Oya Media Group celebrated for entrepreneurship, paying it forward
The founders focus on lifting up other Black-owned businesses while looking for partners to grow their own award-winning prodco.
Stronger together has been a mantra for veteran filmmakers Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George.
On the heels of winning Ones to Watch accolades from the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards last week, the co-founders of Oya Media Group have launched a not-for-profit arm and an entrepreneurship program designed to support 150 Black-owned businesses in Southern Ontario over the next three years.
The aim is to establish a barrier-free ecosystem for participants to succeed as industry professionals, sans the uphill battle Duke and Conteh George say they faced even after winning numerous awards for their work.
“The industry is very insular and I think for a long time, I felt like an outsider, never feeling part of the filmmaker community,” Conteh George tells Playback Daily. Duke adds she was ready to leave the industry altogether based on what she felt were lower expectations set for her, as a Black woman, regardless of her skill level or quality of her work.
Their Oya Scale Up Initiative has three models starting in early 2022: a three-month business affairs bootcamp for 10 Black-owned mid-career film, TV or digital media prodocs; a three-month immersive lab for 10 Black-prodco founders looking to transition to the immersive space; and a master class series for 30 Black producers to scale up sole proprietors.
Applications are now open for the program, which is funded by the federal government’s Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
As to their own future, Duke and Conteh George say they hope to attract investors and grow internationally. “We invested in ourselves. We bet on ourselves and we’re winning.”
The Gary Goddard Agency represents both Duke and Conteh George.
