8 countries, over 28,000 participate as Livespot360 redefines multi-venue cultural programming

By KEMI KASUMU

“Our ambition over the coming years is for Entertainment Week Africa to establish itself as a critical part of the economic, intellectual and artistic capital of this great city. We’re delighted with the first steps towards that,” she stated.

The inaugural edition of Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) represented a cultural festival as it brought together creators, executives, investors, policymakers and industry leaders for a six-day, multi-venue event. Featuring an impressive line-up of stars including Tiwa Savage, Teni, Don Jazzy, Yemi Alade, Waje and Sasha P.

Founder of Entertainment Week Africa, Deola Art Alade said the idea of the event was borne out of the vibrancy of Lagos as an economic, intellectual and artistic hub.

“Our ambition over the coming years is for Entertainment Week Africa to establish itself as a critical part of the economic, intellectual and artistic capital of this great city. We’re delighted with the first steps towards that,” she stated.

The event, which positioned Lagos as a rising global centre for creative-economy innovation, held across several of the most notable venues for creative endeavours in Lagos, including the Livespot Entertarium, Eko Hotel, EbonyLife Place, Alliance Française and Heritage Place.

According to organisers, in just its first edition, the festival, themed “Close the Gap,” set a powerful foundation for pan-African creative mobility and global cultural exchange and served as both a challenge and a blueprint, uniting talent, capital, policy and platforms in one ecosystem.

At the Opening Night, dignitaries including Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Trade & Investment; Johnny Baxter, British Deputy High Commissioner; Olufolake Abdulrazaq First Lady of Kwara State; Toke Benson Awoyinka and the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts & Culture.

In his remarks, Jonny Baxter, British Deputy High Commissioner, emphasised the festival’s diplomatic and economic significance. “Entertainment Week Africa represents a week of celebration, partnership and progress. By “Closing the Gap,” we are not just building bridges; we are creating highways for ideas, talent and investments to flow freely between Nigeria and the UK,” he stated.

Over the six days of the festival, from November 18th – 23rd, the event welcomed 28,683 pass-holders from 8+ countries and over 50 different industries across the conference, screen, music and interdisciplinary creator programme touch points.

A landmark gender-equity conversation with Yemi Alade, Waje, Qing Madi, Teni, Sasha P and Tiwa Savage spotlighted representation gaps, with sound bites such as “Out of the top 100 songs in Nigeria on Apple Music, there’s only one female song,” “The gap is too wide, we need to balance the scale” as music executive, Don Jazzy added: “We’re too masculine… It affects the numbers, the airplay, the clubs.”

In terms of numbers, the top four countries at the festival apart from Nigeria are Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, and the UK. Passes to the inaugural event were bought by 51 different industries, with the highest attendance coming from entertainment while sectors such as creators, advertising, music, technology, media, marketing, filmmaking were among those well represented. Others came from industries such as business consulting, events; design; public relations and communication services.

The milestones flowed well beyond numbers, countries and sectors. EWA 2025 delivered more than 35 panels, 22 workshops, 20 masterclasses, and 93 film screenings, tackling themes like distribution pipelines, creative entrepreneurship, emerging technology, youth culture, and cross-border mobility. Creators and young professionals moved fluidly through the different centres, as the Creators Hub, Creative Job Fair, Gen Z Republic, and the EWA Creative Marketplace drew large crowds.

In the realm of film offerings, highlights include the just released Chronicles of Afrobeat produced by Bankulli, Daniel Etim-Effiong’s wave-making The Herd, Dust to Dream produced by Mo Abudu and directed by Idris Elba, and Mama Nike & Magazine Dreams, accompanied by high-demand director sessions.

There was also a 4-day intensive Story Lab workshop for aspiring writers facilitated by Lani Aisida, Nicole Asinugo and Dami Elebe, and supported by Netflix, Amazon Prime, NdaniTV and Africa Magic. From 15 contenders, the session led to a shortlist of 8 participants which ended up producing 6 polished loglines and pitch-ready story concepts.

The Deal Room embodied the “Close the Gap” theme, with four days of mentorship, readiness labs and investor sessions. It received 178+ entries, with 9 companies making it to the accelerator programme after a series of interviews. Four of these companies: Aktivate, FriendnPal, Growwr and Sports Reels, were identified as fully ready to scale, with each attracting investor interest in the room. Beyond the numbers, founders hit key milestones: which was the first time of pitching to investors for many.

This momentum has already translated into continental success: Atsur, one of the startups that participated in the EWA Deal Room, recently won prize money after placing 4th among the five winners at the prestigious NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator pitch competition held in Rwanda, demonstrating EWA’s role in propelling African talent onto the global stage.

The Hackathon part of the event extended this impact through two days of product refinement, which saw the selection of 10 teams to build and iterate rapidly. Three standout companies; Musetter (Music Tech), Owambe (Fashion Tech) and Alaba (Music Tech) emerged from the sprint. Some of the investors that are supporting the Deal Room and Hackathon are Future Africa, Askya Investment Partners, Catalyst Fund and Consonance Invest.

Fashion programming also took centre stage, with 120+ entries, 10 emerging designers, all of whom showcased on the EWA Runway Coterie stage, spotlighting designers such as Korede James, Dust of the Earth, Nex by Necca, Josh Amor, PK Crochet, Estaz, David Black, Bernard Samuel and Sevon Dejana. Each of the designers presenting forward-thinking interpretations of contemporary African style.

The week also featured celebratory cultural moments, including Jokes & Jollof, where Lucky Chidiebere Obi, winner of Big Spoon 2025, received a ₦1 million prize and the announcement of his upcoming tour with Basketmouth.

The event was supported by sponsors including Livespot, Rent-A-Rig, Heineken, Lagos State Tourism, Pepsi, MTN, TikTok, British High Commission, High Commission of Canada, US Embassy, Essenza, Multichoice, Eko Hotel, EbonyLife Place and Alliance Française. Other industry partners are Blu Pictures, Netflix, Amazon Prime, NdaniTV, Africa Magic, Choc City, ONErpm, Vuga Music, Alec, Mad Solutions, Circuits Global Solutions, Africa Magic, Showmax, Wonder Media Kind, MBO Capital, Regal Stone Capital, Xchange, Empire, ONErpm, Virgin Music, WeTalkSound, Chocolate City, Rollingstone Africa, TechCabal, Marie Claire, Business Insider Africa, News Central TV, Culture Custodian, Business Day, BellaNaija, Olori Supergirl, Nollywire, Amplify Africa, Trace and CoolFM.

In her closing remarks, Tiwa Medubi, Managing Director of Livespot360 underscored the essence of the event, stating: “This year, under the theme ‘Close the Gap,’ we set out to do something very specific: bring talent, capital, policy and platforms into the same room – not in theory, but in practice.

“Across every lab, panel, showcase, screening and performance, one thing was clear: the gap between potential and reality is closing, because people are doing the work.”

The festival is due to return next year and run through November 17–22, 2026, with expanded pan-African programming and a continued commitment to accelerating creative-industry growth across the continent.