From Momagers, to Girl Bosses, Investigating the historical context of female talent managers in showbiz and how their presence and influence have evolved, it’s evident that female talent managers face unique challenges in a competitive, demanding male-dominated industry.
The need for female talent managers in showbiz is vital for various reasons asides from the opportunities that arise from their unique perspectives.
ering entertainment industry; their work benefits the artist they represent and influences the audience that consumes the work.
By exploring the roles of female talent managers in nurturing the careers of artists and highlighting the ways these women are helping artists navigate the complexities of the entertainment industry in Cameroon, the hope is that the present and next generation of women hoping to make their mark in showbiz are inspired. If words aren’t compelling enough, hopefully, their lives and successes will be evidence and the validation you need that your dreams are valid and attainable no matter how difficult the road may be. It’s time to pave your path, do not wait for a seat at the table; it’s time for you to bring your chair.
By SHARON NGASSAEva Robertyne Ndumbe popularly known as Eva Sobila or Eva Ndumbe is a Cameroonian born in the United States but raised in Cameroon who has an immense passion for Showbiz since she was a teenager. We have to dive in on her beginnings and journey to being an artist manager most specifically as MAGASCO’s manager. Eva Ndumbe is also station manager for a radio station called ELL FM 104.2, she’s VP of the Cameroonian Music Council powered by UNESCO, she’s AudioMack country ambassador and recently new inductee in The Recording Academy/Grammy Awards.
to test my abilities as a manager. Simultaneously, I was also a TV/ radio host and seeing Patricia “Panie” Bowen manage Koppo at that time was all the representation I needed to go start my career in management.
SMM: Interesting! So how did you meet your artist MAGASCO and what specifically drew you to managing him?
EVA: I met Magasco when I moved back to Cameroon in 2015 and we had worked together on a show created by Ebangha Njang called “Made In Cameroon Music Festival”. Late 2018, he asked me to manage him and we started working together in 2019.
EVA: The first quality to have is the willingness to learn. Like medicine, the music industry changes and as a manager you should be willing to learn new tips and tricks as time goes by. Another important quality is PATIENCE. Managing an artist can be frustrating especially when there are different opinions on the table. Communication is also very important.
SMM: The task of an artist manager has very often been reduced to answering calls from potential show organizers. Many however don’t understand that the business is evolving everyday. Could you please tell us in detail what the functions of an artist manager are, according to you?
EVA: This is another challenge for any manager. The artist being the “show” and the manager being the “biz” is one crazy combo when it comes to execution. Sometimes the artists just want to create without looking at the business side and that’s where we come in. Mind you, sometimes the manager can also be wrong. The trick I use to avoid confusion between the artist and myself is communication. When it comes to planning, we have a yearly plan set for each new year that we tweak as
EVA: Like I said earlier, the music industry changes everyday and we need to be open and willing to learn. I say this because industry professionals can learn from one another so we can go further and farther together. In my opinion, the first step of growth is bonding together before going out to the world.
and patience – in my opinion. The advice I will give to artists apart from the usual “make good music and be disciplined” is, read your contracts. Get a lawyer so they can read the contract and show you loopholes.
SMM: Thank you so much Eva. What advice would you give to any young girl out there wishing to work as an artist manager someday?
EVA: You’re very welcome.
The beginning will be tough, you will have people look down on you or treat you like you don’t deserve to be there but don’t give up. Put in your 200% and let your work speak for itself.
Eva Ndumbe is on Instagram: @evasobila
X (Formerly Twitter) : @evasobila
Facebook: Eva Sobila
SMM: Can you tell us a bit about your role as a manager and how you got started in the music industry?
How did you meet your artist PHILBILL and what specifically drew you to managing him?
MANUELA: I started management in a very funny way. Alors il faut savoir que j’ai été d’abord vixen dans les vidéos
pour les artistes comme Numerica, Minks, etc. pleins d’artistes a l’époque. Après je suis devenue makeup artiste. Et mon papa (le mari de ma mère Maurice Njoume), j’étais aussi dans ses clips. Donc because of him I grew up in Showbiz as well. Donc un jour je voyageais pour aller en Turquie et dans l’avion j’ai fait la rencontre de Tokee Lala (Artiste). On est devenue amies et un jour elle m’a demandé ’être son manager. I did not know what to do or how but she told me I can do it so I started managing her for a while et ensuite nous sommes aller à Buea et j’ai fait la rencontre de Philbill et je ne
veux entrer dans trop de détails mais voilà je suis devenue some manager quand il était chez Empire. I always believed in his talent and it’s been 7 years we are still working together.
SMM: What qualities do you believe are important for a successful music artist manager,
MANUELA: Alors pour moi le manager c’est la partie invisible de l’iceberg. Le manager c’est celui-là même qui par son boulot définira comment est-ce que son artiste se présente. Le manager en réalité c’est l’artiste , mais invisible parce que après c’est l’artiste qu’on voit mais si le manager ne fais pas bien son
SMM: What are the greatest challenges you face as a lady managing a male artist? Can you share some of these challenges and how you overcome them?
MANUELA: Being a woman in this world is already a challenge and now being a woman managing
his career?
Like, how do you go about strategizing and planning your artist’s career trajectory? Can you give an example of a successful career plan you’ve executed? If any.
MANUELA: En dehors d’être artiste, Philbill est un créative, donc ma stratégie est celle de conquérir l’Afrique francophone d’abord avant tout autre côté du monde. . Parce que le Cameroun est considéré comme un pays francophone whereas we are a bilingual country. So when we are done with French Africa we will enter the rest of the world. You can’t be trying to penetrate Ghana or Nigeria when you’re considered an artist from a Francophone country. So that’s why I start in Ivory Coast and other French African countries to conquer fans (which we have a massive following).
SMM: There’s a very pertinent question I have been wondering about artist managers. What is your approach to building and maintaining relationships with industry professionals, such as record labels, agents, and promoters?
MANUELA: I’ll have to laugh at this question and I can’t give you the right answer. Il faut toi même savoir créer les relations et c’est d’être humble et comment approcher les gens. Notre écosystème n’est pas structuré donc cette question m’embrouille un peu.
SMM: How do you navigate the rapidly changing landscape of the music industry, particularly with regards to streaming platforms, social media, and digital marketing? How do you approach marketing and promotional strategies for your artist?
MANUELA: Postive attitude ALWAYS. LOL Pour moi mon artiste je le veux proche du publique c’est pourquoi on fait toujours les promotions de proximité. Tu nous voir très souvent révolutionner les choses au Cameroun même si les autres ne le diront pas avec humilité. Notre façon de promotion c’est la proximité.
SMM: What advice would you give to aspiring artists looking to secure a strong female management and establish successful careers in the music industry?
MANUELA: “Female manager” ça me gêne beaucoup que c’est spécifique. Pourquoi une différence? Well I’ll speak generally. En tout cas le conseil que je vais donner aux artistes c’est d’avoir les artistes manager femmes parce que nous sommes loyales, on donne tout et calcule moins. Lorsqu’elle est convaincue qu’elle fait pour la bonne personne elle va tout faire! Les hommes même some très calculateurs! Et si le manager est sa compagne,, le travaille et la relation intime doit être bien séparés Si c’est n’est pas le cas il doit avoir du respect parce que artists are known to be very disrespectful to their managers. When there’s respect all goes well.
SMM Can you share any memorable experiences or achievements you’ve had while working as Philbill’s manager?
MANUELA:Il y en a tellement hein. LOL
Before “Dipita” like in 2019 I was walking around begging for schools/places to let my artist perform for free and some schools and places were refusing and one year later these same people called me begging to pay so he performs. LOL hardwork pays! When you know where you’re going, you have the passion and patience, you will always win. Hardwork pays!
SMM: How do you support your artist in terms of his mental health and well-being, especially considering the pressures and challenges artists face in the Cameroonian music industry?Africans (Cameroonians ESPECIALLY) tend to forget these artists are humans too and a lot of things (online and offline)affect them mentally which can be quite impactful on their music and careers as a whole.
MANUELA: You will do your best to give advice but all depends on the artist’s mindset you know. As I always say, you have to know where you’re going and know who you are, that way nothing will ever affect you. Phillbill is psychologically very strong so those online things will hardly affect him and thank God he listens to me so we have a team to talk about things and we know online is very funny and toxic so we know how to manage it.
SMM: What advice would you give to any young girl out there wishing to work as an artist manager someday?
MANUELA: Leave your heels, wear your sneakers and be ready to work. Don’t come trying to shine because it’s for your artist to shine and you will carry bags and work hard. Be ready mama. It’s not chocolate and as a woman you have to work HARDER!
Manuela is on Instagram: @manudov Facebook: Manudov Official X (Formerly Twitter) : @manudov
Ajong Frank-Donavan Ekeh professionally known as AJ BAHBOY; born on October 1st 2004 in Bamenda, Cameroon, is a young and talented singer, rapper, and songwriter. Despite facing financial challenges, he has never given up on his dream of making it big in the music industry.
In 2018, AJ BAHBOY moved to Douala to join his brother. He successfully passed his Advanced Level (BAC) exams in 2022 and started dropping freestyles with the help of his brother King Darius who has been a source of encouragement for him; recording his freestyles, creating short videos, promoting him on his blog and helping him to network and collaborate with other artists.
In 2023 AJ BAHBOY won an open verse challenge and featured on Cleo Grae’s song “JONGLEUR” which gave him exposure and AJ BAHBOY got signed to a diaspora music label and is about to release his debut single, “Real Life”.
His music is a fusion of Afrobeat, Hip-hop, and R&B, and he is known for his unique sound that sets him apart from other artists. With his dedication, hard work, and passion for music, the young AJ BAHBOY is well on his way to becoming one of the biggest names in African music.
ist manager are : 1- Creativity 2- Calm 3- Acting instead of talking 4- Assurance facing really big deals with that fact.
PAOLA: KO-C and all the artists I work with have to be listened all over the world via streaming plat forms and need to be booked in big festivals in the world. Aside that they should be ambassadors of good music, well arranged local music and sell 237 vibes to the world.
SMM: How do you navigate the rapidly changing landscape of the music industry, particularly with regards to streaming platforms, social media, and digital marketing? How do you approach market ing and promotional strategies for your artist?
PAOLA: First things first, The team! Concerning the digital aspect, we work with a team who is aware of any changes concerning all those aspects. And for
SMM: What qualities do you believe are important for a successful music artist manager, and how do you embody those qualities?
VERA:
- Negotiation
- Communication
- Time management
SMM: The task of an artist manager has very often been reduced to answering calls from potential show organizers. Many however don’t understand that the business is evolving everyday. Could you please tell us in detail what the functions of an artist manager are, according to you?
It is also important to have a fluent communication with your artist, the team and those you are working with.
Again, there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to managing an artist, so u should be able to have a notebook or some place to write down your activities and appointments in order to do an effective job.
cause in the business men are dominating and sometimes you go to a meeting where you will be the only female and they will be looking down on you that you can’t do the job so you also have to prove them wrong by doing your best. I overcome these challenges in that I am very disciplined and focused because I do not mix business with pleasures because when it’s business it’s business, I also make sure I stick to my negotia-
VERA: When it comes to my artist’s career, as I earlier said that communication is the key. We always try to evaluate ourselves yearly so that we both communicate on strategies on how we want our next plan to be so we always have what we have now
and what we want to achieve and what we want to be, so when it comes to a successful career plan we just make sure that if we have like one hundred followers this year we try to make sure that we add it to one hundred and fifty next year and we make sure the artist is progressing so the plan is we communicate to each other and make things easier.
SMM: How do you navigate the rapidly changing landscape of the music industry, particularly with regards to streaming platforms, social media, and digital marketing? How do you approach marketing and promotional strategies for your artist?
VERA: In order to maintain a good relationship with record labels and people that are big in the industry it’s just to be a loyal and transparent person because transparency is the key when dealing with your business partners and people. They need to know that you are that person with transparency and loyalty so that they know who they are working with and so when they trust you and trust the deal and they have faith in whatever you do because of the deals you have worked on before, I think it’s easy for the relationship to be maintained. What stains relationship generally is lack of trust and if someone do not trust you the relationship is broken so it’s always good to be loyal , transparent and make sure you both are always on the same team. Here, I am saying that to work with people who are big in the industry or if you want to gain more work you just need to be loyal and transparent so that you can gain the trust of people because it takes a long time to build trust but a second to lose it and when lost it can never be retained.
SMM: How do you balance the creative vision of the your artist with the commercial aspects of her career? Like, how do you go about strategizing and planning your artist’s career tra jectory? Can you give an example of a successful career plan you’ve executed? If any.
VERA: Showbiz is growing because show biz in Cameroon is still very young but every day we have new artists ,new strategies , we have new industries so the secret of what I do is I try to always learn a new method and to revisit to try to follow what is happening so I develop new strategies because there is no permanent strategy to success. So it is always good to change , adopt and work with what happens at the moment because everything changes, change is constant so we are constantly changing and constantly adopting so I always try to be updated in order to catch up with my artist’s career and the work going on.
SMM: What advice would you give to aspiring artists looking to secure a strong female management
not think that it’s a man’s world but a free world. We all are able to do the same job so I just encourage any female managers who are out there to work hard for it’s never too late, it’s never too difficult, just be determined , disciplined and focused.
SMM: Can you share any memorable experiences or achievements you’ve had while working as Kameni’s manager?
VERA: My most Memorable experience of being Kameni’s manager is my constant nominations as best female artist manager in Cameroon in a category where I was the only female artist manager and I think that was the first Bonteh Awards in 2020. I felt the love, the support from everyone and everybody was proud of me and I was proud of myself because the first nomination as best artist manager was not even in the female category but with men and I was the only female. Though I did not win, I felt so much love from my family which is my backbone and my
