Skilled Migrant Professionals February 2015 | Page 47

Q&A

Lifestyle

Daniel Okoduwa

The journey of a migrant
entrepreneur who is making
a positive contribution to
the Australian community

My dream
brought me
to Australia

D

aniel’s dream started at the age of nine, by the age of 13 he was
working as a cartoonist in his native country of Nigeria. In 1999,
Daniel’s dream brought him to Sydney, Australia where he is now
making news headlines after his successful career in film production, music
promotion and art.
SMP: I believe you are a very talented and successful entrepreneur, so
what sort of business do you run?
Daniel: I am in the entertainment business. I own a company called
Scrim Entertainment. We are into film production, music, promotions, distribution and event management.
SMP: Tell us about your background. How and when did this idea come
up?
Daniel: I started singing at an early age and eventually ended up in a
boy band at the age of 13. At the same time I was working part-time as
a cartoonist for a popular Nigerian daily called The Nigerian Observer. I
was also a guest cartoonist for a popular television show called The World
of Cartoons. By the age of 15 I was already popular within the local community because of the love I have for the arts.
SMP: So did you take up any course or training in art?
Daniel: Not at all. In fact I was in a science class at school; however,
my love for art was so strong that deep inside of me I knew I was born to
interpret my life in art.
SMP: Why did you to come to Australia?
Daniel: My dream brought me to Australia. Even though I was relatively successful in Nigeria, I knew I had room for improvement so decided
to challenge myself by coming here. When I arrived in Australia in 1999,
the black entertainment scene was almost non-existent. That really got me
frustrated. I thought about leaving Australia to go to Canada but a friend
of mine advised that I should be patient and maybe help develop the local
industry. To me that was almost an impossible task especially when the
African population in Australia was, at that time, very small. It could take
months before I saw a fellow African on the streets. However, deep inside
me I held onto the conviction that nothing is impossible so decided to

stay. In 2002 I registered Scrim Entertainment. The first thing I did was to
start promoting African movies in Australia. It was difficult at first, trying
to introduce something different to a foreign country. At the same time I
had other jobs working as part time model, as a film extra at Fox Studios
and doing some landscaping jobs which were critical in financing my own
business.
SMP: Can you tell us a bit about your role at Fox Studios and did you
learn anything regarding your career especially in the film industry?
Daniel: Absolutely! I remember one day my agent called offering me a
job on the set of the Matrix (2&3). This was a film I watched on the plane
on my way to Australia and now I was being asked to do some work as an
extra on the sequels. The professionalism, creativity and hard work on set
got me inspired and fired me up so much that later in the year I made my
first film, Death is a Diamond. The story centred on conflict surrounding
diamonds that were being secretly smuggled in Ѽ