It is an unarguable fact that when a man garners knowledge and experiences over time having shown dexterity with recorded success in his endeavours, such an individual becomes a force to reckon with and is then called upon at different points to bring his prowess to play when and where needed.
Evidently, it then becomes imperative not just to see that individual as an expert but also an Institution. That is the case with Oye Akideinde.
Oye is a music, digital&tech business executive whose 22years+ experience has been primarily in entertainment, consumer goods, eBusiness, financial, media, music, and digital sectors.
With demonstrated initiative & innovation, he has been successful in technology, project management, strategy, marketing, product & business development, giving him a vast set of skills.
A hardworking, efficient, and certified accomplisher, Oye who is also known as Oye AKD has etched his name on the sands of time in the entertainment industry not just in Nigeria where he started off from but in Africa where he’s seen as a key stakeholder.
With an already enviable career which includes handling the UAC rebranding project, managing FCMB’s bank-wide EMV migration from mag-stripe technology, and becoming the chief information officer of a start-up – Compliance & Content Monitoring Limited, Oye’s creative juices and passion for the entertainment industry led to the birth of 360nobs Limited, a company he co-founded in 2010.
360nobs Limited is a technology-driven media firm that has one of Africa’s biggest entertainment websites – 360nobs.com catering to millions of unique visitors monthly. It had a talent management arm that managed several acts from Waje to Project Fame Alum – Immaculate Dache.
Having built 360nobs to a vantage point, he became a non-executive director and went on to have a stint with Spinlet Music (one of the pioneer online music stores/digital service providers (DSPs) in Africa) as the global head of business development for two and half years.
During his time at Spinlet, he was responsible for successfully partnering with Etisalat, Samsung, Tecno, Google, Nokia among others to help grow the Spinlet user base to a 1,000,000+ subscriber base.
In 2015, Oye was approached by Techno Mobile to come help start-up Boomplay music where he was given the mandate to grow Boomplay music to become the largest online entertainment platform in Africa in the short term and globally in the long term. Boomplay music would go on and win the 2017 African App of The Year.
He left as the director of West Africa at Boomplay Music after almost four years of recording numerous landmark achievements for the organization.
With a proven track record of success and impact filled years in the media, tech, and entertainment industry, Oye has grown to become an institution on his own undoubtedly was the name that came to mind when it was time for MTN group to bring on board a capable hand to steer the ship of its Music Services.
Hence, Oye became the GM music services for the MTN Group and was appointed as the Head for Music, for their OTP Digital services in Simfy Africa – a company MTN acquired.
He oversaw new market launches & operations in 22 active markets and was responsible for strategically developing & managing key relationships to fulfill its vision of becoming Africa’s largest sustainable music ecosystem.
This media, tech, and entertainment juggernaut, as well as serial entrepreneur, is also the co-founder of MerryGo Kids – an edutainment platform for kids and families, and Continued Entertainment– a Technology-driven ContEnt, entertainment, projects & marketing services.
Oye holds a specialist degree in General Music Studies from the Berklee School of Music, USA, an MSc in Business Information Systems from the University of Hertfordshire, UK & a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
He also sits on the board of different organizations (most recently TurnTable charts) where his experience comes to play in the development of such organizations and has been part of several music award academies and a member of Felabration.
Oye’s numerous achievements in the industry over the years have definitely not gone unnoticed as he is a recipient of a number of awards, nominations, and recommendations.
Awarded ‘The Music Business Executive’ of 2020 by Scream Awards & Marketing Edge’s 2018 ‘Digital Entertainment Innovator’, listed as 2016’s Avance Media’s ‘100 Most Influential Young Nigerians’, MeetsMedia ‘Media Personality of September 2016’ & a nominee in 2010’s Future Awards ‘Professional of the year’.
He also led Boomplay Music to win the coveted ‘Best African App’ Award at the AppsAfrica Innovation Awards in 2017.
Read also: Sports entertainment could help solve Nigeria’s unemployment problem – Obolo
It is expected that such a walking encyclopedia of media, tech and entertainment will at various points be called upon to pour out from his reservoir of knowledge and wealth of experiences for people to tap from. Therefore, Oye is actively involved in global music & digital workshops to contribute to discussions on various trends in Africa and their impacts & possibilities.
He has spoken at conferences such as MIDEM, Social Media Week, Music in Africa ACCES, and Nigeria Tech Summit and has also been interviewed & featured by major media outlets.
Oye has a very strong passion for the entertainment industry in Africa and is seen as a key stakeholder, sitting on several music award academies notably the Headies
Indeed, it is sufficient to say that this young Nigerian man making waves across the aforementioned three industries is not just a well sought after and highly accomplished professional but an Institution on his own who we hope will be used as a reference point and motivation for young emerging entrepreneurs in these fields.
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