Ngozi Odita is the founder of AFRICANXT (formerly Social Media Week Lagos), one of Africa’s leading innovation and business events. Now in its 11th year, this initiative has hosted thousands of participants from Africa and beyond.
Also the founder of AFRIKA21, a production house that curates experiences and spaces for people who love to connect Africa, Ngozi holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His work focuses on the intersection of music, art, culture and technology related to Africa and the diaspora. He has produced programs for Lincoln Center of The Performing Arts, Brooklyn Museum, African Film Festival, Inc., Museum of Art and Design, Ravensbourne University (London), and South By Southwest (SXSW).
Ngozi has participated in and led discussions about her work at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business, Yale University, Columbia University, New York University, South By Southwest (SXSW), and The New School. Other experience includes an extensive background in Integrated Marketing, working independently for more than ten years implementing marketing campaigns, developing go-to-market promotional plans, and executing branded experiences for consumer goods companies, cultural institutions, NGOs, and entertainment companies.
In this interview with IJEOMA THOMAS-ODIA, he shares his passion for Africa, collaborating to build the most influential gathering center innovators across Africa and the Diaspora.
Take us through your career journey?
I am always passionate about gathering and bringing people together to share experiences. As a child who planned my own 13-year-old birthday party to plan one of the largest gatherings in Africa and the Diaspora, the idea of bringing people together in a meaningful way has always been important to me. I started planning events as a teenager; talent shows at school, community events in my neighborhood. I even organized a school walkout to protest police brutality when I was 16.
In college, I started planning major events as part of the Student Programming Council. We have a budget close to one million US dollars. I plan a usually large student concert. Then after graduation, I continued planning events, and then worked with many institutions, museums, universities, city municipalities, helping with public programs.
What informs your passion for driving innovation and organizing business events in all sectors?
The idea and understanding that individual and collective prosperity depends on our capacity to work together and collaborate; what we do now determines what will happen.
AFRICANXT is about bringing together people who are passionate about Africa. It can be in a conference setting, it can be a movie screening. What unites us is that we are all committed to building a better future for our continent and ourselves.
You have worked in all sectors, how can you sharpen your skills?
Be open, have an open mind and heart, open ears. Be receptive to people and the world around me. Every encounter and experience teaches me. So, that’s how I move in this world and from that moment on.
Constantly driven by why I am here, what I need to get out of the moment and encounter.
Social media plays a huge role in various sectors, which is also an important part of its evolution. How do you find the dynamism it offers?
Listen. Social Media is a tool and an entry point; it’s the beginning of the conversation, the beginning, then it’s up to us what we do with the information. I have accounts on most platforms, but I don’t talk/post much. I listen, try to get a better understanding, about the people, the market, the consumer.
That tells me how I can be of service and what capacity I can provide. Listening tells us how we bring people together and why we bring them together. Whether it’s to build a platform or product or for an event, committed listening is essential
Do you consider your core competencies and skills?
I am committed to the community; I am a master organizer.
What’s happening this year and what to expect?
This year, the curation of programming during the week, the depth of expertise, knowledge and concern … it seems that everyone understands the task. Our conference is each year guided by a theme. This year, Cooperation. Collaboration. Innovation. Focus on our ability to work together and collaborate across industries and borders, and how to make an impact and drive innovation we put forward and the capacity to scale.
So, from the panel on ‘Together building a metaverse that centers Africans and allows us to prosper’, to ‘History of Feminist Organizing in Nigeria’, to ‘The Importance of Intergenerational Collaboration for Good Governance.’ Then also not only talk about Cooperation and Collaboration, but have their own events and places as an example of what cooperation and collaboration can do.
So, our decoration, forming the stage to the speaker’s green room, is a collaborative effort with local artisans and craftsmen.
How is social media redefining work ethics, and lifestyles around the world?
As a platform and a tool, it is intrinsic to the way we live today, for better or for worse. Social media is all over the place. Literally, almost every experience has technology layered on it that allows us to stay connected. From monitoring our mental health, when to water the plants, learning a language to dating… there is no aspect of our lives without an application.
How to work together from zoom meetings to workplace bullying through social.
I think as humans, we need to remember this is a tool and a platform and it doesn’t define us, it doesn’t dictate reality. It is the part that determines that we have to pump the brakes. We need to really evaluate how we use these platforms; there is a fine line between defining and dictating so we must be careful.
Organizing an event like this comes with challenges, can you share your experience?
The location. Nigeria is an amazing place, but at the same time, you have a fuel shortage, a power shortage, a high-risk economic climate. The fact that we’re powering a five-day event on a generator is crazy.
But I won’t do a show anywhere and I’ve been asked. I really believe that bringing Africans from all over the world to Lagos for a week is a game changer and creates a very unique moment and opportunity.
How do you stay inspired and motivated?
The people and the world around me inspire me. The world is amazing. Every day, I remind myself to rest and really just take in the moment and the Magic around us. I wake up feeling grateful and try to carry that feeling everywhere.
How do we get more women to be successful and rise to the top like they have done? Any tips for young women?
Success is not monolithic. Don’t let society or people define what success is for you as a woman. You have won, because you are here and you are willing and have the capacity to do whatever you want. You win by default. Let’s start there.
I don’t let people tell me what I can and can’t do. What people say and do is based on their fear and understanding of reality, how they see the world and their place in it. It has nothing to do with me. Be the woman you want and be free.
What important lessons have you learned during your training and what impact did they have?
Expect the unexpected. Be flexible. It’s a journey, not a destination.
What is your life mantra?
Do things with ease and joy and in harmony with your highest good, with the understanding that ease and joy are our understanding. So, it’s not like praying for life to be easy and happy, it’s more about us changing our perspective. So, even in challenging times, I approach the moment or situation with ease and find joy.