Obi Asika is the director-general of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Nigeria, and has been a tireless advocate and key driver of the Nigerian creative industries for over three decades. Prior to this appointment in January 2024, Obi has been a multi-award-winning creative entrepreneur who built one of the most successful entertainment brands in Nigeria (Storm 360/Storm Records), and co-founded Social Media Week Lagos, the biggest new media and technology conference in Africa. He has just launched the Omniverse, a platform converging multiple ecosystems to bring tech into the mainstream and drive collaboration for development. He is the principal advocate of Nigerian soft power as a critical tool to bring the nation together and to animate the stories, culture, and heritage of the country. He also has a long and extensive track record in sports from the policy and production side with Soccerex 2012, FIFA U20 World Cup 1999, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Nigerian Olympic Committee and a non-executive director of Sport Nigeria. His previous public sector appointments include becoming senior special assistant to the President on digital policy & social media in 2015 and contributing his expertise to more than 15 federal government committees across different administrations. He has also contributed his leadership to several creative sector boards and just joined the board of DAAR Communications PLC in December 2023 to help reposition it, the Copyright Society of Nigeria, and Online Publishing Association of Nigeria. An internationally recognized thought-leader on the African creative and cultural economy, he was appointed in 2014 to the advisory board of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and has delivered presentations at the London Business School, Harvard Business School, MIT, Wharton School of Business, Corporate Council on Africa, African Investment Forum, NESG, Wimbiz and more. He is associated with the global rise of the Nigerian music industry and afrobeat. He has also been executive producer of the largest global tv reality shows including Big Brother Nigeria, The Apprentice Africa, Dragons Den Nigeria, Naija Sings and a Showmax original documentary series, Journey of the Beats. Obi has also been executive producer of the Calabar Carnival, Abuja Carnival and countless live events and productions.