Nigerian dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and fitness coach, Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau-Ameh, popularly known as Kaffy, is well-loved and admired for her dancing abilities, and the fact that she successfully turned her passion into a lucrative career.
Onepisode 7 of Binging with GameChangers, she speaks with show host, Seyi Banigbe, about her journey. She has built a solid career out of contemporary dance in a society that gives very little regard to dance professionals, and has attained status of dance icon despite the odds.
Kaffy had always loved dancing right from her childhood; she also participated in a lot of sporting activities in her schools, including taking ballet classes.Although born into wealth, she lived in poverty for a while when at at age 11, her parents separated. She and her siblings lived with their mum, and life became so difficult that they found it difficult to eke out a living.
They literally consumed garri for seven months consecutively. Kaffi catered for herself by and her family by going to the farm – she would harvest vegetables and sell to make money.Later on along the way, she joined an aerobics class at the National Stadium in order to lose weight and was always regular and punctual.
This prompted her aerobics teacher to appoint her to lead the class whenever she was unavailable. Being a dancer, she infused dancing into aerobics and the class loved it, always wanting her to lead whenever the teacher was absent. She got promoted and began to train athletes.During one of her weekends at National Stadium for dance rehearsals and workouts, Kaffy was approached by a promoter for a modelling job.
Part of the modelling activity was choreography. Even though she didn’t want to do the choreography at first, she later agreed and asked the promoter to allow her to do a solo performance. Unknown to her, many artists were present at the event and loved her performance. The rest as they say, is history.She is the founder of Imagneto Dance Company via which she provides varied services around dance, choreography and fitness to individuals and corporate organizations alike.
Kaffy has successfully built a chain of businesses from her dancing that includes a fitness/wellness outfit, a dance convention and an apparel enterprise. She is known for her dance moves, stamina level and most importantly, her professionalism.She has featured in numerous award-winning musical videos for many A-list artistes in Nigeria and across the globe. She won a Special Recognition Award at the Headies in 2018 for her significant contribution to Nigeria’s entertainment.
Thecorporate gamechanger on this episode is Tayo Odunsi, a real estate professional with experience in Nigeria’s real estate sector spanning well over 13 years. Tayo studied Estate Management at the University of Lagos and gained real estate experience across firms like GT Homes, ARM Investment Managers and FBN Capital. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of NorthCourt, a real estate investment solutions firm with a staff strength of over 30 people. NorthCourt was awarded by Euromoney for best Real Estate Consultant & Advisor In Nigeria, 2017 & 2018. Nigeria’s real estate sector is not the most structured or regulated but Tayo is bringing his wealth of knowledge/experience in real estate to bear via the trainings, research, transaction structuring and property brokerage services being provided by NorthCourt.
Watch Episode 7 here:
Kaffy
Tayo
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