As Chude Jideonwo marks 25 years in media and 40 years of life, the phenomenal Mo Abudu sits down with him for an extraordinary conversation, where he revisits the defining moments of his career, global impact, and personal transformation.
From Yale, Harvard, LSE, and Oxford to work on presidential campaigns across Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, Chude has shaped narratives across continents.
He talked about how he built RED | For Africa into one of the top five PR firms in the region and co-founded The Future Awards Africa, which has recognized young changemakers in 26 countries over 19 years.
Credit: @chudeity
When asked why he likes mentoring young and raw talents, he said, Reflecting on his mission to empower young talent, “One of my favourite things to do is identifying young people who are racked by self-doubt—because I was racked by self-doubt.”
He recalls telling Temisan at the start of his career, “We can talk about 100 issues, but this stardom is for you. I take delight in doing that because I remember the way people did that for me.”
Chude reveals his plans to change the nation
His impact extends to politics, a space he said he never planned to engage with until a friend challenged him to think beyond cultural transformation and into national change.
“That journey wasn’t part of the plan. What happened was that I have a friend; a screenwriter, and after the future awards have gone about nine or eight years, she said, if your goal is to change the country then you have to pay attention to politics. Then as young people politics was supposed to be dirty, he said you don’t have to enter politics, but you have to engage in politics and no country changes without politics. I’d never thought of that. So we began to think seriously about how we would use the Future Awards as a platform, not just for cultural transformation but for national transformation. So we began to do the summit. Facilitating meetings between young people and governors, presidents etc.” He revealed.
Chude’s global outlook was shaped by prestigious fellowships, including the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) and the London School of Economics (LSE).
He shared, “The International Visitors Leadership Programme was the first one, the US government selected young leaders across the world, and we spent a month visiting six US states. Now that I’m thinking about it those trips formed my global worldview. What it does is that it takes things that you spend months learning and they squeeze it. Also, it makes me think of myself as a global citizen.”
“Before LSE, I had stopped applying for fellowships—I just wanted to do the work. But this one was different; it was an affirmation of my journey.” He says.
The defining moment in Chude’s career came in 2016 when he trended on Twitter for three days amid public criticism.
“I was foolish—I would pick up my phone every morning and check social media. I broke down in tears and called my colleague, Remi.
“He gave me an intellectual answer, but I was just hurting. So I searched YouTube: ‘What to do when people hate you.’ I found a conversation between Oprah and Brené Brown. This was super soil Sunday. It was about five to six minutes and it healed me. And at that moment, I said to myself; I am going to do a show like this.”
This realization birthed #WithChude, now one of Africa’s most impactful interview platforms.
Another defining project has been Is It Your Money? A bold documentary on corruption.
“It’s an intimidating story because it involved the EFCC, FBI, Scotland Guard, Interpol, the subject wasn’t in Nigeria and I wanted to talk to her.
“It took us over a year to shoot this film, and that’s how that story came about. I had so much fun. Is It Your Money? Is one of the highlights of my life. You people have not seen anything in the teaser. It’s a Diezani story, and it’s a Nigerian story.”
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