Pit Baccardi: Cameroon Showbiz Events Need Massive Improvement

Pit Baccardi is CEO of Empire Company, an entertainment outlet for production and management of artistes and events in Cameroon. He has gotten credit for hosting one of the biggest music concerts in the country in 2011/12 [ Live in Concert, Yaounde, '11 and The Concert in Yaounde,'12] with over 8,000 spectators. Baccardi is synonymous with the success of X-Maleya, leading music group in Cameroon as well as Duc Z and recently, Magasco. In a chat with Pulse.ng, today, he dishes on the plights of events and event managers in Cameroon.

On events quality, Baccardi says they are not up to international standard. He even compares events held in Cameroon to those in neighboring Nigeria and concludes that, Nigeria is far bigger!

“Cameroon is like 10 years behind Nigeria. Reasons being that, the sponsors here are kind of slow in action and the public too [Cameroonians] are not quick to respond to things like this. So it’s something that will take time to change”.

On the professionalism of event organizers, Baccardi mentioned that, “most event organizers are old school, outdated or old fashion business men/women hence they can’t produce a modern or advanced events. Maybe they fear spending much money when there are no possibilities of profiting from a concert. But on the other hand, every business is a risk venture. No risk, no gain.”

Due to these issues on ground, the young CEO advised that, companies in Cameroon should start believing in events and entertainment in general so as to encourage the movement in the country. “We have very brilliant talents now who can pull thousands of people with what they do. So companies should please help these young ones achieve their dreams and also develop entertainment in Cameroon.”

He added that his company, Empire Company, is doing the best it can to upgrade show business in Cameroon and they need the support of every one. “I’m trying to update things in the business here even though it’s not easy. We also need the media [TV, Radio, Blogs, Print] to get behind us to publicize these talents and events we have.”

Empire Company manages artistes like X-Maleya, Duc Z and Magasco and are looking forward to expanding their brand globally.