Audu Maikori high quality African media today? Meet Audu Maikori, a pioneer and promoter of Afrobeat music , media and entertainment Entrepreneur & entertainment lawyer focused on film, Esports and TV. So as an entrepreneur your prayer is not that there shouldn’t be challenges- but rather that the you solve new and more ambitious challenges as your business expands. Some of the greatest challenges I have faced in running my business are similar to many – lack of adequate funds, financial management – how to manage the inadequate resources, then the ability to scale your business- and this is common with many businesses especially when you achieve early success- the question is how do you re-create more successes? How do you sustain it? How quickly do you expand? Should you sell shares or take loan? And the biggest question of all- What if the business fails?
Audu Maikori is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, lawyer and creative industry expert. 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. 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.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more? I am involved in several businesses and my role differs in each of them- but for the purpose of this conversation – you can say that like every entrepreneur – when the business(Chocolate City Music) started – I was involved in a lot of the ideation, strategy and visioning alongside my partners Paul and Yahaya but as CEO I was involved in mostly executing our vision – the vision then was to create a local company that could help talented youth to achieve their artistic and creative dreams commercially without losing their authenticity.
Audu Maikori: Even till today, I am still overcoming it. You must face challenges at every stage of your progress. The only difference is that as you get more successful, maybe the challenges will change but they are all equally challenges. But the first thing that helped me overcome the challenges is that right from the beginning, I didn’t start as one entrepreneur. I had partners. I had Yahaya Maikori (my brother) and Paul Okeugo, whom we sat together and created this company. We worked hard to build it together. So at every point, like when I am down then Paul can support. If Paul is down then Yahaya can support. Three heads are better than one.
It’s been a busy last few weeks for Group CEO of Chocolate City Entertainment, Audu Maikori. Once you mention that you’re from Nigeria, their eyes light up, and they say, “Wow! Nigeria, we’ve heard so much!”. He credits the ubiquity of African culture in mainstream media for this change in reaction, pointing to defining cultural events such as Black Panther, and the unprecedented growth of the Afrobeats genre.
ESAIYO, a data fabric company, has added Roberto Clemente Jr. and Audu Maikori to their team. Mr. Clemente and Mr. Maikori will be serving as brand ambassadors and will also be joining ESAIYO’s advisory board. Their additions bring expertise that better position the company in expanding its “Infrastructure as a Service” offering internationally and in the US. Audu Maikori is a lawyer with multi sectoral legal experience in infrastructure, public transport systems, privatization and intellectual property. He is also a multi award winning entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working in the media and entertainment industry. Find additional details at https://www.globalrights.org/ng/member/audu-maikori/.