Stop copying trends blindly—Jay Foley to entertainment industry players

RADIO personality Jay Foley has advised players in the entertainment industry to stop following trends blindly and rather be committed in pushing Ghanaian acts to the top to help curb the dwindling prospects of the sector.

The popular voice-over artist opined that many players in the entertainment space did not appreciate talent enough to ensure that we maximize the prospects and talents available.

He made the call at the second edition of the Ghana Entertainment Industry Night forum held at the forecourt of the Lynx Manor in Achimota on Thursday, June 9, 2022.

“We do not love ourselves enough to work together to promote the bright minds and prospects we have. We are not even using social media to our advantage so we can cash out on all the platforms that pay for content.

Nowadays, all you see on social media is content from a certain gender exposing body parts just for likes when we are more than just showing off our bodily features,” said Jay Foleywho was a panelist at the forum

The event organised by Lynx Entertainment in collaboration with Empire Music, Events By Thea and a number of other brands is aimed at finding solutions to improve Ghana’s entertainment space.

Last night’s forum was the second time industry players were coming together to share ideas on the ways to identify problems and provide lasting solutions to them so as to make Ghana a force to reckon with when it comes to entertainment.

Among the panelists at forum which was under the theme, “Joining forces as an industry: Creating more collaborations among stakeholders” were Mrs Theresa Ayoade, CEO of Charter House and veteran Ghanaian actor, Adjetey Anang.

The discussions which were facilitated by media personality Kwame Farkye focused on the issues players in the entertainment space were facing post-COVID 19, bridging the gap for all facets of the entertainment industry to be aligned on the same page and brand creation and image.

Madam Theresa Ayoade indicated that there was a lot of untapped potential in the Ghanaian entertainment industry and pushed for actors in the space to be open to collaborations and discussions so as to push a national agenda to promote success.

According to her, the event organising industry was hard-hit by the outbreak of COVID-19 which did not allow people to gather in large crowds but she was quick to add that things were looking up this year following the successful hosting of the flagship event, the Ghana Music Awards.

Speaking about collaboration on a large scale, Mrs Ayoade added that Charter House operated an open-door policy and had successfully worked with some actors in the space to project Ghana’s image.

On his part, actor Adjetey Anang said there had to be a renewal of the mindset in the entertainment space if it needed a vibrant lifeline.
The veteran actor who shot into the limelight after starring in popular TV series Things We Do For Love noted that the players in the entertainment industry were always looking for “quick fixes for long-term problems”.

Apart from the panel discussion, there was also a networking session which saw many industry players interact with each other to find ways of ‘putting their money where their mouth is’ when it comes to collaboration.

There were a number of surprise performances from the likes of Reggie Rockstone and multiple award-winning Highlife star, K.K Fosu. A number of burgeoning talents were also given the chance to also showcase their talent on the big stage.

Some of the many big names in Ghana’s entertainment stage that graced the occasion included media personality Eddie Blay; CEO of 3Music Awards, Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu; Richmond Xavier Amoakoh and Nana Gyasi Owusu of Kejetia vs Makola fame and George Britton .

The Ghana Entertainment Industry Night is a monthly event which is held on the first Thursday of every month with the next edition set to take place on Thursday, July 7, 2022.