Audu Maikori

Audu Maikori
Born (1975-08-13) 13 August 1975
Kaduna, Kaduna, Nigeria
Occupation Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Social activist, Public Speaker, Creative Industry Professional, Founder of the Chocolate City (music label)
Website www.chocolatecitygroup.com

Audu Maikori (born 13 August 1975, Kaduna) is a Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur, social activist, public speaker, creative industry professional, Founder and President of the Chocolate City Entertainment Group. Maikori is also well known in Nigeria as a former Nigerian Idol judge and has been compared to Simon Cowell due to his tough stance on contestants during auditions.

Maikori's Chocolate City is a arguably one of the biggest record labels in Africa[1] helping to guide and manage the careers of several artists including Femi Kuti, M.I, Ice Prince Zamani, Victoria Kimani,Asa, Djinee, Jesse Jagz, Nosa, Brymo, Koker, Dice Ailes etc.

A multi award winning entrepreneur and creative industry specialist, Maikori soon took on the role of social activism by funding and participating in a variety of youth empowerment projects. Maikori was a key member of the Enough is Enough rally in 2010 which was aimed at addressing poor governance issues in Nigeria, during which he had a face-off with Nigerian military police, when he refused to back down when a rifle was pointed at him in a bid to stop him from leading the peaceful protest to the gates of the National Assembly.

Maikori is also a much sought-after public speaker and has travelled widely to speak on the creative entrepreneurship in various fora both locally and internationally.YNaija Magazine, one of the leading youth influencers, named Audu one of the most powerful people in Nigerian Entertainment in March 2014.[2][3] In October 2015, Audu was appointed the Chairman of the Nigerian Digital Music Monitoring Group a body which is mandated to work closely with the Nigerian Copyright Commission, the Nigerian Communications Commission, the National Information Technology Development Agency, the National Assembly and other relevant bodies to develop specific methods for the implementation of the resolutions of the Summit. The Group is also charged to monitor progress in the exploitation of music in the digital environment and report to the Copyrights Society and Music stakeholders at regular intervals on the state of progress made.

Early life

The third of five children, Audu Maikori was born in Kaduna State to Adamu Maikori, a lawyer-politician and Laiatu Gyet Maude, a princess of the ancient Jaba royal family both from Kwoi, Jaba Local Government, Kaduna. Jaba Local government is best known as the home of the Nok Culture. He was raised in Lagos and attended Adrao International School and King's College before obtaining his Law degree from the University of Jos in 1999. He later obtained his Bachelor of Laws (B.L) from the Law school Abuja.[4]

At the age of 4, Maikori showed a natural talent for sketching and drawing and soon was making portraits of his father and mother who encouraged him greatly leading to him emerging one of the top two art students in Kings College, Lagos. He made his first commercial art sale at the age of 18 in 1996 when he sold a painting for (the then princely sum of )N1,500. His father Adamu being a lover of music himself and a former Choirmaster bought a Yamaha PSR12 Keyboard for Audu ad his siblings when he turned 12 and also hired a music tutor who taught them how to play the basic notations . Later that year, his father bought a radio/Cassette player Sound system which had a microphone input which allowed Audu to record vocals over cassette tracks- immediately Audu found a way to connect the deck to the keyboard and instantly he and his siblings started recording their own demos, singing and rapping over Bob James jazz compositions.

Early Entertainment Career

Sometime in 1997, Audu and a group of his friends at the University of Jos started discussing the possibilities of setting up a club to liven up the semester and also make some cash, after a heated debate on the name of the club Audu suggested naming the club "Chocolate City" and for the first time in almost an hour had a unanimous buy in by all 6 partners. Chocolate City went on to become the biggest rave around the Universities in northern Nigeria and was soon being copied by other schools who launched their own "Chocolate Cities". The last official Chocolate City was held in April 1999 with a record crowd of 2000 attendees .

The Guild of Artistes and Poets(G.A.P)

During his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program Audu and his old friend from the University of Jos Paul Okeugo founded the Guild of Artistes and Poets, a non-profit arts society aimed at encouraging creativity in Abuja, because of what they saw was a clear need for creative spaces for young people to interact, exchange and collaborate in artistic ventures. The GAP held its first meeting in April 2001 with 7 members but by September had over 40 members. The GAP formed strategic alliances with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the British Council and even held art exhibitions in partnership with the French Cultural Centre. The GAP soon expanded its reach to Jos ,Plateau State and in Lagos . By 2005 the GAP had over 300 active members who met weekly in three states making it a very potent creativity resource for many young people who sought creative platforms to express themselves. It was through GAP that he met with a range of artistes and started out rendering free legal services to aspiring artists.

Legal career

Audu was called to the Nigerian Bar in January 2001 and started his legal career working as an Associate with the litigation-inclined firm of Chief Afe Babalola SAN & Co where he worked from 2001 till 2003.He worked thereafter as Legal Advisor to Leasing Company of Nigeria (a subsidiary of Bank of Industry,Nigeria, and company secretary of Abuja Markets Management Limited (a subsidiary of Abuja Investment and Property company) all before the age of 30.

In 2006, Maikori was appointed Senior Legal consultant with CPCS Transcom International, a Canadian infrastructure firm, where he worked on the legal and regulatory aspects of privatisation transactions including the Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigerian Railway Corporation, unbundling and privatisation of PHCN. He represented Nigeria in the UNIDROIT Sub-Committee of governmental experts for the preparation of a preliminary draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets in 2005.

In May 2007, Maikori co-organized the first Nigerian International Music Summit aimed at establishing a legal and regulatory framework for the Nigerian music industry in March 2007. Over 400 music industry stakeholders drawn from all over Nigeria attended the event. His belief in the creative industries of Nigeria and Africa made him a spokesperson and mentor for many youth in and around Nigeria.Maikori, is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK, International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, the Nigerian Bar Association and International Bar Association (IBA).

In 2002, he teamed up with his elder brother Yahaya Maikori to start Law Allianz, a firm of legal practitioners based in Lagos and Abuja which focused on Intellectual property, gaming as well as key privatization transaction advisory services which grew to become one of the leading firms in I.P practice which was headed by Audu . He also was selected as lead legal consultant for key national infrastructure projects such as the Lagos Rail Mass Transit project (2008), Abuja Mass Transit project (2006- 2008) and Kano Mass transit project in 2011.In March 2015, Audu resigned from Law Allianz to concentrate on other business affairs.

Considered one of the pioneers of entertainment law practice in Nigeria, Audu has represented a plethora of Artists including Bimbo Akintola, Tuface Idibia, MI. Ice Prince, Aṣa amongst others.

Chocolate City

Chocolate City Limited was registered in October 2003 with Audu partnering with business partner and friend Paul Okeugo and later on his brother Yahaya Maikori as directors of the company. In 2004, he wrote the Chocolate City Manifesto - a document that spelled out the vision and mission of Chocolate City. Later that year he alongside Paul Okeugo and two other partners produced the first Chocolate City event in partnership with British American Tobacco , which held at the University of Maiduguri - the show turned out to be a financial loss due to an accidental firearms discharge by a drunk policeman. Later that year, Audu was introduced to a song called " Na Ba Ka" by an artist named Jeremiah Gyang's by Six Foot Plus(a prominent Hip hop artist at the time) who had been featured on the track. Amazed at the boys talent , Audu soon travelled down to Jos along with Paul to track down the artist for the purpose of promoting and managing his career. In January 2005, Chocolate City formally signed Jeremiah Gyang under a recording and management contract and re -released the album " Na Ba Ka" to resounding success and accolades. It was through Jeremiah that Audu Maikori met hip hop artist M.I ho also grew up in Jos and was childhood friends with Jeremiah Gyang. Coincidentally, M.I was a member of G.A.P Jos through which he met and formed a close bond with Paul Okeugo as well . M.I was signed to Chocolate City in mid 2006.

Restructuring Chocolate City

In 2012, after a corporate restructure, a new entity Chocolate City Group was formed with renowned business man and lawyer Hakeem Bello-Osagie joining the board as Chairman. Four companies were formed to constitute the group namely Chocolate City Music, Chocolate City Media, Chocolate City Distribution and STM with Audu appointed as President of the Group. In March 2015 Audu announced the return of Jesse Jagz to Chocolate City - the news was met with so much excitement across the continent. On the 31st of June 2015 Audu via twitter announced his exit as CEO of Chocolate City Music and the appointment of M.I as the new CEO of Chocolate City Music, with label mate Ice Prince Zamani as the Vice President of the music label. Audu also announced the objectives for the 3 Chocolate City subsidiaries to include radio, television and film.

Activism

Maikori has received both local and international commendations for his work in developing the youth including being invited to Albania in 2008 to deliver a keynote speech at a seminar organized by the Albania Ministry of Youth and Employment, Minister of culture and British Council.

In 2010, Maikori was part of the Enough is Enough campaign which saw thousands of Nigerians protest against issues such as infrastructure failings, fuel shortages and power blackouts that reflected badly on the government's effort to provide the basic amenities for its citizens. In a largely peaceful four-hour protest, they marched to the National Assembly in Abuja, carrying placards, wearing T-shirts which stated "Enough is Enough", and carrying a letter outlining their demands. Maikori became the face of Enough is Enough after a police officer warned him to back down or be shot; Maikori refused to back down and dared the officer to shoot. He later led the other protesters to march on peacefully to make their protests heard by the National Assembly.[5]

On 13 February 2012, Audu Maikori was appointed a member of the Presidential Committee on the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme ( SURE- P); the committee members were hand-picked by President Goodluck Jonathan to oversee and ensure the effective and timely implementation of critical infrastructure and social safety projects to be funded with the savings accruing to the federal government from subsidy removal. Maikori was the youngest member of the committee.

Copyrights activism

In May 2012 Maikori was elected to serve as a member of the board of COSON. On 20 May 2010, COSON was given the certificate of approval by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to be Nigeria’s sole government licensed collective management organization for musical works and sound recordings. Maikori was one of the brains behind the lobby for the NCC to officially appoint a CMO to collect royalties for songwriters and performers after 13 years of the NCC failing to settle the dispute between the MCSN and PMRS, both de-registered CMOs which had been embroiled in legal battles for supremacy for years. His appointment has been lauded as the right step in the right direction by music industry stakeholders.[6]

Nigerian Idol

In September 2010, Maikori was made a judge of the first series of Nigerian Idol alongside Nigerian singer Yinka Davies and American singer-dancer Jeffrey Daniel.[7] The show proved to be a ratings success, but a year later he left the series to concentrate on other commitments, and was replaced by singer-publisher Charly Boy.[8]

Accolades

At the inaugural edition of the United Kingdom Young Music Entrepreneur 2008, Maikori was nominated to serve as a judge alongside four other British music industry judges, making him the first black judge for a major British Music industry competition.

On the 29th of June 2007, he won the highly coveted Global Award i.e. International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY) for his work with Chocolate City after beating off fierce international competition from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland and Tanzania.

He received special judges’ commendation as well as $15,000 Dollars in prize money.[9]

In December 2011, Chocolate City Group, under Audu’s leadership, was named winner at the prestigious Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship in Nairobi, Kenya. Chocolate City was selected from over 3,300 applicants from 48 African countries to clinch the coveted prize of $50,000.

In November 2014, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Nigerian Leadership Institute(NLI) in November at the NLI- YALE Leadership Conference which held at the Yale Campus in New Haven.

Mentorship

His passion for youth development and enterprise has also led to his involvement with several international projects such as serving as judge on 3 editions of British Council Young Creative Enterprise series in Nigeria, and also as a judge on the inaugural edition of the United Kingdom Young Creative Enterprise Series (UKYME) in London as the only non – British judge on the panel in 2008/2009. Audu has also served as a judge on the board of the Etisalat Prize for Innovation which is aimed at encourage innovation using technology in 2012, 2013,2014 and also 2015. He also served as one of the judges alongside Aliko Dangote, Hakeem Bello Osagie and Ngozi Edozien for the inaugural SheLeadsAfrica competition in 2014m which was aimed at stimulating female entrepreneurs across Africa.

In 2015 Audu was selected to served as Judge on Microsoft’s Passion To Empire competition where 5 outstanding entrepreneurs were selected to receive a cash prize, training from the Lagos Business School as well as mentorship from the other judges which include Tara Durotoye – Tara Cosmetics and Opeyemi Awo, Founder Jobberman.

Fellowship

Awards

Further reading

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Making Chocolate Products
  5. ↑ We Must Walk The Walk
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Nigerian Idol
  8. ↑ Charly Boy Nigerian Idol
  9. ↑ British Council
  10. ↑ www.africaawards.com

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.