Mo Abudu makes history as she becomes the first African to receive the Médailles d'Honneur

Mosunmola 'Mo' Abudu just made history by becoming the first person from Nigeria and Africa to receive the Médailles d'Honneur.

MIPTV, the leading international market for content development and distribution, honours senior executives for their significant contributions to the global television industry.

The CEO of EbonyLife Media received the 2019 Médailles d'Honneur or the Medal of Honor at a cocktail and awards ceremony which held in Cannes, France, at the InterContinental Carlton Hotel on Monday 8 April 2019.

Accepting the award, she said, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank MIPTV for this incredible award. My big dream was and still is, to change the narrative about my continent."

"As a continent, Africa has remained creatively silent for centuries. Our stories seldom told outside of our families and villages and often from the perspective of 'someone' looking in. It is therefore with great pride that we, at EbonyLife Media, bring our stories to the world with our TV series and our films."

Abudu was honoured alongside Ilene Chaiken, U.S. writer, showrunner and producer, Stéphane Courbit, chairperson of the Banijay Group in France and Jane Millichip, UK managing director of Sky Vision.

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Why Mo Abudu was chosen for this prestigious award

In 2013, Abudu launched Ebony Life TV which is often described as Africa's first Global Black Entertainment & Lifestyle network.

So far, the network has produced over 1,000 hours of original programming each year.

Mo Abudu joins three international TV CEOs that were awarded with the Médailles d’Honneur by MIPTV [ Twitter/MoAbudu] Pulse Nigeria

As the CEO, she took things a step further by venturing into filmmaking with the creation of EbonyLife Films. Since then, she has produced four of Nigeria's highest grossing films of all time - 'Fifty' (2015), 'The Wedding Party' (2016), 'The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai' (2017), and 'Chief Daddy' (2018).

Abudu has gone on to collaborate with international platforms like Netflix, the world's biggest streaming company. She recently signed a three-project deal with Sony Pictures Television (SPT).

This first of its kind between SPT and a Nigerian television company is expected to produce an action-drama based on the strong women soldiers who served for over 200 years in present-day Benin. They are known as Dahomey Amazon Warriors.