Darey and Deola Art Alade are shaping the future of Africa’s creative industry by empowering artists with their platform, Entertainment Week Africa.
Africa’s creative revolution is no longer on the horizon; it’s happening now. The powerhouse duo Darey and Deola Art Alade, who are the minds behind Entertainment Week Africa (EWA), are pushing the needle. They are building platforms that bridge the gaps across music, film, fashion, tech, and art. The 2025 theme, “Close the Gap,” is more than a slogan — it’s a call to action. It’s about connecting resources with talent, opportunity with ambition, and dreams with real outcomes. In a landscape where infrastructure and access to funding remain persistent hurdles, EWA provides a space where creators from across the continent can collaborate, learn, and build sustainable careers.
Entertainment Week Africa has been delivering real results. Between 2022 and 2024, it welcomed over 50,000 attendees with more than 600 creatives receiving training. The event featured 200 speakers and over 100 sessions. It has also screened 150 short films and hosted 50 pop-up experiences. Altogether, it has also reached over 313 million people across digital platforms.
At its core, EWA is also a deeply personal legacy project. For Darey and Deola, this isn’t just about entertainment — it’s about enterprise, equity, and elevation. With nearly two decades of partnership in life and business, they’ve built systems that can help the African entertainment industry grow. Through their creative agency Livespot360 and its ambitious productions, they’ve redefined what’s possible in African entertainment. Now, they’re setting the stage for the next generation to own, to lead, and to innovate. In this exclusive interview, Darey and Deola Art Alade share their story on building the future of African creativity and what it took for them to create these platforms.
What inspired you to bring Entertainment Week Africa to life?
Darey: From the start, we wanted to create an ecosystem where people can meet, collaborate and grow together. We thought, why don’t we bring together music, film and fashion, uniting these industries to close the gap. Which is why “Close the Gap” is the theme for this year’s Entertainment Week Africa.
The title changed from Entertainment Week Lagos to Entertainment Week Africa. Did Pan Africanism play a role in this?
Darey: Yes, it is really important to us to harness the creative energy across the continent. Whether it’s music or film, the creative economy itself is borderless. It’s been a natural evolution for Entertainment Week Lagos to become Entertainment Week Africa. We want the minds of the creatives across borders to come together and find the energy and the strength that we have in our numbers. The global outlook is really the big picture for us. Being more Pan-African for us is to feel and see more representation across the continent compared to what we had before. And of course, the diaspora also plays a role in the things that are going to happen in the future at Entertainment Week Africa.
What results have you seen from the four years of Entertainment Week Lagos? What are your goals for those initiatives moving forward?
Darey: Over the last four years, we’ve seen so much progress. We’ve done a lot of training and workshops for African creative professionals and also helped them raise funds. We’ve successfully raised funds for various startups and organised different entertainment events. EWA has always been about job creation, and we’ve helped facilitate and create jobs for a lot of creatives.
How do you manage decision-making, creative agreements or disagreements and division of responsibility on your projects?
Deola: It’s definitely interesting; we’re both artists and creatives at our core. It’s not easy; sometimes we clash, but it’s a healthy clash. However, it’s always about the big picture. As long as we don’t lose focus on what we’re trying to do or what needs to be done, and everybody plays their role, then it’s all good. We also know that the bedroom and boardroom are two different things.
Read also: Livespot360 unveils Entertainment Week Africa (EWA): A bold new era for the continent’s creative
How do you balance the artistic side with the business side of your projects?
Deola: It’s natural for me. I studied art and design, but I’m also very structured. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, and I am a natural-born entrepreneur. I’ve always been able to balance my creative and business sides. I don’t know how, but I do balance it. Of course, the support of my husband and family has made it easier.
Darey: The way she balances it is her superpower; you can’t explain it. It’s just there. For me, from the get-go, it wasn’t always as straightforward. However, having her support and being able to learn from her over the years has helped. I sharpened the critical thinking needed for the business. With business, you need to be able to analyse certain things and look at things slightly differently from just being creative.
Livespot360 has delivered ambitious projects (Livespot X Festival, Fenty Beauty, “Black Panther”, Zenith Bank 35 years anniversary, AMVCA “Real Housewives of Lagos”, etc.). What do you think are the biggest obstacles to producing large‑scale entertainment content in Nigeria/Africa today, and how do you navigate them?
Darey: One of the biggest things to navigate when creating new projects is funding and infrastructure. It’s a major thing to tackle as well as talent. If you look at all those problems, you’ll see why Entertainment Week Africa was born. When we saw all those gaps, we thought about how we can bring the industry together. We wanted to develop a sustainable way to help upskill talent, help raise funding and build infrastructure. Those are core pillars driving Entertainment Week Africa forward.
Deola: One of the biggest gaps to tackle is access to capital. Darey mentioned the importance of training and upskilling. Knowledge is key, and we want to remove the barriers to access to it. African creatives are still being locked out of opportunities that could improve their careers. You also find that even at home, we still undervalue our own creatives within the industry. How can we block those holes and close those gaps? For us, it meant that we had to change the narrative and the way we looked at the creative economy. It can’t only be about entertainment; it also needs to be about enterprise.
What leadership philosophies or values are important to you, especially when leading large teams, mentoring upcoming creatives, or making hiring choices?
Deola: For me, authentic leadership is crucial. That means being real and not performative. I often tell people, “Don’t copy what exists; create what only you can do.” Your authenticity is your competitive edge. Blending creativity with structure is crucial for growth. It’s great to dream, but you also need to have a sense of discipline, so your dreams are not just all over the place. Pairing structure with creativity is what we feel the next generation should master.
I’ve also been saying collaboration over competition. It’s best to practice collaboration rather than competition. I see the future of leadership as very collaborative. We can’t afford not to collaborate. I think the leaders who can make a shift are those who build those bridges and share knowledge and a piece of the pie for everyone.
Additionally, inclusivity is big for me; I don’t play about it. I believe it will always be the backbone for innovation. I think that the next generation needs to look at the end in mind from the beginning. What do you want to leave behind in terms of building systems or even creating ecosystems? Think about the impact you’re trying to make, think about it in terms of decades, not quarters.
Darey: Resilience is also an important quality, as well as integrity and adaptability. Africa, and especially Nigeria, can be tough terrain to build a business. I think leaders who will thrive here are those who can take the setbacks and still reinvent, adapt and keep pushing.
What’s a risk that you took that did not immediately succeed but in hindsight proved important to your journey?
Deola: We’ve taken so many risks, but I can give one example. Let’s start from the beginning, one of the biggest risks was “Love like a Movie”. It’s a project we did in 2013 featuring Kim Kardashian. We put everything on the line to bring this to life. Most people said that we were building castles in the sky, but we went ahead and did it. “Love Like a Movie” ended up changing the face of production in Nigeria forever. It was everywhere, and many brands used it as a benchmark. Heineken became one of our top clients after it, and we still work with them to this day. It was a big risk, but it changed our trajectory; it really brought to life that phrase that says, “go big or go home”. If we didn’t take that risk at that time, then most likely we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Read Also: Funbi Ogunbanwo on producing Nigeria’s poignant, “My Father’s Shadow”
What big sacrifices did you make to get here?
Deola: Both of us have made so many sacrifices, especially at points when we were still figuring out our finances. I remember the day I came home, and my son ran past me to him. That was when it hit me, I knew I needed to improve my relationship with my kids and balance my work. COVID helped me with this because we had to be in the same house for months without leaving. During that time, I got to know and bond with them, which I am forever grateful for. With Darey, we had to pause his music for five years to build this.
Darey: When you have mouths to feed, the reality of monthly payroll, and the reality of executing jobs for clients, I had to put music on hold. We live in a financial system where you need to use your own funds to execute certain projects, and then you get paid later — that’s if you get paid at all. Doing big projects means you have to keep making payroll. For some of these projects, you hire a lot of people, and some also have families to feed. I needed to shift and pivot in a way that my music career suffered for. I couldn’t put out music because I had to dig deep, focus and roll up my sleeves to ensure that the business was growing. Something had to suffer to create what we have now. There’s also that thin line between the client seeing you as an artist or a businessman. That transition is always very tough, and you need them to believe that you know business.
For the longest time, when we started, we didn’t get paid; we didn’t have a salary. At some point, we had to put in everything. That was one of our big tangible sacrifices. That’s where resilience comes in. In business, you need to be resilient. If you’re not, it’s so easy to lose track.
What’s your advice for networking when you are spending your own finances on a project?
Deola: Some of the sacrifices you have to make mean cutting out excesses. For you to build, sometimes you need to work behind the scenes. You don’t need to spend money in the clubs to network. Focus on what is very important to you and cut out what isn’t.
I prioritise the work over networking. I’ve been very much behind the scenes, building very quietly. Of course, you don’t want to build a one-man business; you want the business to be built on its own merit. Yes, I know a lot of people, but I think silence and focus can be very powerful. I usually say you have the kings and the kingmaker. I see myself as a kingmaker. Call the shots from behind the scenes. You don’t have to be everywhere. In Nigeria, we’re fond of being everywhere, and it’s important to be picky about where you are going.
Deola, congratulations on being inducted into the Recording Academy’s 2025 new member class. What does that mean for you personally, and what impact do you hope it has for the Nigerian/African entertainment industry?
Deola: In terms of the Grammys, it meant more than just a seat at the table; it’s an opportunity to use my voice, to help African artists. When I shared that I was doing this online, I received a lot of messages from different people from all over the world, just trying to pitch their own music. In my head, I was like, I’m doing this for my African people. I’m happy to use my voice to push African creatives forward and to help shape the global industry. Even if it’s just an inch in the right direction, then that’s the role I am happy to play.
Looking back at your 18 years of marriage, what lessons have you learnt about balancing personal life, high-pressure careers and entertainment, and how do you navigate burnout?
Darey: Burnout happens very easily, but I think we’ve just been able to navigate our partnership well. It’s not for the faint-hearted, let’s be clear about that. When it does work, which we’ve been able to make work, it’s really a powerful thing to be a part of. What is paramount is discipline. The respect and discipline that we have for each other shows in how we are at home and how we are at work. We ensure that there’s no competition and that we’re there to support each other and also complement each other.
We’re first protective of our friendship. We have this cultural thing in Nigeria where working with your spouse is almost like it’s a taboo, or they’ll say, “it doesn’t work, or your marriage will not last.” But the truth is, where there’s no discipline, there are no boundaries, no respect, and you’re just not clear on what you’re trying to do. We’ve been able to balance it, and I believe a good mix of faith is in there as well.
Darey, you come from a musical background, and your father’s also in the entertainment industry. Do you feel this shaped your work in the entertainment industry?
Darey: I was 12 when my father died. Growing up, he was such an enigma. All through my early years, there were constant references to his impact on people — what he did, who he was, and how he treated others. Learning more about his colossal, larger-than-life personality was quite daunting, so I never bothered to fill his shoes. I simply used that social capital that he left — as they say, a good name is better than silver or gold — and I just ran with that.
One of the biggest things that I’ve learnt from the lineage I come from is knowing what you want to leave behind. Building with Mrs D, we’re working on leaving behind platforms and systems that are a legacy of impact.
That segues perfectly into my final question: what legacy do you want to leave behind?
Darey: We’ve created moments people won’t forget. When you think of a cultural shift, lifestyle has always played a part. We’ve built an ecosystem where African creativity didn’t just shine, it thrived through innovation, inclusion and impact.
Deola: Let me stress that inclusion is a big part of the legacy we want to leave behind. I’ve always worked in a male-dominated industry, and I know the challenges I’ve had to face.
I remember my first major contract, that job was almost a billion. That was a long time ago. I was the only female in the space, and they all looked at me like, “she’s a little girl”. Fast-forward to when I got that job, they started calling me madame. As a woman trying to get a job, there is a pay discrepancy; many people feel that men should be paid more. This happens across all industries, but it is very common in the entertainment industry. I want my legacy to be about helping women thrive in the work environment and not to be constantly looked at as sex objects. When women put their minds to something, we do it very well and with passion. I want part of our legacy to be about opening doors for women to succeed.
