Oluwaseun Shobo is a creative entrepreneur and the founder of Voiceover Solutions Group – a business that oversees multiple brands in Nigeria and the United States.
Shobo’s journey into the world of voice acting began in childhood. “I usually will look for empty cassettes while I was younger and either mimicked ads or recorded interview sessions with my cousin,” he says.
“While people played with superhero toys, I was okay with a cassette and a cassette player,” he said, a hobby that later evolved into a successful career.
While still an undergraduate at the University of Lagos, Shobo identified a gap in Nigeria’s voiceover industry and responded by founding the academy to bridge the gap.
“The voiceover industry is a major contributor to the creative economy, yet it remains underexplored in Nigeria and Africa,” he says.
His journey began when he was invited to audition with a talent agency, not as a voiceover artist but as a singer for jingles. This opportunity opened doors for him in the industry, ultimately leading him to establish himself as a renowned voiceover talent.
Today, his Voiceover Solutions Group consists of several prominent brands – two based in Lagos, as well as Solutions LLC in the U.S. Through these platforms, Shobo has played a pivotal role in shaping the voiceover industry, providing training, talent management, and industry solutions.
With years of experience and a commitment to industry growth, Shobo continues to elevate the voiceover profession in Nigeria and beyond.
Shobo started his business with N250,000 in 2017, an amount he raised from his savings as a brand manager. “I was going to the studio for overnight sessions and weekend sessions to save some money for business,” he explains.
“Those were the funds that I used to pay for the hall as well as logistics for the first and second voiceover training,” he notes.
“It was from the funds saved from the training that was used to register it as a legal entity,” he adds.
According to him, after the initial capital, his friends invested seed capital into the business.
“When we started making progress, a few of my friends saw the mission and how far I had pushed it and have also invested some seed funds to help build the organisation’s capital.”
He says the business plans to build a talent agency that showcases African talents in the international market while expanding its US operation.
“We are planning to build a talent agency that will be the bridge between African talents and the international market, especially the US,” he says.
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He adds that the business also plans to build a Voiceover Village in the country, which according to him will be a creative resort while housing the academy to provide adequate accommodation for students.
“This is important for us because we have various students from different parts of Africa and Asia contact us and want to attend our academy, but we do not have adequate accommodation for them,” he notes.
Speaking on the industry opportunities, he notes that voiceover is beyond being used for advertising purposes and is used for animation, e-learning, audiobooks, apps and videogames, navigation systems, educational toys, documentaries and tours among others.
He notes that the country is yet to tap the enormous opportunity in its creative industry, saying that the industry can be a huge foreign exchange earner if given adequate support.
“With the freelance economy growing and the Pay to Play and audiobook websites growing exponentially globally, African and Nigerian voices are hired weekly, and they earn in foreign exchange,” he says. “Some have agents in other African countries and get paid in FX,” he adds.
Responding to a question on where he sees the country’s voiceover industry, he says he sees tremendous growth, especially with the adoption of AI.
On hurdles in the industry, he says weak enforcement of copyright law and inadequate support are major challenges in the industry.
“We have copyright laws, but we need the national assembly to find a way to make sure these laws are enforced.”
“That way we will have some sanity as regards voiceover talents and copyright and even the creative industry in general.”
On his advice to other inspiring voiceover entrepreneurs, Shobo says “Learn to calm down and thoroughly. Get trained and mentored.”
“Your growth will be evident in no time. If you are getting trained, don’t just go to sleep after your training. Start putting all you have learned into active practice,” he advises.
“Identify your strengths and red flags and try as much as possible to understand that 10 percent is the talent while 90 percent is understanding this business of voiceovers,” he adds.
