How MTN’s Endorsement Changed Davido’s Musical Career

Davido’s reputation as an “Omo Baba Olowo” (son of a rich man) has never been in question but even the filthy rich have been known to enjoy a financial boost from time to time.

The Afro-pop star revealed he received his big boost as a teenager when telecommunications giant, MTN came calling with a N20 million endorsement deal.

“I remember when MTN, a telecommunication company, came, and they were like they want to do endorsement, but then he (Dad) was like how much, and I said 20 million. I was like I’m 17. Nobody (had) seen that kind of money. Wow, this is from music, and it’s off like two songs, of course.”

Davido further explained that the deal came at the right time as it proved to be the incentive needed to convince his multi-billionaire father, Dr Adedeji Adeleke of the potential in the music business

“I’m like, ‘Daddy see, we can do this’. “He built me a studio and gave me some money to run my stuff and did my first album, and it came out really really successful.”

Davido was the face of MTN Pulse between 2012 and 2016 and during that time the pop star dropped hit songs like Damiduro, Skelewu, and Gobe to mention a few whilst picking up a number of awards along the way.

Davido has since risen to become one of Africa’s biggest musical export, selling out various venues across the world including the O2 Arena in London, performing at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, earning billions of streams across multiple platforms and collaborating with some of the world’s biggest artistes.

He recently released his fourth studio album “Timeless” which peaked at number 2 on the World Album charts.