Breakthrough: Three Firms Pen Deal To Manage, Promote Renowned Actor, Vugar Samson

A new page has been opened in the career of multi-award winning actor, Vugar Samson, fondly called ‘Grand Pa’. This follows a partnership agreement signed by the renowned theater director and producer and three Cameroonian companies.

Renowned actor, Vugar Samson talking to reporters in Yaounde 

With the deal, Bamenda-based La Liberte Arts Group (LALIG), Black Swagger and Yaounde-based Original Base (OG) Entertainment – three artistes management and promotion entertainment companies – will help manage and promote his artistic works to get international recognition and get him financial remunerations commensurate to his talent.

Details of the deal were unveiled during a press conference in Yaoundé Sunday 20 June 2021. Talking to reporters after the agreement, Vugar, said the deal will help shoot his dream of flying Cameroon’s flag high in movie industry on global stage. 

“I want my country to be recognized on the global scene not only in football but through the art, by being exemplary so that the younger generation can copy from me,” disclosed the celebrated actor who doubles as a career coach for budding artistes. 

L-R: Nyah Kenneth, Director of OG Based Entertainment, Vugar Samson and Akumbu Jones, Director of LALIG talking to reporters after historic deal

The 58-year-old who has acted over 50 films, radio, TV and stage plays, castigated defiant behaviors put up by colleagues in the industry and urged all and sundry to be a mirror that the society looks up to. Vugar who has 30 years experience in acting said his sole wish is to build a legacy in the younger generation by making them to understand that becoming renowned is the sector doesn’t necessary mean one should be involved in wayward acts. 

“I want to be as simple as possible. Let the public learn something from me so that when I leave here, I would have built a legacy in people and not in buildings,” he stated. This he said would push parents to want to send their kids to school to study performing and visual arts just like accountancy, medicine and other fields. 

If an attempt to walk his talk, Vugar, has organized capacity building seminars on acting for young Cameroonians between the ages of 6-25. This to him will help plant seeds for future actors and actresses as well as imbibed in them some moral ethics and reorient them on what the industry is all about.

Harping on his challenges, Vugar, evoked the issue of inadequate financial compensation which he said has not derailed him from pushing further. He condemned the maltreatment meted on them in 2008 by of the ministry of Arts and Culture. He said the ministry has till date failed to hand over the gold medal they won during FENAC as well as financial compensation among several others ills affecting the industry.

The deal according to the Executive Director of LALIG, Louis Jones Akumbu, will not only mark a new chapter for the actor but also help change the narrative of actors putting in their best for little or nothing. He said it will also put the works of the movie icon on global scene and help him get financial compensations equal to his skills.

The deal he revealed stipulates that the award-winning actor will produce series of skits for OG based entertainment while every aspect of his career is managed by the three firms. It is coming at a time Cameroon still lacks in the sector of artistes management as opposed to what obtains in other neighbouring countries. 

“This platform will give him a means to be able to be compensated for his hard work, talent and not the daily empty thanks he gets for works done over the years” Akumbu said. To the Director of OG Based Entertainment, Nyah Kenneth, Vugar’s patience and commitment in the industry added to his rich experience attracted them to want to promote him and also tap from his rich experience. 

The two managers stated that home produced content can better be sold by putting in place an industry through a home-grown, bottom-top knowledge-driven structure with trained persons in all the diverse aspects of the industry in order to breakthrough and hit the international scene. The group is currently executing a project in line with Oxford University lending arts and research workshop where Vugar has been chosen to represent Cameroon. 

Vugar Samson the man

Born in 1963, the 58-year-old legend popularly known as Grand Pa aka ‘Knack Your Kanda’ is a father of three. He got inspired into acting by ace CRTV journalist, David Chuye Bunyui and renowned educationist cum actor, Peter Suh-Nfoh Tangyie during his secondary school days when the duo staged a play on the campus of CPC Bali that made him to begin taking interest in acting related issues. 

The film practitioner, acting coach, writer, and lover of the arts was the co-founder and pioneer president of the National Actors Guild of Cameroon, NACA. He has won several national and international awards including: best all-round actor and best actor in the in the film ‘Cluster rights’ during the BAVENTIA award in 2008; emerged gold winners during the National Festival of Arts and Culture where he represented the North West region in the Royal Jacket theater Troop.

He also won best actor in the support role in the Red Feather award in 2018 in the film ‘bed of thorns’, won best actor award in the lead role in the Baka award this year in the film ‘Full Moon”; best actor in the lead role in the African Film and Culture Festival in Dallas, Texas; best Cameroon actor in the lead role in the Cameroon International Film Festival, CAMIFF, 2021 among several others. 

By Doh Bertrand Nua