SAMUEL COLE

My relationship with Sierra Leone changed when I visited the country in 2016.

I saw something that stayed with me: there was no shortage of talent, ambition or personality, but there was a shortage of opportunity.

It made me recognise how easily opportunity can be taken for granted. Having somewhere to develop a talent, a route into an industry, access to employment, or simply something positive into which you can channel your energy can make an enormous difference to the direction of a person's life. Yet those opportunities are not equally available everywhere.

What struck me was the number of young people who clearly had something in them — creativity, humour, confidence, ambition and ability — but far fewer doors through which to take those things.

That troubled me.

As a Christian, I couldn't simply recognise it and feel that it had nothing to do with me. I began thinking about what I could actually contribute, however small, rather than simply acknowledging that the problem existed.

Banana Apocalypse grew from that desire, alongside a genuine ambition to build a successful entertainment company.

I don't pretend that an entertainment company can solve the challenges facing young people in Sierra Leone or across Africa. It can't.

But it can create opportunities that did not exist before.

And sometimes one opportunity is all somebody needs to begin changing the direction of their life.

My ambition for Banana Apocalypse goes far beyond giving somebody an opportunity to appear in front of a camera.

I want to build something that creates jobs. Something that discovers talent and gives people somewhere to develop it. Something capable of producing great entertainment and showcasing African creativity not only within Africa, but to audiences around the world.

I want somebody who may never have imagined themselves as an actor, presenter, filmmaker, editor, writer, producer or creative professional to be able to walk through our doors and discover that they are capable of far more than they thought.

And I want success here to mean more than individual success.

If somebody can use an opportunity at Banana Apocalypse to change their own circumstances, support their family, create opportunities for somebody else or eventually move beyond us into something even greater, then Banana Apocalypse has done something worthwhile.

Nobody is promised success simply because an opportunity has been placed in front of them. They still have to work. They still have to develop. They still have to fight for what they want.

We can provide the stepping stone. They have to decide how far they are prepared to climb.

I want the people who come through Banana Apocalypse to understand that where they begin does not have to determine where their story ends.

I don't know exactly how far Banana Apocalypse will go. Nobody does.

What I do know is why I started it and what I want it to stand for.

If we can build something successful while creating genuine opportunities for talented people who might otherwise never have received one, then the business and the purpose behind it can grow together.

And years from now, if somebody can look back at an extraordinary career and say, “Banana Apocalypse gave me my first opportunity,” I will be immensely proud that we built the door they walked through.