CEO
Ayodeji Razaq
Ayodeji Razaq is a Marketing Communications Specialist with close to 10 years of experience in creating customized experiential solutions for brands across the FMCG, Technology, Manufacturing & Financial Services industries.
He operates as the CEO of RED Group, a communication firm that uses storytelling to solve problems, change narratives and build movements for companies, investors, changemakers, and governments. The subsidiaries within the group include Red Media Africa, StateCraft Inc., Red Production, and The Future Awards Africa. The RED Group has engaged with businesses such as Facebook, Uber, Unilever, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, HP, etc.; and has even driven political campaigns for a number of presidents as well as individuals.
Ayodeji is skilled in bringing complex ideas to life, and he has demonstrated this capacity through his work with several brands.
CO-FOUNDERS
Adebola Williams
A pioneer at the intersection of media, democracy and social change. He co-founded and runs RED | For Africa, Africa’s largest portfolio of youth media brands engaging the continent’s youth with leading brands like Red Media Africa, StateCraft Inc., The Future Awards Africa, YNaija.com, amongst others.
Popular for his work as a political strategist, he’s been Profiled by Forbes and CNN as the man who helped elect a trifecta of three incumbent Presidents in Africa Nigeria, Ghana and recently Senegal. In 2018 he was bestowed Marketing Edge Innovative Leader In PR and Image management award.
Adebola’s work re-engineering society through youth development earned him the Mandela Washington Fellow and British Council global changemaker.
He’s been named by Forbes as one of Africa’s best entrepreneurs under 30, recipient of the CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year award, in 2017 he was named The African Young Achiever by EMY Ghana and same year named by the as one of 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under the United Nations international decade for people of African descent. Also awarded an Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu Fellowship in South Africa and Oxford Business School, in 2019 he was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
His work in corporate marketing and communication in different decrypts from Oil and Gas to Banking, Technology to FMCG has earned him and Red Media Africa several awards on the continent from SABRE to Lapriga, Marketing Edge to Young Cannes and even the C4F Marketing awards in Davos. He writes a monthly column on Brands and Communication in The Guardian New papers.
Adebola, despite his busy work schedule, finds the time to inspire hope and faith from Africa to the world with his message of enterprise, leadership and good governance. He isn’t slowing down in 2019 as he recently gave a rousing speech at the European Union Parliaments ECR Africa summit on the 9th of January on democracy and good governance. He is routinely received by a social media audience of over 300,000 people strong.
His 2017 cross-continental speaking tour included several conferences at top ivy leagues schools Harvard, Columbia, Yale & Oxford. His address during the 2017 Obama summit went viral and earned a rare standing ovation from the former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.
Chude Jideonwo
Chude Jideonwo is founder of Joy, Inc. (www.joyinc.xyz), a benefit corporation based in Miami, Florida and Lagos, Nigeria, which mainstreams the research and evidence on human flourishing and positive emotions to transform the culture and build a new generation focused on the greatest happiness for the greatest many. All of Joy, Inc.’s profits are invested in charities.
A Forbes 30 under 30 honouree and winner of the CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year prize, he is a World Fellow at Yale University, an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow and a Fellow of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy. His writing and work have been featured on the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, Aljazeera, the Huffington Post and the Financial Times, and he is the author of two books, Are We The Turning Point Generation? and How to Win Elections in Africa: Parallels with Donald Trump.
A former board member at Microsoft 4Afrika, he now sits on the boards of RED (redafrica.xyz), and the Oando Foundation and teaches media and communication at the Pan Atlantic University. Before Joy, Inc., he led African media group, RED for 13 years where, amongst others, he worked on national elections and social movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
Chude, however, identifies first as a storyteller – using the research, evidence and thinking on happiness and human flourishing to inspire new narratives about politics, markets, faith, identity and society: and instigate personal and institutional change across Africa. He runs two daily newsletters via TheDailyVulnerable.com and RetailChristianity.com and blogs about the future of his continent on WestAfricaIsACountry.com.
BOARD
Nkiru Olumide-Ojo
Nkiru Olumide-Ojo holds two decades of experience in Strategic Marketing and Corporate Communications and looking after the reputation of multinational and national brands in Africa. Her work experience spans across various sectors including Financial Services, Aviation, Telecommunication and the Oil and Gas sectors. An Expert Reputation and Crisis Communication Manager, she currently works as the Africa Regional Executive Head, Marketing and Corporate Communication of Standard Bank Group. Nkiru holds board level experience having sat on the boards of Stanbic IBTC Trustees Limited and CMC Connect Burtson Masteller.
A frequent Conference Speaker, The 2020 Forbes Africa Women’s Summit, London Advertising Week, Africa Public Relations Conference, Google Nigeria and Standard Bank’s Blue Heels women’s programme are some of the conferences where she has spoken at. Over the past couple of years, Nkiru has had several recognitions such as Brand Communicators Top women in marketing and communication, leading Woman in Marketing and Communication, Marketing Personality of the year NIPRO’s top 40 under 40, leading Marketing Personality amongst others. She holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Marketing Management from the Kingston University Surrey, London, a post-graduate diploma in management/first degree in biological sciences, and many professional trainings.
A John Maxwell certified Coach, Trainer and Speaker, Nkiru is the published author of the Pressure Cooker- Lessons from a woman at work, a book that talks about women in the professional environment. She is the founder of LightHouse Network, a social development initiative that is dedicated to empowering young women by providing them a formal mentoring platform.
Kola Adesina
Kola is a consummate entrepreneur with experience across the academia, finance, energy, trade and diplomacy. He is the Group Managing Director at Sahara Group, a leading international energy (power, oil and gas) and infrastructure conglomerate with operations in over 38 countries across Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe.
Kola combines his years of management and business diplomacy experience into creating and executing innovative strategies for governments across sub Saharan Africa in the energy sector. Kola is a much sought after resource person on energy related issues, especially the power sector in Africa and is also a frontline speaker at conferences across the globe.
He is passionate about empowering young people and takes great pride in mentoring youths to seek creative ways of galvanizing their energies for sustained excellence and productivity. Kola Adesina is a pan-Africanist, a seasoned entrepreneur and avowed promoter of the Pan African Dream of regional integration and trade.
He holds a B.SC (Insurance), M.SC. (Business), Masters in International Law and Diplomacy and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Insurance.
Ije Nwokorie
Ije Nwokorie is a Senior Director at Apple. He was previously the CEO of global branding firm, Wolff Olins, one of the world’s most influential brand businesses, responsible for brands such as Orange, First Direct, Tate, RED, AoL, London2012, and EE.
Ije has been recognized by GQ as one of the UK’s 100 most connected men, by Creative Review as one of the UK’s 50 most creative leaders and by Powerlist as one of the UKs 100 most influential people of African and African-Caribbean heritage.
Ije is a board member of Charity Water, RED | For Africa and Malaria No More UK. He has advised the boards of some of the world’s leading companies – Daimler, Skype, Expedia, EE, and Orange, among others – on strategy, innovation and growth.
Born in America, Ije spent his early years in Nigeria, an experience he credits with underpinning his creative outlook, as it is a world where commerce, culture, and creativity are necessarily intertwined in everyday life. Since graduating with an M.Arch from Columbia University in 1995, he has worked at the intersection of technology, creativity and leadership, subjects about which he writes and tells stories regularly.
Ije acts as an adviser for numerous startups, including SortedFoods, through his venturing vehicle, Co-Incidence.
He is a passionate speaker on the subject of creative leadership and increasingly an influential voice in the fledgling creative industries of Africa.
Ken Ikpe
Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe is the Group Chief Executive Officer of INSIGHT REDEFINI GROUP (2016), Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest Marketing Communication & Advertising Group. He holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from the Academy of Sciences, School of African Studies Moscow Russia, an alumni of Advanced Management Programme (AMP), Lagos Business School, and also trained at the IESE Business School, Barcelona – Spain. He is a fellow of Nigeria Institute of Marketing and the President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN).
Dr. Ikpe is highly sought after by result driven leaders as he is renowned for visionary business transformation leadership, with over two decades of building successful brands and transforming businesses. Dr. Ken leads by deepening what works, he embraces well-researched truth & new knowledge, he builds capacity for loyalty amongst his constituents and is greatly committed to the increasing success of his team.
He is a life management coach, business mentor, teacher and a lover of growth and development. He lectures part time at the School of Media and Communication (SMC) Pan Atlantic University.
Ken Onyeali Ikpe is known and respected as a visionary leader, with strong business acumen and loved for his pragmatic view to politics and governance.
Tolu Ogunkoya
Tolu Ogunkoya is the Regional Managing Director, West & Central Africa and Managing Director, mediaReach OMD Nigeria. He is a member of Ashridge UK Alumni Association. A Fellow of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON & Council Member, APCON), President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) and Fellow, IOD Nigeria.
Tolu before today was the President of MIPAN (Media Independents Practitioners Association of Nigeria), the body that has all leading media agencies operating in Nigeria registered in its fold. Tolu was elevated to the highest grade of professionalism in advertising in this country, inducted as a Fellow Registered Practitioner in Advertising (frpa) by APCON in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advertising industry – as a player, education resource person, etc. He also currently serves on the APCON Council.
He has also served as a resource person on many of APCON & MIPAN’s training programs. He is a member of the Institute of Directors Nigeria.
Bright Simons
Bright Simons is a technology innovator, development activist and social entrepreneur. He is the President of mPedigree, a social enterprise working on three continents with governments, Fortune 500 companies and activists to safeguard human health and food security using technology.
A career inventor and innovator, he is also a Board-level Advisor, with appointments to the Microsoft Africa Advisory Council, the Lancet Commission on the Future of Health in Africa, the Center for Global Development’s Study Group on Technology, the World Economic Forum’s Africa Strategy Group, Care International, the inaugural Ashoka Globalizer initiative, the Africa Population Health Research Center, and IC Publications, owner of the New African magazine. He is a WEF YGL, TED Fellow, Aspen Braddock Fellow, and the 2016 CNBC African Innovative Business Leader of the Year. In 2016, Fortune magazine named him on their 50 World Greatest Leaders list.
Biola Alabi
Biola Alabi is an award winning filmmaker, entrepreneur, investor, public speaker, and television anchor. The media icon heads Biola Alabi Media, a media company dedicated to telling authentic African stories to the world. She is also the founder of “Grooming for Greatness” a leadership development and mentorship program for a new generation for African leaders and a Non- Executive Director of Unilever Nigeria. Named one of the 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa by Forbes Magazine, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and CNBC Africa’s AABLA West African Business Woman of the Year. For over five highly successful years, Biola Alabi held the high-profile position of Managing Director for M-Net Africa, part of the globally renowned Naspers Group. Prior to this, she was based in the United States where she was part of the executive team at the influential children’s television brand Sesame Street.