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Dr. Ope Banwo
Dr. Opeolu Banwo (born April 30, 1964), known as The Wealth Apostle, is an Entrepreneur, Attorney, Author, Motivational Speaker, Internet Coach and Corporate Solutions Provider who is known for his contributions to the field of Law, Entertainment and Internet Business in both his native country, Nigeria and in Omaha, Nebraska USA.

He has offices in Omaha, Nebraska, USA and Lagos Nigeria. He is married with 4 kids.

Early Life
Ope Banwo was born on April 30 1964, at Fadeyi in Lagos State, Nigeria as the 2nd son of Omotayo Odukoya Banwo and Comfort Adedoja Banwo. Ope Banwo suffered a huge tragedy at the early age of 14 when his mother was burnt to death on his birthday on April 30 1978 as a victim of the Ali-Must-Go riots by students against the military.

Education
He attended L.C.C Primary School in Fadeyi and Secondary School at Ijebu Ode Grammar School where he graduated 2nd in his set with a Grade 1 Certificate.

He later attended the University of Ife in Oyo State [now, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State] from 1981-1985 where he graduated with a Second Class Upper Degree in Law and later obtained his Masters of Law, [LL.M] from University of Lagos in 1989 at the top 10 of his law class.

Dr Ope Banwo holds several degrees in law including LL.B [1985], B.L [1986], LL.M [1989] and a PH.D [2012].

He later immigrated to the USA and was admitted to the New York Bar, USA [1997]; Federal District Court of Nebraska, USA [1997]. He was conferred with a Doctorate Degree in Law by Ashwood University, USA in 2012.

Career and Achievements
Ope Banwo joined the firm of Arthur Andersen and Co in 1989 as a management trainee in the Tax and Business Advisory section where he worked with several people including Toyin Munis, Seyi Bickersteth, Emeka Onwuka, Okechukwu Enelamah and a host of consultants who also went on to become successful executives and business people in Nigeria and abroad.

As a Management Trainee with Arthur Andersen and Co, he helped provide consultancy services to many companies in Nigeria including Kobe Steel, Shell Petroleum, and NNPC.

When he left Arthur Andersen in 1990, Ope Banwo joined the International Funding Group Plc as the Group Managing Director at the age of 26 and left to form his own company, First Aid Finance Ltd in 1992.

In 1997, barely 2 years after arriving in the USA, Ope Banwo started his second company after his law firm, Specialty Personal Services. The company specialized in providing temporary staffing services for hospitals and nursing homes in the Midwestern States. At the height of its operations, Specialty Personnel Services (SPS), had 5 offices located in 3 States - Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. The business closed down in 2003 and Ope Banwo went back to work full time at his law immigration practice.

Entertainment Business
Ope Banwo’s business in the Entertainment Industry spanned 3 major companies including Dove Media Plc, Stingomania Entertainment Ltd and Nollywood Blockbusters Ltd

World Dove Media Plc
As the Pioneer CEO of World Dove Media Plc from June 2005 – August 2006, he was the first to introduce media distribution through Fast Food Outlets and Post offices in Nigeria.

Disagreements with the board over the direction of Dove Media Plc in the context of a church owned organization resulted in his resignation from Dove Media. He then formed his own entertainment companies, Stingomania Entertainment Ltd with Nollywood Blockbusters Ltd as the distribution arm and Stingomania Records Limited.

He was Executive Producer, Promoter and Marketer of several blockbuster movies including; The Covenant Church (highest selling docu-drama by the Redeemed Church produced by Charles Novia), Two Brothers, Ogidi Omo, AIDS Patient, Tumini’s Song, Patrick, Triangle, Madam Dearest 2 (Produced by Tade Ogidan) and Abeni (Produced by Tunde Kelani); Ghetto Dreamz   (Produced by Ope Banwo and directed by Daniel Ademinokan] among others.

Stingomania Records Ltd
Ope Banwo founded Stingomania Records Ltd in 2006 few months after leaving Dove Media Plc. The record label focused almost exclusively in identifying new talents and grooming them for success in the highly competitive world of the Nigerian Music Industry.

In August 2006, Ope Banwo released four albums for four of his artistes including Baby Konga from Konga Same Ni’ by DJ ZEEZ; ‘Igwe’ by Midnight Crew and ‘Hip-Hop Flenjour’ by Doz Boyz. Three of the four albums became mega hits in Nigeria, making Stingomania a household name in the Nigerian music scene.

In 2012 Ope Banwo closed the records company in frustration at the lack of loyalty of some of the young artistes and lack of fidelity to their contract.

Stingomania Entertainment Ltd
Ope Banwo also operated an artiste management company that managed Nollywood Movie actors and actresses. He is the originator of several initiatives in the entertainment industry including the Fanbook Concept, Celebrity Books and different approaches to marketing and distribution in Nigeria. Some of the biggest movie stars he worked with, managed or consulted for include; Genevieve Nnaji, Funke Jenifa Akindele, Omoni Oboli, Segun Arinze, Fred Amata and Funke Adesiyan. He helped several of these artistes repackage themselves and adopt a professional approach to their careers and public presentations.

Law Practice
After his youth service in Enugu, he joined the law firm of Oragwu-Okechukwu and Co and worked there for one year before coming back to Lagos for his Master’s degree at University of Lagos.

He started his first law firm Banwo and Abidakun a co-partnership with Olusola Abidakun, his close friend and colleague at the University of Lagos. The law firm struggled without much success for a year before he left the firm to join Arthur Andersen.

After leaving Nigeria in 1992, Ope Banwo studied for the New York Law Exam and was admitted to the bar in 1997 and the Federal District Court of Nebraska the same year.

In the same month he was admitted to the bar in the USA, he started the Immigration Law Firm of Banwo Law Office in 1997 [Later changed to Banwo and Igbokwe LLC] despite not having any previous experience or training in immigration law. Over the course of 17 years the law firm has helped more than 1,000 immigrants with their immigration cases including Adjustment of Status, Deportation Defense, Work Permits, Special Petition and many different areas of immigration.

In 2009, he came back to Nigeria to start a branch of his U.S Law firm in Lagos Island with specialties in Secured Credit Transactions, Entertainment and Copyright Law, Commercial Litigation and Bank/Customer Relationship among others.

Ope Banwo has been involved in several land mark cases in Nigeria including the First Class Action Law Suit on the Margin Loan Crisis in the country; a billion naira lawsuit against Virgin Atlantic for copyright infringement of his movie, Ghetto Dreamz and several politically charged lawsuits.

Internet Business Vision and Ventures
Dr. Ope Banwo believes Africa presents unique opportunities for internet marketers all over the world to expand their business and a necessary platform for African businesses to expand their markets and profits abroad. He has pioneered several internet related initiatives in Africa including:

One of the first institutions to provide internet business training for people in Nigeria. Gathers internet business experts together from all over the world for 3 days each year to    discuss cutting edge issues in internet business. An internet networking portal for internet marketers all over the world Helping businesses in Africa amass the power and potential of affiliate marketers to sell more goods and services.
 * The Dot Com Awards
 * The American Internet Business School
 * African Internet Business Summit
 * Digital Works Nigeria
 * Netpreneur Chamber
 * www.AffiliateNetworkAfrica.com

This software builder won 2 different Product-of-The-Day Awards on JVZoo.com marketplace in November of 2016 and put him on the internet marketing map for making over $365,000 in 5 days of launching the software on the internet
 * Mobimatic App Builder

As part of his efforts to help the youths become self-employed on the internet, he organizes free seminars for youths all over Africa on how to harness the power of the internet to achieve financial freedom under his Omega Wealth Club platform.

He also offers ongoing Coaching, Mentorship, Training and Motivation for thousands of people on how to make money online.

As a Social Media Consultant, he created and managed social media campaigns for Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari with the Buhari4Nigeria.com and Buhari4Nigeria Facebook page during the 2015 elections.

He also owns the political blog www.hardtalknaija.com.

Charitable Works & Social Responsibility
He NGO Ghetto Dreamz Foundation, in collaboration with his Internet Newbies Academy Company, provides financial assistance, training and mentorship to the economically dis-advantaged; at-risk youths; and less privileged people in the society in order to help them achieve and maximize their potential.

As a man committed to public service and social responsibility, Dr. Ope Banwo made headlines when he started the Nigerian Market Ombudsman, a public initiative to ensure transparency, accountability and fairness in the market place (see www.marketombudsman.com).

Dr Ope Banwo also initiated the Ombudsman People’s Court, a syndicated TV Program on Nigerian Television stations; NTA, Galaxy TV and OGTV to help people resolve petty claims and disputes without going through the highly expensive and slow court process in Nigeria.

He is a public commentator and activist who comments on different social, political and economic issues and has been featured on many television Stations in Nigeria including Silverbird Television, Channels TV, TV Continental, and Nigeria Television Authority.

Personal Vision
Dr Ope Banwo strongly believe it is the duty of everyone to maximize their God-Given Talent in any area or industry they are positioned to be in to help others.

His personal mission is to apply his talents, skills and training to help as many people and businesses as possible find solutions to their problems, regardless of their industry.

He is passionate about social responsibility and charitable works and believes that service to humanity is the greatest work of life.

Books and Publications
As a prolific author, Dr. Ope Banwo has written more than 10 books on different internet business topics such as Internet Marketing; Social Media Marketing and Christianity and Business Management. Some of these are:


 * 1) Overcoming The Gideon Complex
 * 2) Kingdom Citizen
 * 3) Return Of the Prodigal
 * 4) Blessings Of Adversity
 * 5) Social Media Genesis
 * 6) The Income Angel
 * 7) I.M Rehab Manuscript
 * 8) Confessions Of A Guru-Wannabe
 * 9) LinkedIn Marketing Miracle
 * 10) Secrets of MLM Diamonds Revealed
 * 11) 10 Deadly Mistakes Of Social Media Marketing
 * 12) African Internet Business Manifesto
 * 13) Mobimatic App Builder Software