Nigeria’s creativity travels - Is its advertising industry capturing the value?

Nigerian creativity travels. Its music fills international playlists, its films find audiences across borders, and its fashion influences how people dress. But are the businesses behind that creativity capturing enough of its value?

For those of us working in marketing and advertising, that question deserves attention. Cultural influence is visible. The conditions that turn a strong idea into effective work, a sustainable business or an international opportunity are harder to see.

On 3 November, Women in Marketing (WiM) Africa, in partnership with Women in Advertising, part of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), brings that question to Lagos: “From Creative Ambition to Impact: Is Nigeria Realising Its Creative Potential?”

I wanted to have this conversation because celebrating talent only takes us so far. We also need to examine what happens to an idea after someone presents it.

Who backs it? Who changes it? Is there enough investment to execute it properly? How do we judge whether it worked? And when the work succeeds, who benefits?

It is tempting to find one explanation. Clients are too cautious. Agencies need to be bolder. Budgets are too small. Regulation is too restrictive.

Each deserves scrutiny, but none explains everything.

A client has commercial targets to meet. An agency needs a brief, time and resources. Media decisions influence who encounters the work. Consumer insight can sharpen an idea or expose a weakness. Regulation carries responsibilities that creative ambition cannot simply wish away.

The useful conversation is about how those decisions interact, where they constrain good work and where they help it succeed.

Nigeria already has achievements to build on. The question is how to make success more repeatable, with stronger opportunities for the people and businesses creating it.

This connects directly to why I launched WiM Africa in 2018.

I wanted African women working in marketing, advertising and communications to have stronger connections, greater recognition and more influence over the direction of their industry.

There are women leading major brands, agencies and professional bodies across Africa. Their achievements deserve recognition. We also need to ask how widely opportunities extend, whose expertise gets heard and what helps the next generation progress.

WiM Africa, the pan-African hub of the global Women in Marketing network, brings women and male allies together through community, partnerships, knowledge sharing and recognition.

For me, the purpose is practical: to help expertise become visible, relationships become opportunities, and women’s judgement carry weight in decisions that matter.

That includes the commercial questions facing our industry. Women’s leadership belongs in conversations about creativity, technology, investment and growth. These are areas in which women already bring experience and authority.

Our Real Talk Debate Series gives that expertise a platform. Previous conversations in Accra, Johannesburg and Nairobi have explored AI, Gen Z and authentic African representation by global brands. Each market has brought its own priorities and disagreements.

Lagos takes that exchange into the relationship between creative ambition and impact.

Steve Babaeko, founder and CEO of X3M Ideas, will open the evening in a fireside conversation hosted by Katharina Link of Pulse and Business Insider Africa. His journey offers a starting point for discussing Nigerian creativity and the businesses needed to sustain it.

Kantar’s Tamara Ojeaga will contribute an insightful perspective before the debate.

Moderated by Oluwaseyi Layade, COO of Leo Burnett Lagos and chairperson of Women in Advertising, the discussion brings together seven women with responsibilities across the industry.

They are Seun Adaramola of Visa, Osato Evbuomwan of Coca-Cola, Fiona Uwagwu of First Primus Group, Esosa Osagiede of Insight Publicis, Brenda Nwagwu of MIPAN, creative economy strategist Addy Awofisayo and Emme Akande of ARCON.

Their different positions are the point. A brand leader, creative director and regulator may see the same obstacle differently. Hearing those perspectives together creates an opportunity to test assumptions and identify where change is possible.

We are not assigning speakers fixed positions for or against the motion. The discussion will examine where Nigeria is succeeding, where gaps remain and what different parts of the industry can do. Live polling and audience questions will bring the room into that exchange.

I hope people leave with something specific to reconsider: an approval process, a way of assessing effectiveness, an investment in talent or a partnership they have overlooked.

The challenge is to turn that exchange into choices people can defend and follow through on.

One evening will not settle these questions. It can, however, bring people with the authority to act into a conversation worth continuing.

For me, that is WiM Africa’s purpose in practice: women helping shape the decisions that determine what our industry becomes.

Real Talk Debate Lagos takes place on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at La Bamba, Ikeja GRA, from 4 pm to 8.30 pm.

Event details and registration