THE J. MELO BRAND…I’M RISING TO THE PRESIDENCY

                             The J. MELO brand…I’m rising to the Presidency

Little John posing as a President

Some men are known to suck at multitasking. But my impression in this regard is being influenced by one man, who doesn’t only multitask but is exceptionally good at whatever he does. The General Telegraph set out to ask him how he does it and he gave us a deeper peek into his life as well. The excellent actor has a clothing line, a film school, and a hotel, (yet to officially open), a recording studio and a couple of other business lines. But that’s not enough for the chap, whose wildest dream is to become Ghana’s president someday. Here’s to John Matthew Setor Dumelo, the actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and possibly in the next 20 years, Ghana’s President.

John and his big sis in baby thief

      ABOUT JOHN IN HIS OWN WORDS

John describes himself as a simple, down to earth and a happy go lucky person who loves all he does. “I love God, I love my family, I love my job and I love charity work. Getting him to choose his favorite amongst all he does was futile. He simply said “I love all of them.” John’s acting stared in 1991 when he stared in the movie, “Baby Thief” with his elder sister. After that John was completely off the screens until he entered the University where he stared in a number of TV series, including the infamous “Sun City”. John can now boost of over a 100 movies and screen appearances.

Baby John and Dad

The handsome gentleman says his career as an actor has been very eventful. “Being an actor and a public figure has so many sides. There are so many stories about you that are not true. Anybody can just get up and say anything about you and others would believe. You’ve more or less sold your private life and have no privacy anymore. But the good side is that you are recognized all over the world, and sometimes you get certain privileges”.  With this as a guide, John manages to glide through each day without getting on the wrong side of people especially the media. He admits however that, doing so requires a lot of tact and a third eye. “It’s very hard sometimes, I have been in trouble a couple of times, but you have to always be very careful about people who approach you, friends and even family, but most especially friends.  

John in Achimota school then

People come to you and they smile with you just because they want something from you. So I have been skeptical about people that approach me, but I try as much as possible to be friendly with everybody but at the same time, I have a third eye for unscrupulous behavior.” He stated and advised all public figures to be careful what they do in public while watching out for their family and friends because they could do them in. “You may think you are having some fun in your little corner but the next thing you see is someone has taken a picture of you and it is all over the internet:” food for thought from the horse’s own mouth.

WHAT HE THINKS OF ACTING AND THE MOVIE       INDUSTRY IN GHANA

According to the entrepreneur “Acting is like playing football” you start playing at a young age but by the time you are 30 “ they start relegating you and you die off, but because of the passion you have for it, you can still become a technical director, or a coach. 

John with Majid in an interesting scene

I hope to be in acting and the movie industry for a longer time but even if I’m not acting, I have a passion for directing, and producing and I know am going to be in the movie industry for a longtime,” another business idea.

He believes that the Ghana’s Movie Industry is a gold mine.”

 “Everywhere I go, people ask if I’m from Ghana, and they tell me how much they love our movies. In Africa, it’s only Ghana and Nigeria, but in terms of quality, people love more Ghanaian Movies. So we are sitting on a gold mine and I would definitely love to contribute to the movie industry in Ghana.

  JOHN’s BUSINESSES AND WHAT NEXT AFTER MASELO COURT

John standing at MASELO court

We asked John, “With all these going for you, what else are you looking at doing?” and he said “Pilot (with a grin)”.   The owner of the J.Melo Brand and the Maselo Court (Hotel) is looking to own a plane. He seems to never stop dreaming as he revealed that he is looking to turn his film school the “John Dumelo Film Academy” into a University within the next few years. The school currently has about 30 students, and he hopes that, the number will increase when the next session opens in January. He runs all these along with his civil engineering firm. 

The firm, which currently builds houses for clients, has plans of building a little city in the Eastern part of Ghana. When asked how he does it, “I have so many dreams; I just wait for an opportunity and I grab it”. One of his biggest dreams is to own an airline. 

John and mum in his house by one of his cars

But the most surprising is his dream to become the president of Ghana, “my wildest dream is to be president of Ghana in about the next 20 years.” He stated emphatically and with a lot of optimism.

As for his vibrancy in terms of work and charity, John admitted that it is not easy combining the two. “If you want to raise money for charity, it will take a long time.”  He then advised his colleagues to always start small “even if you start with ȼ300.00 you can touch the lives of so many people. I want to entreat every Ghanaian to give to charity, even if it is just ȼ100.00”. 

John doing charity work in Liberia

John has set the pace in this regard.  Through 
his car wash programme last year he raised ȼ2,000.00, which he donated to charity. The philanthropist has also sponsored a couple of people through university education; donated to deprived schools in the Eastern and Central regions as well as in Cote D’Ivoire. He hopes to do more.

  HIS LOVE FOR CARS

With inspirations from Ghana’s Boxer Bukom Banku, John Mathew Kofi Setor Dumelo told the General Telegraph “as a gentleman, what makes you is the car you drive, the shirt you wear and the shoe you wear. Yes a man is not a man unless…but am geared more towards fancy cars. 

John with one of his cars

So I love to own a good car, but not necessarily an overly expensive one.” Surprisingly Setor’s number of cars has reduced from five as at last year, to two. “Yes, I am a businessman so if someone likes it, I just sell it to them.”

THE FUN & FAMILY MAN

In recent times, John has been in the news for singing with Sarkodie.  But he let out funny squeals, when he was asked to sing a line. “I don’t sing, I can’t sing to save my life, but I did it for fun and will do so again should I get the chance to. But I don’t have any plans of doing an album or anything of that sort...”  

Though he seems to be doing so many things at a time, Matthew’s Family is still proud of him and supports him all the way. One would wonder if John would ever settle down and how he would manage family/business life, considering all that is going on in his life. Here was his response, “I believe when you get married, it will come naturally. It will just come naturally, because you know it’s your responsibility.” Hakuna Matata : it means no worries for that lucky lady.

John and his Dad in a handsh

THE TELEGRAPH 3 THINGS GAME

Here are three things, you probally did not know about John Dumelo;

He loves to sleep on the floor all the time, he loves ‘Nkatecake” (a local sweet made of groundnuts) and “sometimes I  wear my boxers twice, though I have  over a 100 of them.

Don’t be surprised, he is a star but still human.