TEXA2020: Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, Mo Abudu, Others Engage Event Entrepreneurs

The second edition of The Event Xperience Africa (TEXA2020) convened by one of the pioneers of the Nigerian event industry, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, was brought to an end recently in Lagos with Mo Abudu, CEO Ebonylife TV; Mai Atafo, Creative Director, Atafo; Steve Harris, Business Coach; Edi Lawani, Ceci Johnson, Osayi Alile, Chukwuka Monye and others engaging young entrepreneurs on professionalism, creativity, and effective collaboration.

Tagged, “Rev up… Build… Grow... Thrive”, the three-day conference, geared towards helping businesses understand and implement the right structures required to grow in the events industry, featured panel sessions, curated classes, networking sessions with different speakers.

Topics such as the business of events management, leveraging technology in the event industry, hospitality, experiential events production, the craft of event photography and videography and more were discussed.

To officially kick off the event, an opening cocktail party was held on January 28, 2020 with delegates and event industry personalities from across Africa and the United States in attendance.

Mo Abudu delivered the opening speech as she encouraged entrepreneurs to have big dreams for themselves and their businesses. Engaging the audience in panel discussions and presentations were various industry experts including Maria Pamela Nwonu (Nwando Signatures), Izobe Spiff, Do2tun, Ini Abimbola, Owen Omogiafo, Onye Ubanatu, Kunmi Ariyo, Yewande Rwang-Dung and sister Kemi (Co-Founders of Sara O Events), Jimi Tewe, and Sola Oyebade.

The grand finale of the event kicked off with teaching delegates on the essence of branding and the importance of selling one’s value to customers.

This was done in a panel discussion themed, “Branding, Sales and Marketing, Sell your Value”, by industry experts such as Mai Atafo, Adaora Mbelu, Bukky Akomolafe, Steve Harris, and Ayodotun Akinfenwa. Also discussed on final day were topics focused on Human Resources, Technology, and more.

The conference which recorded over 700 attendees and speakers was hosted by Lamide Akintobi and Oluwaseun Olaniyan. Other speakers at the conference include Big H, Izobe Spiff, Emmanuel Oyeleke, Akeshi Akinseye (USA), Afi Amoro (Ghana), Mwai Yeboah (Zambia/Uk), Tedai Kevin Zhou (Zimbabwe), Christine Ogbeh, Tee A, Bankole Williams, Tomi Aluko, Edi Lawani, Do2tun, and many others.