Audu Maikori is a Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur, social activist, public speaker, and creative industry expert. He is the co-founder and executive vice chairman of the Chocolate City Group, the mother company of one of the leading African record label Chocolate City Entertainment. He is well known as the founder of Chocolate City, an entertainment lawyer, and is regarded as the "Simon Cowell" in Nigerian Idol's first season. He won multiple awards during his career, including the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007.
Shuga, also known as MTV Shuga, is a television drama that first aired in November 2009 on MTV Base as part of an initiative dubbed "MTV Staying Alive Ignite!". Its first two seasons were commissioned by MTV Networks Africa in association with The MTV Staying Alive Foundation, PEPFAR, the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation (HFG) and the Government of Kenya, as part of a multimedia campaign to spread the message about responsible sexual behaviour and tolerance. The term Shuga is derived from the pronunciation of "Sugar" in Kenyan English.
The Future Awards Africa are a set of awards given by The Future Project, a social enterprise communications firm affiliated to Red Africa. The awards are intended to celebrate young people between the ages of 18 and 31, who have made outstanding achievement in the year under consideration. Forbes has described the awards as "Nigeria’s most important awards for outstanding young Nigerians".
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) works towards assisting small and medium scale enterprises to overcome poor infrastructure in the management of business operations and accessing financial services amongst other challenges. The former director general of the agency Umar Dikko Radda had left in April 2022 to pursue a political career.The current Director General is Charles .O. Odii Olawale Fasanya became the director general and chief executive officer of the agency on June 6, 2022. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Charles Odii as the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the agency on the 12th October 2023.
Toke Makinwa is a Nigerian radio personality, television host, vlogger, lifestyle entrepreneur, actress and author. Makinwa is known for hosting The Late Morning Show on Rhythm 93.7 FM and for her YouTube vlog series Toke Moments. She released her book On Becoming in November 2016, and is one of the top five African female show hosts.
Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and human development expert whose work cuts across entrepreneurship, education, youth development and public leadership. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Rise Networks, a Nigeria-based private and public sector funded Youth Interest social enterprise.
Uche Pedro is a Nigerian entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of BellaNaija, a media tech brand known for entertainment and lifestyle content. Under her leadership, BellaNaija's social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month.
Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and UK-trained economist and information technology expert. She is the founder and executive director of Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a non-profit organisation that empowers women and girls socially and economically through education in Information technology. W.TEC was established in the year 2008. She is a fellow of Ashoka and a recipient of the Anita Borg Institute (ABIE) Change Agent Award.
Matse Uwatse, popularly known by her first name Matse, is a Nigerian on-air personality and food blogger.
Agatha Amata, is a Nigerian media entrepreneur, talk show host, speaker, TV presenter and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show Inside Out with Agatha, which is the longest running television talk show in Nigeria which has aired for over twenty years.
Adenrele Sonariwo is a Nigerian entrepreneur and art curator. She is the founder of the Rele Art Gallery on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria as well as the Rele Art Gallery on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Rele Gallery is the first African contemporary art gallery to establish an outpost in Los Angeles. Sonariwo was the lead curator of the first Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. Alongside the Rele Art Gallery, Sonariwo is also the founding director of the Rele Arts Foundation. The foundation's projects include the annual young Contemporaries programme, which offers grants, mentorship, residences and training to a small group of emerging artists, an opportunity that results in an exhibition hosted at the gallery.
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig is a Nigerian entrepreneur, business woman and art collector. She is the founder of ART X Collective, a cultural management company in Lagos, Nigeria. The company's flagship fair, ART X Lagos, is the leading international art fair in West Africa.
Mfon Ekpo is a Nigerian entrepreneur and author. In 2017, Ekpo was named one of the most inspiring and influential women in Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa and shortlisted for the British Council Alumni Awards for Social Impact in Nigeria. Ekpo serves as an Executive Director with The John Maxwell Team.
House on the Rock is an Evangelical Christian Church headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, founder and partner at Ingressive, a firm that provides services for firms and businesses expanding into Africa. She also founded Ingressive Capital, a venture capital fund investing in Africa-based technology companies. She co-founded the High Growth Africa Summit, a conference on launching a successful business in Africa, and founded Tech Meets Entertainment Summit, for African celebrities and tech companies to build revenue-generating partnerships. Maya later co-founded Ingressive for Good, a nonprofit providing scholarships, technical training and talent placement for African youths.
Olalekan Olude is a Nigerian entrepreneur, the co-founder of Jobberman, West Africa's most popular job search engine and Special Adviser on Job Creation and Youth Empowerment to Ogun state Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. also known as CFA is a Nigerian journalist and a former television presenter at Channels TV. He is into digital marketing and known as a technology entrepreneur with focus on business coaching and public speaking. He hosted the first virtual telehealth conference of Nigeria’s telemedicine company, CareClick with the theme ‘The Future Of Healthcare Today’ on 24 September 2020. He was involved in various ICT-related companies that contributed to the development of the Founder Institute. He is known as the founder of Pacer Venture and has links with Climate Action Africa. He is the MD/CEO of Anambra State ICT Agency.
Nkem Okocha is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and activist who founded Mamamoni, a FinTech social enterprise that empowers poor rural and urban slum women with free vocational skills and mobile loans.
Farida Mohammad Kabir is a Nigerian epidemiologist, software developer, and technology entrepreneur. She is the team lead for Google Women TechMakers and co-organizer for Google Developer Group, Abuja. She is also the founder/CEO of OTRAC, a health technology company that develops enterprise software systems for the healthcare sector in Nigeria.
Osayi Alile is a Nigerian entrepreneur, an executive human development officer, a core professional and published columnist. In the course of her work in various roles, she has been active in entrepreneurship, education, youth development, and public leadership. She currently serves as the chief executive officer of the Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation, also known as ACT Foundation, and the co-administrator of CACOVID. Osayi is a member of the African Leadership Network, The Future Awards Africa, and was the CSR Consultant at Access Bank Plc.
