Biography

 Entrepreneur and entertainment guru, Osman Osman, has never been afraid to grab an opportunity when a challenge arises.  Born to humble beginnings, he realized his passion at a young age in a chance encounter with the entertainment business.  His long-standing relationship with events and productions (across theatre, comedy, music and sports), was spurred on by a strong need to make some money in his school days which drove him to find temporary work at a community event, leaving him with a profound feeling of belonging to the entertainment and events business.  While Osman has completed a Diploma in International Management Marketing, he proclaims that life has been the best university that he could ever attend. 

Osman’s success trajectory – on a global scale – matches that of his larger-than-life persona and attitude towards life and business.  Together with his wife, Shaaista Khan Osman, Osman runs the successful events and management company, Blu Blood, as Managing Director and co-founder.  “The one is not without the other” can be said of their partnership.  With over 35 years’ of combined experience, the two pillars of Blu Blood have continuously though out of the box and have built the brand into an innovative lifestyle and management empire.  The company has become a household brand in the South African and sub-Saharan African markets, providing audiences across the continent with the royal Blu Blood experience, bringing top-quality and high-profile acts to their stages.

Osman’s passion for what he does, coupled with an obsessions to be the very best at it, has earned him a strong global network and relationships.  With aspirations to break into the international market, Blu Blood’s next step was enhancing and building their global footprint and the brand made the move to Dubai, the centre of global collaborations, in 2019.

Blu Blood specialises in an ever-growing variety of services including live events & productions; project management; artist & tour management; social media, PR & digital marketing; and crisis management.  Driven industry experts; their tenacity, hands-on approach and creative synergies has been a crucial step in creating many successful and unique properties, including:

• Worked with top companies including FIFA, UNICEF, The Nedbank Golf Challenge, Peermont and Tsogo Sun;
• Largest producers of Bollywood music productions in Africa, bringing the greats to its stages including Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sonu Nigam, Adnan Sami, Zack Knight and Shreya Ghoshal to name a few; hosting several successful Covid-conscious Bollywood productions in Dubai including Atif Aslam, Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan
• Collaborated with internationally renowned comedians including Orlando Jones, Russell Peters
• Strong comedy foundation in South Africa as creators of the Kings & Queens of Comedy brand, and the exclusive management behind SA comedy giants Tumi Morake, Riaad Moosa and Ndumiso Lindi; including producing various shows for the likes of Joey Rasdien, Conrad Koch, Marc Lottering, Loyiso Gola and Nik Rabinowitz and Tumi Morake and Riaad Moosa’s one-man shows for Netflix’s Comedians of the Worldseries, Tumi Morake’s Tumi or Not Tumi and Riaad Moosa’s Doctor’s Orders, both of which were released on Netflix
• Bringing top-class, international children’s stage productions to South Africa including Dora The Explorer and Smurfs World Tour
• Playing a pivotal role in assisting the United Nations Refugee Agency with an appeal campaign as well as hosting the first ever UN Iftar on African soil

In 2020, with the onset of COVID-19, Osman and the Blu Blood team were integral in restarting the entertainment industry in Dubai by hosting the world’s first live, ‘COVID-conscious’ Bollywood music concert with Sonu Nigam in collaboration with musicians from around the world.  They will be hosting comedian and TV icon, Wayne Brady at the Coca-Cola Arena on the 3^rd of September.

One of Osman’s entertainment highlights includes being part of the cast for hit South African feature film, Material and Material 2, with a producer role in the latter.  New Material releases on the 15^th October 2021 in South Africa.

Whether it was organising bizaars or comedy shows or selling cell phones, Osman had had a piece of every pie and it hasn’t come without hard work and dedication. 

From entertainment to sports, in 2017, Osman was one of the only South African team co-owners of the T20 Cricket Global League (Pretoria Mavericks); the tournament was postponed and later circumstances saw new teams and owners being created.  More recently, Osman is one of the team owners for the current champions Northern Warriors of the Abu Dhabi T20 Cricket League.

With a hands-on approach and a thirst for success, Osman & Shaaista continue to break boundaries and explore new and innovative ideas.

In 2017, Shaaista joined the Board of Directors for Commonwealth Businesswomen Africa and 2021 sees Shaaista taking the role of Chairperson for Commonwealth Businesswomen South Africa.  The organisation works towards women economic empowerment and leadership and connecting businesswomen in Africa to the Commonwealth world.

Shaaista has also worked tirelessly on one of her biggest projects to date called World Women’s Network, for which she has already received two nominations at the 2018 Standard Bank Top Women Awards as frontrunner for gender empowerment as Top Businesswomen of the Year and Top Gender Empowerment Company in Innovation through Technology.

Powered by Blu Blood, Shaaista continues to create a platform to empower individual women through pivotal joint ventures with likeminded and inspired women in order to build sustainable projects for the development and vision of women.