UPDATE GIGS MEDIAUPDATE GIGS MEDIA
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Business & Finance
  • Education
    • Scholarships
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • Travel
    • Dating & Relationships
    • Do it yourself
  • Tech
  • Privacy Policy
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Facebook Twitter Instagram
UPDATE GIGS MEDIAUPDATE GIGS MEDIA
CONTACT US
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Business & Finance
  • Education
    • Scholarships
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • Travel
    • Dating & Relationships
    • Do it yourself
  • Tech
  • Privacy Policy
UPDATE GIGS MEDIAUPDATE GIGS MEDIA
Home » Centre Stage: Feyikemi Akin-Bankole and Simi Badiru
Tech

Centre Stage: Feyikemi Akin-Bankole and Simi Badiru

adminBy adminMarch 3, 2023No Comments7 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Email
centerstage-design-3A.png
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email


In todays’ edition of Centre Stage, I share parts of my conversations with Feyikemi Akin-Bankole and Simisola Badiru. Feyikemi and Simisola – fondly nicknamed “F&S” by secondary classmates years ago – were recent grantees of Spotify’s Africa Podcast Fund which was announced in October 2022.

On every episode of “F&S Uncensored”, Feyikemi and Simisola discuss pop culture, Nigerian music, and share personal experiences like any best friend duo would in real life. 

F&S Uncensored

I’m bringing F&S to the Centre Stage because their podcast—which covers everything from Nigerian pop culture, their personal lives, new music they are listening to, and much more—is a bridge that connects many Nigerians in the diaspora to a home they miss and love. 

F&S Uncensored meets the Africa Podcast Fund

Feyikemi Akin-Bankole: We knew Spotify had plans to announce the grantees that day, but we didn’t know what time the announcement would go live on social media. We just randomly opened our Twitter and saw ‘congratulatory’ messages in our mentions. 

Simisola Badiru: It was actually your tweet that broke the news; when I saw my mentions blowing up, I thought I was in trouble or something. 

Badiru and Akin-Bankole were two out of thirteen burgeoning African creators who were selected to be a part of the Africa Podcast Fund initiative. Other grantees include Joseph Nti, host of Simple Accra, a well-loved Ghanaian podcast (Ghana); Joan, Kibz, Nyamita, and Owen, co-hosts of The Sandwich Podcast (Kenya); and Gugulethu Nyatsuma, host of After School is After School with Sis G.U (South Africa). 

FAB: We felt like we deserved to be on the list. We’ve been running “F&S Uncensored” for four years now and being a part of the Africa Fund is a win for us. 

SB: Also after a few years of running a podcast, you are bound to experience some stagnancy and monotony; but we made a promise to ourselves to be as disciplined as possible with “F&S Uncensored”. For example, we record our episodes every Sunday. No excuses. 

And their discipline paid off because “F&S Uncensored” has a 4.9-star rating and 100+ positive reviews on Spotify. But before Akin-Bankole and Badiru launched their podcast, they formed a sustainable friendship over their shared love of Nigerian music and conversational gist.

Feyikemi Akin-Bankole

F&S Uncensored: Friendship, music, and keeping things authentic

SB: Feyikemi and I met on the first day at secondary school. She was talking to my younger brother and sort of invited me to join the conversation. But I wasn’t having it because I really didn’t want to go to that school; my heart was set on Greensprings. I definitely had a bad attitude in the beginning.

FAB: Yes, you did. 

SB: But we ended up in the same class and over time formed a friendship.

FAB: We discovered that there was a mutual love for Nigerian music and Wizkid

SB: And back then, people in our social circles didn’t really rate Nigerian music like that. But Feyikemi and I were obsessed with the Naija sound and were really plugged into the industry. 


Long before Ayodeji “Wizkid” Balogun became a global music phenomenon, his debut studio album, ‘Superstar’, was packed with tracks that have stood the test of time. Songs like Pakurumo, Scatter the Floor, and Love My Baby are classic songs loved by people of all ages and pedigrees. 

In 2021, Flutterwave announced Wizkid as its global brand ambassador and face of its remittances solution, Send. Flutterwave isn’t the first African fintech brand to bring a Nigerian celebrity on board as a brand ambassador; Chipper Cash launched its services in the United States with some help from Damini “Burna Boy” Ogulu. 

Advertisements
Advertisements

With several awards under Wizkid’s belt, including 1 GRAMMY, 2 BETs, and an Apple Music “Artist of the Year (Africa) Award, it is safe to assume that Akin-Bankole and Badiru saw a future superstar long before everyone else caught on. 


FAB: We were early fans of Wizkid even when a lot of our friends didn’t understand why we loved him so much. 

SB: But look at Wizkid now, right? Everyone loves Wizkid, including non-Nigerians. This was not the case back in 2011/2012.

Not only did Akin-Bankole and Badiru bond over their love for music, they also shared mutual interests in media and attending live music concerts and festivals in Lagos, even at a young age. 

SB: Something about seeing red carpets and tables at concerts made me realise I wanted to work in media in my lifetime.

FAB: And because we always went to these events together and openly talked about our experiences in school, people nicknamed us, “F&S”.

SB: We even had a joint 13th birthday party as “F&S”. So when we decided to start this podcast 4 years ago, we didn’t have a hard time coming up with a name. 

FAB: We added “uncensored” to the title as a way to inspire us to talk about anything and everything without censorship. 

SB: We started off by focusing on our love and passion for music and then over time, we covered everything from university life to quitting jobs to moving back to Nigeria and even going through NYSC 

FAB: And even though I don’t currently live in Nigeria, I still know what’s going on back home because of the conversations I have with Simi on the podcast. “F&S Uncensored” represents Nigerians who live around the world; we connect them to home even though they are away from home. 

Simisola Badiru

F&S Uncensored: Work/life balance, favourite artists, and Spotify playlists

Though Akin-Bankole and Badiru are verified citizens of Generation Z, they have impressive career milestones under their belt with a clear potential for explosive growth. Badiru, for example, curated music for Apple, provided editorial services for Culture Custodian and until recently, was an account executive at LSFPR, a Nigerian-owned PR agency. 

SB: I’ve always worked with creative organisations so finding a balance between my 9-5 job and personal projects hasn’t been difficult for me. I currently work for TRACE as Head of Artist Services & Relationships and my role provides a lot of flexibility which has allowed me to nurture my creative side. 

Akin-Bankole’s desk job is in Human Resources, but her work experience is refreshingly diverse and industry-agnostic. Like her co-host and best friend, Akin-Bankole curated music playlists for a media company – Bounce Networks – and did editorial work for Culture Custodian

FAB: I’m a more disciplined person because of my 9-5 job and I apply that discipline when I’m doing my creative work. I give my time to my corporate job but after the workday ends, my creative side comes to life; I listen to music, send new songs to Simi, and work on the podcast. I feel like I have a work-life balance, but I intentionally invest in my creative career. 

After the conversation wrapped up, I asked Simi and Feyikemi to share new artists, playlists, and songs that they currently have on rotation. All their recommendations can be found on Spotify.


Simisola Badiru’s listening list

F&S Rotations
  • About Time – Sudxn ft. Fadi
  • SOS – 9t9
  • Africa Heat

Feyikemi Akin-Bankole’s listening list

RADAR Africa
  • SGawd
  • Mafeni
  • Jorda Rae
  • Gone Abroad
  • Ginger Me

Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox

More latest updates

  • 👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Content moderators sue Meta in Kenya
    👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Content moderators sue Meta in Kenya
    by admin●March 23, 2023
  • 🚀Entering Tech #24: Breaking down software engineering
    🚀Entering Tech #24: Breaking down software engineering
    by admin●March 22, 2023
  • How WomHub wants to facilitate female entrepreneurship in Cape Town
    How WomHub wants to facilitate female entrepreneurship in Cape Town
    by admin●March 22, 2023
  • Factor[e] launches $600,000 venture studio for Africa
    Factor[e] launches $600,000 venture studio for Africa
    by admin●March 22, 2023

Share this:

  • Tweet
Advertisements

Advertisements

Related

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
admin
  • Website

Related Posts

👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Content moderators sue Meta in Kenya

March 23, 2023

🚀Entering Tech #24: Breaking down software engineering

March 22, 2023

How WomHub wants to facilitate female entrepreneurship in Cape Town

March 22, 2023

Factor[e] launches $600,000 venture studio for Africa

March 22, 2023

Interview with Dieudonné Kayembe, founder of Motema based in Kinshasa

March 22, 2023

Registering to file tax returns with the LIRS eTax platform

March 22, 2023
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Don't Miss
Tech

Has NFT found its biggest mainstream proponent yet in Africa?

By adminApril 13, 2022

The past few days have been good for NFT in Africa—Nigeria and Ghana, to be…

Share this:

  • Tweet

👨🏿‍🚀 TechCabal Daily – MTN is accelerating mobile money in Nigeria

April 13, 2022

Didi shuts down operations in South Africa

April 13, 2022

Back from the future: How embedded finance changed the world

April 13, 2022

Can Hytch succeed where GoMyWay failed?

April 13, 2022

More African central banks are considering digital currencies

April 13, 2022

This bootstrapped drone startup is promoting smart farming in Zimbabwe

April 13, 2022

The Next Wave: Africa does not know itself

April 13, 2022

TechCabal Daily – Kenya’s new law for content creators

April 14, 2022

INDUSTRY EXPERTS DISCUSS THE GROWTH AND FUTURE OF FINTECH IN NIGERIA AND INDIA IN SYMPOSIUM BY CLI COLLEGE, NIGERIA AND CHRIST UNIVERSITY, INDIA

April 14, 2022

28 days after launching investment arm, Luno crosses 10m user base

April 14, 2022

👨🏿‍🚀 TechCabal Daily – The war for Twitter

April 15, 2022

Digital Nomads: Julian Owusu’s journey from football to fintech

April 15, 2022

In the wake of explosive accusations against Africa’s most valuable startup, Flutterwave co-founder speaks

April 16, 2022
Advertise with us
update gigs advert images
LATEST

👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Content moderators sue Meta in Kenya

March 23, 2023

🚀Entering Tech #24: Breaking down software engineering

March 22, 2023

How WomHub wants to facilitate female entrepreneurship in Cape Town

March 22, 2023
About Us
About Us

We are dedicated to bringing you news from around the world that is entertaining, educative, informative and self inspiring.. Your source for the lifestyle news.

We're accepting new partnerships right now.

Email Us: updatemedia050@gmail.com

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from Update Gigs Media about entertainment, sports, lifestyle, art, design and business.

Facebook Twitter Instagram
© 2023 Designed by Ntechy Digital System.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.