Agatha Amata is a renowned TV talk show host, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Dubbed ‘Oprah Winfrey of Nigeria,’ Amata has definitely left her mark in Nigeria’s entertainment and media industry.
As she turns the golden age, here is a profile on the media mogul.
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Early Life
She was born Agatha Nwakalor on November 4, 1969, in Lagos, to parents who were civil servants. Her father was a chief inspector at the Federal Inland Revenue, while her mother was a teacher.
The first of seven children, she lost her father, a civil servant, at a young age in Form 2, but her widowed mother single-handedly trained her and six other siblings to the university level.
She attended Saint Mary Private School, Ajala, Lagos, for her primary education and Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, for her secondary education. She graduated from the University of Jos with a degree in botany.
However, upon her graduation, she decided to pursue her passion in English language and film production.
Career
With the help of her husband, Fred, she started her popular TV talk show, Inside Out with Agatha, for which she is best known.
Inside Out, which started its recording at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Law auditorium, remains one of the longest independent television talk shows in Nigeria. Its first episode was aired on July 12, 1997.
It became the go-to place for Nigerians searching to unburden their minds as Amata provided a welcoming space where all kinds of discussions could be played out.
Inside-Out spawned an offshoot, Inside-Out Extra, but it wasn’t enough for Amata, and she began to look beyond independent producing for other ways of creating content across various media.
She produced her first home video, The Addict, as a follow-up to an experience of substance abuse that was first shared on the show. She followed this with Widow, also an adaptation of an Inside-Out story, and Disguise in 2018.
This led to the birth of Inside-Out Media Ltd., a media consultancy and production firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, which created RAVE TV in 2014, and also a radio station situated in Asaba, Delta State, called TREND FM 100.5. Inside-Out with Agatha is viewed on 16 Nigerian television stations, including Star Times and DSTV.
The TV station, which began test transmissions on Monday, July 22, 2014, is open for outside productions, including music video shoots with a fully kitted studio located in Ilupeju.
Amata founded the Foundation for Effective Socio-Economic Change in Africa (FESECA), a nonprofit organization, an initiative that empowers the less privileged in society.
In a bid to give a chance to a new generation, she stepped down in 2017 as presenter of Inside Out after 20 years.
Amata is a motivational speaker who has spoken at both international and national platforms.
She has received over 50 awards, both local and international.
Personal Life
She met Fred Amata, a theater arts student and scion of one of Nigeria’s biggest showbiz families, while in school. They started as friends, then grew apart, before a romance led to marriage in 1994. Their marriage ended due to infidelity in 2005.
They are blessed with two children, a boy and a girl, who are in their 20s.
