I Changed My Wardrobe After Earning My First Million In Nollywood – Funke Akindele

Nollywood actress and filmmaker Funke Akindele has revealed how she spent the first N1M she made from acting in 1999. She recently revealed that landing her breakout role as Bisi in the popular TV series “I Need To Know” made her a millionaire.

In a video posted on her Instagram page, Funke shared that she showed the money to her mother as soon as she received it.

According to Akindele, her mother immediately advised her to pay her tithe, which she did, before heading to Yaba to overhaul her wardrobe.

Funke stated that she needed the shopping spree because she was lacking good clothes and shoes at the time.

Her words, “What did I do with one million naira? First, I showed it to my mom. Of course, she knows about it, and then mommy advised and said I have to pay my tithe first.

I paid my tithe, then I entered Yaba because I didn’t have shoes. I didn’t have maybe two or three I had there. I didn’t have good clothes.

I changed my wardrobe, shoes, bags, everything. The girl that had no shoes yesterday has today.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.