CNN LEADING WOMEN FEATURES- HOW AFRICAN QUEEN OF TV, MO ABUDU CONQUERED A CONTINENT

Mosunmola Abudu, Nigeria’s foremost talk show host, TV producer, media personality, human resources management consultant and entrepreneur keeps making headlines internationally and according to CNN, she is well on course to replace American icon, Oprah Winfrey as the world’s foremost TV show host, with the network describing her as “Oprah of Africa” on its program, ‘CNN Leading Women’.

To give her a boost at inception, Mo constantly sought Oprah for validation.

"When I started my journey into television, there was nothing that I didn't try, to reach this woman," says Abudu about her early attempts to contact Ms Winfrey.

"We sat for days on end, would send daily faxes, would send weekly faxes. At some point, when we didn't get a response, we realized that Oprah wasn't going to save us, she wasn't there to help us to get this talk show of Africa started. And then I just basically got out there and said 'let's just do the very best that we can.'"

Winfrey or not, in less than a decade Abudu has built a TV network creating 1,000 hours of programming yearly. And there are plans to make even more channels -- all under the Ebony Life banner.

"Of course, there were many knock backs along the way, many people telling me 'you can't do these things.' But I think what's important in life is that you believe in yourself and the things you can do."

The drive to be on TV for Abudu started with a "deep-seated passion to tell Africa's story."

"A couple of years ago I stood there with a microphone, and just randomly stopped people in the street," explained Abudu. "I said: 'When you hear the word Africa, what comes to mind?'"

"I heard 'starving children, poverty, HIV, Mugabe.' I heard 'babies with flies on their faces.' And my next question was: 'Why do you think this of Africa?' And the response was: 'It's what I read in the newspapers, it's what I see on television.' Because that's the popular notion of Africa."

Not if Abudu has anything to do with it. Her show celebrates a very different continent, one brimming with entrepreneurs, academics, and artists, all taking their place on her coveted couch.

"It's glossy, it's got razzmatazz," she says about her network's distinctive style.

"It shows that there's a new generation of Africans out there that want this content they can identify with, that speaks to them."