RUTH KADIRI: A FORCE IN THE NOLLYWOOD DISTRIBUTION SECTOR

She is a force in the Nollywood industry. Creating a path and finding a diamond on the forsaken YouTube platform and in return amassing billions from the platform isn’t just something rare, it’s a force to reckon with. Ruth Kadiri is one of the  Uncommon stars Nollywood has today and she crafted a path for her in the contentious Nollywood industry, she made true this quote, “If there is no niche for you, create one for yourself and own it.

Ruth Kadiri is a 35-year-old actress and scriptwriter born on the 24th of March to her Edo Father, Desmond Kadiri and mother, Juliet Kadiri. She grew up in Benin City and got her First school leaving certificate from her primary school in Benin City. She later went on to Lagos where she attended First Foundation College, Ajeromi Ifelodun in Ajegunle Lagos and bagged her West African Secondary School Certificate shortly after getting admitted into Yaba College of Technology where she got a National Diploma in Business Administration. The budding star later went on to pursue more educational certificates by joining the University of Lagos and getting a degree in Mass communication.

Her Acting Career

Ruth Kadiri began her acting career as an adult when she featured in Boys Cott in 2007 alongside notable legends like Mike Ezeronye, Jim Iyke, Uche Jumbo, and Nonso Diobi amongst others. She is also a seasoned script writer and producer which should explain how she carved a name for herself in the management sector of the Nollywood industry.

She has starred in hundreds of films within the industry and has gone on to write and produce movies and films in their numbers. Some of her most popular works include Matters Arising, The Heart of a Fighter, Ladies Man, Over the Sting, Somebody Lied, First Class, Memory Lane, Etc. She has lots of work credited to her.

Aside from her acting prowess and exceptional writing skills, Ruth Kadiri is also a philanthropist and speaker.  She is the founder of Ruth Kadiri Kids Foundation where she spends her time helping kids and young teenagers get to their dream height. 

Family

She keeps her family and relationships private, she rarely talks about them in the media. She grew up with her mother and sister alone because her father basically worked and lived abroad. She is the first of the sisters and her younger sister, Ehis Precious Kadiri is the CEO of Flore Beddings and also a renowned producer in the Nollywood industry.

The actress is married, and as expected, she kept it away from the media as much as possible. She did this so well that the full name of her husband was not published.  We got to know about him after she changed her Instagram name to Ruth Kadiri Ezerika. Reports have it that he is a businessman who hails from Anambra state. She got married on the 6th of November in a private wedding and has two daughters – Reign Ezerika and Emerald-Chizaram Ezerika both born in 2019 and 2022 respectively.

Ruth Kadiri, The YouTube Queen

She has been dubbed the YouTube Queen by many Nigerians within the Nollywood industry and outside. Ruth Carved a niche for herself in Nollywood by simply writing, producing and releasing her movies on “YouTube” this was strange as when she started but leveraging on personal branding, Social media and great publicity she hacked the code. The actress changed the Trajectory of YouTube films by bringing high-quality movies with interesting storylines and captivating captions to YouTube.

She did not bring in the usual sauce, she brought something truly exceptional and as a result, seamlessly stood out in the crowd of hundreds. She proved beyond plausible doubts that just talent isn’t enough, and to stand out, one must make a conscious effort towards expanding their horizon and subsequently standing out as effortlessly as possible. 

Before she went on to create a niche for herself in the industry, she made sure to own her niche and be known as an outstanding filmmaker. Owning a movie production house made it easy for her to make YouTube her distribution channel despite the disagreement and backlash she got from her friends and colleagues about the problem of Piracy or poor reach.

Her YouTube Journey has been nothing short of a success as she has hacked the code and owned the space. The Nollywood legend has successfully manoeuvred most of her movies garnering millions of views for the majority of them and subsequently got Nigerians talking about the rest of them in awe or criticism which either way is a win for her. She has also used this medium to bring multiple stars like Chidi Dike, Stefania, and Eronini to limelight and stardom cementing her title and place as the YouTube Queen.

With over 5 million YouTube subscribers, she has made over a Billion Naira publishing movies on YouTube which is contrary to the thought and notion of YouTube not having good money or being a poor streaming site.

The actress has crafted a niche for herself by leveraging personal branding and maximizing the opportunities no one saw. She portrayed and embodied the personality of a leader, deleting and ignoring what the multitude said and simply embodying her while creating a path to own for her.