It was meant to hold last month, April being its traditional date. But this year’s edition of the popular Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NEC) Live failed to hold and kept its huge followers guessing.
But respite came last week, when the founder of the scholarly but entertaining NECLive, Ayeni Adekunle, offered a touching explanation through his social media handles.
After 10 years of the annual gathering, it was time to assess the journey so far and unbundle the platform and project for the next 10 years, from 2024.
Adekunle, a journalist turned award-winning Public Relations expert and entrepreneur was clear and exploratory in his submission and he didn’t forget to offer gratitude to those who contributed to making NECLive an important date in Nigeria’s entertainment calendar of the past decade.
Here is his message:
“It doesn’t seem like it – but we have been organizing NECLive now for 10 full years. I really just want to thank all the committee members, volunteers, all speakers, panelists, moderators, exhibitors, sponsors, and partners.
We’ve done over 400 hours of conference time, invested over $1m of our own money, and raised even more from sponsors and partners.
But the industry has changed a lot since that day on an airplane in 2012 when the idea came to me and I called my friend, Kelvin Orifa, to brainstorm. It’s changed a lot since the evening at Eko Hotel while attending an event with Tee A at the Grand Ball Room, when I decided ‘fu-k it let’s do it’.
The industry – even the whole world – has changed a lot since then and having realised that most of the frustrations that led me to found NECLive have since been solved, I believe it’s now time to face newer, bigger battles.
We wanted some standardization around distribution, now we have it. We wanted access to bigger markets and opportunities to monetise and it’s already happening. We wanted honour and recognition and acknowledgment.
It’s happening.
It’s still early days but it’s already happening. But what does it mean? Where is it headed?
How do we benefit individually and collectively, sustainably? What happens next?
We are spending the next 10 years of NECLive on answering these questions and more. And to do that well, we have to overhaul the entire format. So starting from April 2024, we will decentralise the platform, hosting shows and workshops and exhibitions and more all over the world. We will retain flagship events in Lagos and other Nigerian cities. But no matter where you are in the world, the plan is for you to be able to witness the African entertainment experience from the point of view of carefully selected professionals who have given and continue to give everything it takes to build what I am convinced will shape up to be the most successful creative industry in the world.
We’ll make further announcement in the coming days. But I just really wanted to thank everyone for your support over the last decade and to warn you that we’re coming aknocking again soon.
It is possible!
