A quick dive into Banky’s success story
It is hard to imagine now but at some point, “BANKY W” was an unknown name in the Nigerian entertainment space but all that changed after the release of two of his hit singles “Capable” and “Ebutemetta”.
For those who don’t know, “Banky W” is a short form of his name Olubankole Wellington. He was born in New York but subsequently had part of his education in Nigeria and completed his tertiary education in New York. He returned to Nigeria much later in 2009.
Banky W had been in the entertainment business as far back as 2005 when he released his first studio album “back in the building” but he didn’t become a household name in NIgeria until his hit single “Ebuttemeta” was released years later. Banky went on to release three more studio albums over the course of his musical career “Mr Capable (2008)”, “The W experience(2009)”, “R&BW(2013)”.
Banky W founded E.M.E in 2002 while studying in New York and he later established the label in Nigeria after relocating to Lagos in 2008. The first music artiste signed by the label in 2009 was “Wizkid”. The record label signed a few more artistes like “Shaydee”, “Skales” and “NIyola”. In fact, in an exclusive interview with popular TV personality Ebuka, Banky revealed that the label would have signed superstar musician “Tiwa Savage” but it didn’t happen because they were short of funds at the time. Unfortunately in 2018, Banky announced that the record label would be transforming into a full fledged media agency.
Banky was one of the first Nigerian music stars to bag an endorsement deal with heavyweight tech company “Samsung” at the time. He had also been an ambassador for Tel.co giants “Etisalat(now 9mobile) and Cocacola prior to the Samsund deal. In fac, Banky W wrote the first theme song for Etisalat titled “0809ja for life”.
Banky W is aslo an actor. He first featured in a movie in 2016 when he acted the role of “Dozie Onwuka” in “The Wedding Party”. He reprised the role in 2017 in the sequel of the movie “ The Wedding Party 2”. He also featured in 2 other movies “Sugar Rush” and “Up North”.
In 2018, Bank W joined politics and announced that he was running for the Lagos’ Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives. He ran under the umbrella of the Modern Democratic Party and unfortunately he lost the election.
He switched allegiances to the People’s Democratic party in 2022 and announced that he was going to run for the same position again. As they say, second time is the charm, Banky won the primaries in his party and is now on course to clinch the seat pending elections 2023.
#Spotlight takes you through success stories of various Africans in all spheres of life achieving amazing feats and breaking boundaries either in Africa or abroad. In this edition, we are looking at Banky W’s amazing journey from entertainment to politics.
