When I met Tems, she had only N200 in her account – Manager

Muyiwa Awoniyi, the manager of Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has revealed that the singer wasn’t financially buoyant when they first met.

Featuring a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, Awoniyi recalled that the singer had only N200 in her bank account during their first encounter.

He explained that despite Tems’ financial status, she was determined and dedicated, which made him agree to work with her.

He said, “There was something Tems did that made me say, ‘I don’t want to do a managerial contract with you, let’s do a company.’

“When she asked me to be her manager, I agreed and said I would send her a contact to sign. We had already verbally agreed for everything. You know when you present paperwork for artists to sign, it’s always tricky. But she was chasing me to sign my own part. And I have never experienced that before.
“I was like, ‘You don’t mind signing paperwork? Hold on, let’s not do this. You’re someone I can rock with for life. Let’s start a company.’ Prior to this, Tems and I were friends for about three months and we never spoke about working together.

“Back then when I was doing my podcast, she would just be sitting down while me and my cousin are talking.