WHy most african celebrities Are always broke after sometime

A celebrity is an individual with popular appeal,
prominence in a particular field, and is easily
recognized by the general public within a particular
society. The term celebrity is synonymous to wealth
and mostly used within the fields of sports and
entertainment.
However, when it comes to most of our Africa
celebrities (Entertainers), the term ‘celebrity’ is identical
to purely being ‘famous’ and substantially broke.
The reasons why most of our Africa celebrity
entertainers fail to achieve the all important aspect of
being a celebrity (wealth) will be considered in this
piece. What are our celebrities doing wrong
compared to western celebrities?
Becoming famous which is the first aspect of being a
celebrity is not very difficult, the real work is being
able to make a living or create some sort of wealth
from the fame (popularity).
For a person to be able to create wealth within any
society, such a person must perfectly understand the
market structures and the principles that control the
market-forces and consumers.
Most of our Africa celebrity entertainers remain broke
because they do not understand the market they find
themselves within; they are buying into concepts and
practices which make money in western markets but
do not make anything in their own markets.
After years of following and extensively writing about
both Africa and Western celebrities (If you care to
know, I write on western celebrities at
www.BeyondGossip.Com), it has become clear that,
there are two main means by which celebrities obtain
or create wealth.
The first model by which celebrity entertainers make
sizeable financial gains is through branding. This
money making model works perfectly well in both
Western and African markets.
Celebrity entertainers all over the world are able to
make returns by building a strong brand around
themselves (personality branding) or make branded
products to sell within their markets.
Personality branding brings in the various
endorsement deals and corporate interests. Branded
products like music, movies, etc can be sold for capital
gains.
The second model by which celebrity entertainers
make money is by using their fame. As I pointed out
earlier, fame can be easily achieved-positively or
negatively.
This is where Africa celebrity entertainers are getting it
wrong. In the West, you can make money by simply
being famous without any brand attachment.
Have you wondered how celebrities/socialites like
Amber Rose and Jordan-Katie Price are able to make
huge annual income just from being famous?
Fame or popularity sells in the West. In fact, it sells
equally as brands do. It doesn’t matter how the fame
is gained (negatively or positively), it sells out there.
By simply being famous in the West, a celebrity
entertainer can secure paid interviews and
appearances. I am talking about being paid
thousands and millions of dollars for these interviews
and appearances, simply because the person is
famous.
When it comes to our Africa entertainment market,
fame does not sell and it makes no or little money.
How many people would be ready to pay any Africa
celebrity entertainer thousands or millions of dollars
for a TV, Magazine or Radio interview or an hour
appearance at their daughters’ birthday gig?
Despite the fact that ‘fame or popularity’ does not sell
within the Africa entertainment market, our celebrities
spend almost all their time chasing fame, forgoing
‘Branding’ which rather sells.
Building a strong brand or branded products is
difficult everywhere but it is the key to breaking away
from being broke.
You can be the most famous African entertainer but
our entertainment market does not have structures to
allow any huge profits from being made out of ‘pure
fame’ so you will remain broke.
This is why I laugh out loud anytime I hear people say
‘there is nothing like bad publicity’. That is a huge
misconception.
In the West, there is nothing like bad publicity because
both good and bad publicity bring fame (popularity)
and you can cash in on being famous. But when it
comes to Africa, since an entertainer cannot make
earns meet solely from popularity, there is bad
publicity.
As an entertainer, you need to have a brand to enjoy
huge financial returns within the Africa market and
bad publicity opposes that (branding).
The ordinary consumer and corporate bodies in the
Africa entertainment market have little or no interest in
mere popularity, they go for brands. It must be
acknowledged that, there is a big disparity between
fans and consumers. Whiles an entertainer can pull
cash from the latter in the Africa market; it is not the
same when it comes to the former.
So, until Africa celebrity entertainers begin to gravitate
towards branding and give less relevance to
gratuitous popularity, many will continue to be broke.