute the ideas you have in mind. If
you see any mechanic by the road side, he would surely
tell you he has a business idea. So, in Kennis Music
case, there is nothing different. If you have that
idea, the next thing is money to start it. Initially,
it was money to start the event. Then we envisage that
it is a big platform where Nigerian artistes could be
celebrated, showcase our culture and their talents.
So, that was what we started with. Due to the capital
involved, we need to start with our own artistes. I
mean artistes under Kennis Music whom we could
convince that let’s do this within us. You are a
member of this label, let’s do this for this label.
Support your own thing to grow. Eventually, other
people bought into it, artistes that were not even on
the label started supporting us. Other artistes felt
it is a platform they like to showcase themselves.
From the second year of this concert, we had been
supported by artistes on another label. Artistes from
R&B, Fuji, Juju, Hip Hop had been parts of the success
of the event since the second edition. We thank God.
In 2008 we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the
concert.

Kennis Music Easter Fiesta Objective
It was just the extension promotion of our artistes.
It was part of the ways to promote our artistes aside
radio, television stations. We planned it on the
objective that many Nigerians who watch and listen to
them on radio and television could interact with them.
I mean they would say I watch 2Face live on stage
yesterday at Kennis Music Easter Fiesta. They might
not have had that opportunity if not because of Kennis
Music. They can boldly say this perhaps within their
friends without paying outrageous price or go true
unnecessary stress to watch an artiste live on stage.
So that was the thinking behind Kennis Music Easter
Fiesta. It was also to celebrate the label, promote
our artistes, and find something to celebrate in
Easter. Our joy is not just to go Grammy or Kora
Awards to start making noises. We want products we
could celebrate that are authentic Nigerian. Another
area is, we didn’t want to do another awards show
because every body is doing awards. So, we said to
ourselves that we are going to do something different.
Therefore, this was why we created Easter Fiesta.
Every year, the event is gaining more awareness. 

Rotation of Easter Fiesta Concert
People say we just chose Easter for our concert and
forget any other month to do something else. So, to be
honest with you, we divide our year into quarters.
January to March is one quarter. So, every three
months like that. In addition, we have calendar of
events. We also have events that we celebrate within
each quarter. The first quarter is usually Grammy and
Easter Fiesta. In the second quarter we have Summer
Jam, which we did for about two years. We also have
Nothing Hill Carnival which we travel to London to
cover. In October, we usually have Independent Day
Show which we took to London two years ago. By and
large, the challenges are capital. We are business
men. In as much as we say we are promoting Nigerian
culture, music, you don’t do it to the level where you
would be in bankrupt. When government support is not
coming, corporate bodies are not supporting, you are
doing all this to rise up the Nigerian artistes
because it is through this forum they get expose to
the developed world. For instance, two years ago, when
we did Independent Day Show, we took over 11 artistes
to London. Much of it came from our own bill with
little support from Virgin Nigeria. Since then, we
have not seen anybody to come forward to say guys we
love what you do and we want to support you. That is
why I said earlier that capital really does lots of
things and it delays as well. It is vice versa. I have
to be honest with myself, I’m a business man. I have
children at home. I need to pay my children school
fees. I have to pay my house rent and fuel my car. So,
I can’t continue to do business that is not lucrative.
We have ideas and project on ground but suddenly,
capital just hinder those ideas to be executed. People
now associate with Kennis Music at every Easter. They
associate with us because we planned it in that way.
One of my lectures during my university days always
say that where ever you find yourself as far as any
profession is concerned, dominate it. So when they
think of that sector you are, you quickly come into
the picture. This is actually our objective with
Easter Fiesta.   Whenever there is Easter period,
people associate with us. We thank God for that
because we put all our efforts to achieve this. 

Kennis Music Marketing Strategy
Yes, everybody wants to be in Kennis Music. There is
no magic formula to it rather than dazzling and
dribbling you up and down. We thank God for good
education we have. Kenny Ogungbe is an accountant. We
both have our first degree. I have first degree in
Business Administration. I have Masters in Radio and
Television Production. We don’t just jump into this,
we study what we are doing. We have solid education in
what we are doing. Another strategy is, we have
passion for what we do. We enjoy doing what we do. I
think that gives us the edge above any other person.
We didn’t do it because of money. Had it been we went
into because of money, the first five years money was
not coming, we would have quit. We didn’t because that
is what we wanted to do. If you have any business
idea, make sure it is something you want to do. If you
are a shoe cobbler, be the best at it. Be the best on
your field no matter what it is. Don’t be ashamed of
what you do. It would pay off one day. It would reward
you one day. When we started, people would laugh at us
that we just want to music. You can’t work at a bank?
You are not serious. 
Thank God today, that music has
made us to meet about seven presidents.