Women in the African space have always been a force to reckon with; from Afrobeats to Fashion, African women have carved out a niche for themselves despite and in spite of all the challenges they face. There is no doubt that African women will continue to make space and make noise in every space they occupy. For International Women’s Month, here are 5 Nigerian women in the creative industry and how they’re flourishing in spite.
Miracle “Mira” Udoh and Ifeoma “Orhma” Iheagwara
Miracle “Mira” and Ifeoma “Orhma” met as trainees during the Mavins Future Five program. Fast forward 10 months and the Future Five program is over, and Mira and Orhma have a solid friendship and a seamless partnership. Separately they manage artistes and producers; together, they run FOS Entertainment and co-manage Naya Akanji. Between the two of them, they are a powerhouse, but it doesn’t mean their work is appreciated.
As women mostly are, they have been underestimated and undervalued, the most notable was their company being valued at 100k, but Mira and Orhma continue to stand their ground.
Temitope Olowo-Ake
Within the music space, Discovery Deck is known for giving a platform to underground artistes. For Temitope Olowo-Ake, the founder, Discovery Deck started as a way to put sonic gems on the map. With a weekly playlist highlighting only releases from underground artists, Temi’s Discovery Deck is something of a rite of passage for under-the-radar artists to grow their community.
On one hand, Temi loves the competitiveness of the industry, but on the other, the lack of support that results from this competition is a hinder to the work she’s doing.
Omotorera Awotimide
In the past couple of years, there has been an increase in Nigerian fashion and RTW brands. One such brand is Oyiza.co. Launched in April 2022 by Omotorera Awotimide, Oyiza.co is a growing fashion retail brand that tells stories with each outfit. Strongly inspired by her mother’s love for fashion, Omotorera is creating a line of clothes that are more than outfits, clothes that include memories, paying homage to all the generations of women before me who loved to have fun and create the best memories in outfits that spoke to them.
For her, despite the bumps in the road that Nigeria has put in her path, she’s committed to making Oyiza a brand that speaks to all women. In 2023, watch out for outfits from Oyiza.co. Maybe a fashion line too.
Uzoma Ndulue
Making a leap from majoring in Communications to being an artist would have been a leap if not for the fact that she minored in Fine Arts. For Uzoma, art has always been a part of her life; some would describe her as a prodigy. Her work centres around identity, memories, history and perception. Falling in love with the process is a perk of creating art for Uzoma, in addition to bringing her ideas to life. Nigeria though, has made that process more difficult than it has to be with quality art supplies in scarce supply.
In addition to being an artist, Uzoma runs a fashion line with an exhibition on the horizon leaning towards Kidsuper’s style of mixing art with fashion in a move reminiscent of Fruche and Coperni.