Speaker Faculty

Adesegun (also known as SMADE) is recognised as one the most successful African entrepreneurs in the U.K. He has not only reintroduced Africans in the diaspora to their culture through music but has also quite literally taken Afrobeats to the world. With more than 30 sold out UK Afrobeats events Smade has contributed to the cultural movement of accepting the Afrobeats genre of music in the U.K; he has given a huge platform to numerous African artists through his concerts whilst opening them up to international labels. In 2019 he and his business partner put on the biggest Afrobeats festival that was Afronation, which was highly spoken about and landed him features with the BBC and FORBES. Across his career Smade has worked with a number of major acts from the early stages of their careers and firmly believes in supporting and developing the artists from their small beginnings. He has held sold out concerts and festivals in the best venues boasting audiences of over 20,000 people. Taking after his father who is also a successful business owner; Adesegun Adeosun Jnr is not holding back anytime soon as he continually aims ‘to bring the very best in African entertainment to the UK and the rest of the world.’

Audu is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, lawyer and creative industry expert. He is better known as the founder of Chocolate City Group- a media /entertainment company which is comprised of Chocolate City Media (Film,TV and content production), Chocolate City Kenya, CCX (live music space) and Chocolate City Music record label – one of the biggest record labels in Africa – and home to some of Africa’s most talented artistes including Grammy Nominated Femi Kuti, M.I Abaga, Dice Ailes, Ckay, Blaqbonez etc. In March 2019, Chocolate City Group signed a landmark partnership deal with Warner Music Group (one of the biggest record labels in the world) to bring the Warner catalogue to Africa and promote the Chocolate City catalogue and artists across 60 new markets globally. In 2018, he was invited to join the board of Unanimous Games LLC – a 360 Esports digital company based in New York – that focuses on mobile game development, Esports activations, Content creation , STEM Education and talent management. As Executive Director and Partnerships lead, his portfolio includes companies like Rocnation, BET Networks, PUMA, AfroIsland Initiative and the Government of Barbados. Born in Kaduna, Nigeria , he attended the prestigious King’s College Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2001. He has served as legal counsel in several corporations including Chief Afe Babalola SAN & Co, Leasing Company of Nigeria (a subsidiary of Bank of Industry), Abuja Markets Management Limited and was Senior Legal consultant with CPCS Transcom International (a Canadian infrastructure advisory firm) where he was lead counsel for major Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE)/World Bank funded projects including the privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) reforms, Abuja Rail Mass Transit system and the Lagos Blue Line Rail Mass Transit project. He is a passionate advocate for social justice and entrepreneurship as the key to economic empowerment. He has served on various entrepreneurial judging panels including – Microsoft’s Passion to Empire, Etisalat Prize for Innovation, She Leads Africa, Chivas The Venture Competition and served as judge on the M.I.T Inclusive Innovation Global competition in 2018 and 2019. Audu sits on several boards including Recycle Points (a recycling and waste management company), Global Rights Africa (a human rights and advocacy NGO) , Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and is the Chairman of Beat Drone (a drone tech company). He is an alumnus of the University of Jos, Pan African University, Lagos and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of management, Boston respectively.