Mr. Adeniyi Bakare is the owner and founder of Happy People Magazine, a magazine that deals with lifestyle of the youth.
While in the university, he was told that he could not achieve his dreamsof owning his own magazine but still strives to achieve success.
In his interview with Naij.com, Mr. Adeniyi tells his story explicitly.
Tell us more about yourself?
My name is Bakare Adeniyi. I grew up in Ibadan, Oyo state. I schooled in Ibadan as well. I attended Morning star primary school, Ikolaban secondary school and I attended Covenant University then moved to Bowen University. I only spent one year in Covenant before I left to Bowen.
Why did you leave?
I had an uncle there who asked us to leave when they started changing so many rules like you hadto be a member of their church to attend the school and things like that so he advised he was leaving so my elder brother and I should leave.
How many kids are you?
We are four children. I am the second. Three boys and a girl.
So what did you study in the University?
I studied Information Technology in Covenant University and Computer Science in Bowen University.
Are you married?
Yes I am with two beautiful girls.
When did you get married?
I got married in 2013 So how did you end up in media?Actually, when I was in covenant, I was just a regular student going to classes. We used to have this class called Entrepreneurial and development studies. The current VC used to be the lecturer and i was motivated when she asked us,
“What do you want to be in the next five years?” and I wrote that I will love to work for a media house. Then she asked me, “What do you want to do tomorrow that will take you there and that made me think. When I got home, I told my mom that I wanted to start a magazine. I always see things from a different view and people tell me that a lot. So that’s my magazine ‘Happy People’ started.
When did you have your first magazine published?
I had my first magazine published in 2004.
Has it been consistent since 2004?
It stopped at a point, because there were distractions. I was doing it out of passion by going to get the news, editing, then publish. At a point, People were giving me advice on how to take it to a greater level. But my main distraction was when I had to work for Youth Dynamix, YDX. I had to stop a lot of things. I was also organizing awards for private universities so that took my time also. I used to organize private university awards with Soundcity which were in 2008 and 2009. Some of the schools were Igbinedion, Bowen, Babcock, Leadcity etc. It waseverywhere in the papers.
Did your family support you?
When I started the magazine, only my mom supported me. My father and my brother didn’t believe in the magazine. It was really difficult because I didn’t have anything to show for it. I didn’t even have a laptop to design the graphics for the magazine, so it made it difficult for peopleto believe in. I did the first edition with my mom’s help which prompted my brother to come on board.
As a student, how did you feel when your first two edition of your magazine didn’t work out?
I really didn’t bother myself about money. I remember praying to God to just publish one and I did. My mom gave me some money for it which I had already promised that I would pay back as soon as I publish. It didn’t go that way at all. At that time, within the period of one year, you might sell only three a day which was not productive.
The money comes in bits.So how do you get revenue?
From adverts which starts from N200,000. That’s my main value. The magazine is free and not sold at any cost so most artistes want to put themselves out there because they know it will reach the masses. Most of the time, I reduce drastically for upcoming because I like to help them knowing how difficult it will be to be on top.
So what hags kept you going all ths while?
Money does not drive me as a person. When I want to do things, I do them out of my passion. My dad called me a failure but the truth is, I failed a lot of times. Whenever I failed, I just laugh and move on. I have mastered the act of failure so I know when failure is coming. So that drive has driven so many of my projects that ended up a huge success. When I was in Bowen, there was a popular magazine then among students but when we started, they stopped because they were in competition with me.
The first and second edition was really bad so it braced me for the third issue. The third issue was amazing because I put my all into that. I slept in the printing press to make sure there were no errors. So it came out really well. I am on the 14th edition.When my team saw me holding the magazine, they didn’t know it was our magazine because ofhow good it looked. We sold 100 pieces in one day.
When Tunde Dynamix came to Bowen and saw that edition, he loved it and even put it in his editorial. Tunde Dynamix owns one of the most popular University magazines called Dynamix.After a while, Jimmy Jatt called me to do business together and we did the Campus jump off. So now I have mastered my movements and I know when and how to do them.
I've also had a fair share of disappointments. I have worked for people without getting anything.There was this 9ice concert a couple of people and I invested four million. When it was time for the show, 9ice was nowhere to be found although he eventually performed and he didn’t do it intentionally. We were in Ibadan for two days and someone called him to perform in Osogbo.
He didn’t know that his event was broadcasted live when people saw him at the event instead of being in Ibadan so they were seeing him in Osogbo. The show flopped. We sued him but we didn’t go through with it at the end of the day. We made only 250,000 naira out of 6 million naira.I think what has got me this far is that I have failed several times and I have mastered that act.
I remember when I made my first one million; I just went home and called some painters to paint the whole house.
When My Dad came back he was shocked and started praying for me.
But my mom has always been supportive. There was a time she had to sell her car to raise money for me.I don’t smile with artistes as I happen to know many of them but I keep it strictly professional.
Do you write your articles?
I don’t. I have reporters because I want my magazine to be co-created. I want the contents to come from the consumers so I just look for people who have write-ups that appeal to my type of audience. So I will rather talk to them to work with me and thatworks for me. For every edition, I put my own opinion on the feedback page. That way, I can air my own views.
So how do you describe your magazine?
It’s a youth lifestyle magazine. It’s everything that has to do with the youth that we try to portray.
So how did you feel when you made your first million doing what you like to do best?
I went to the bank with my brother Sincerely, I was indifferent. Before I had the one million, I had done a couple of big deals so it was not really a big deal anymore. I just called my friend to have a drink to celebrate.
How often do you publish?
Quarterly in a year.
Is your magazine your full time job?
No its not.
Has it been a challenge as the CEO of Happy People?
Yes it is. The environment and getting the news is difficult. When you call an artiste, they procastinate and end up leaving you hanging.
Any big magazine sees you as a completion. At the same time, I thank God for those challenges as well. It makes me step up.
The printing process is equally difficult because sometimes we get scammed. Financial support was also a challenge. Brands need to believe in the future and not the present.
What are your future plans for the magazine?
I intend to build an empire like a big media housethat supports the youths and their interests and ideas.
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