Muyiwa Awoniyi, the manager of Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has revealed that the singer was not financially stable when they first met.
Speaking in an interview on the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, the talent manager shared the story of how their working relationship began and the trust that developed between them.
According to him, at the time he met Tems, she had only 200 Naira in her bank account and no real source of income.
“Then obviously, she wasn’t financially buoyant in any capacity. When I met Tems, she only had like 200 Naira in her account. And then I had a production company,” he said.
He further explained that despite her financial struggles, Tems showed generosity in a way that impressed him. Even when she had no income, she would still order food for them both.
“So, if I had money, I would buy food. Another thing that shocked me was that even though she didn’t have money, she will order food for us. She didn’t even have a way of earning. So, I just realised that she is different from everyone I have seen in Nigeria,” he added.
Muyiwa also talked about how they transitioned from being friends to business partners. He said Tems had initially asked him to be her manager, and they verbally agreed on everything. He planned to send her a formal contract, but something about how she handled the process made him change his mind and offer something even deeper than a typical management deal.
“There was something Tems did that made me say, ‘I don’t want to do a managerial contract with you, let’s do a company,’” he said.
He explained that usually, artistes are slow or hesitant to sign contracts, but with Tems, it was the opposite, she kept chasing him to complete and sign the paperwork on his side.
“When she asked me to be her manager, I agreed and said I would send her a contract to sign. We had already verbally agreed for everything. You know when you present paperwork for artistes to sign, it’s always tricky. But she was chasing me to sign my own part. And I have never experienced that before,” he shared.
He added that her approach to work made him feel that she was someone he could build with in the long term, and that’s why he decided to propose starting a company together instead of a regular manager-artiste arrangement.
“I was like, ‘You don’t mind signing paperwork? Hold on, let’s not do this. You’re someone I can rock with for life. Let’s start a company.’ Prior to this, Tems and I were friends for about three months and we never spoke about working together,” he said.
Also, watch an exclusive interview with Ayisi on the latest edition of Talkertainment below:
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