By Chukwuma Ajakah

In the last two decades, artists, art galleries and dealers have been resetting performance to meet the sudden global interest in African art.

However, tapping the full potential seems to be missing in connecting artists of African descents to the global space.

Attempting to find the missing link, Art Miabo International Art Festival (AMIAF), has been connecting artists to mainstream market, in the past four years. While its records showed that so much have been achieved in promoting art in the past four years, AMIAF is set for the next phase: an agency dedicated to inject freshness into the art appreciation space.

Last year, Founder, Miabo Enyadike announced the birth of ArtMiabo Agency, an organisation aimed “to transform African visual art into a scalable economic asset.” She added that the agency will be “linking fine art, advertising, digital media, cultural IP, and strategic partnerships into one unified commercial engine.”
The announcement came with the introduction of the agency’s first CEO, Dele Odugbemi. ArtMiabo’s new CEO has over 25 years experience in corporate Africa, working across more than 30 diverse markets. Among his past handlings were those of JCDecaux, Airtel and Diageo, where he managed their pan-African spreads.
Ahead of the 5th edition of AMIAF, themed ‘African Art, Heritage & Legacy’, showing from September 28-October 1, 2026, in FCT, Abuja, Odugbemi spoke about his specific job definition of projecting artists. He highlighted managing the commercial prospect of AMIAF 2026 as well as the general business viability of the agency. “As CEO of ArtMiabo Agency, my role is to transform Africa’s most respected contemporary art festival into a sustainable, year-round commercial and cultural engine,” Odugbemi enthused few days ago. “While AMIAF has built tremendous brand equity and cultural credibility over four editions, my mandate is to extend that impact beyond the annual event.”
The 5th Edition of AMIAF is themed ‘African Art, Heritage & Legacy’ with focus mainly on young artists. It takes established artists to boast of legacy. How much of the ‘Legacy’ aspect of the theme can the young artists bring into the 5th edition when they are inexperienced? Understanding ‘legacy’ in the context of contemporary African art, according to Odugbemi, goes beyond long years of practice of artists. “Legacy isn’t just about age or career longevity — it’s about the cultural inheritance we carry, the stories we preserve, and the futures we’re actively building,” he explained the context. “When AMIAF 2026 explores ‘African Art, Heritage & Legacy’ with a focus on young artists, we’re making a deliberate statement about three interconnected dimensions of legacy.” He listed his three understanding as “Legacy as Inherited Responsibility, as Contemporary Reinterpretation, and as Future-Building.”
Odugbemi believed his job has three core pillars, which he summarised as  “commercial strategy and revenue generation — bridging the gap between corporate Africa’s need for authentic cultural identity and our artists’ need for structured commercial opportunities.” He hoped to develop what he described as “art-led brand transformation services, experiential installations, and strategic collaborations that deliver measurable business value while preserving artistic integrity.”
The second leg of the three pillars, according to Odugbemi, is Operational excellence and scalability. He explained this aspect as “building the systems, processes, and partnerships that allow us to deliver consistently exceptional work across multiple markets.” He added that it includes “everything from artist network development to project management frameworks to quality assurance protocols.”
Speaking on the third pillar he tagged as strategic positioning and growth, he disclosed that it will ensure ArtMiabo Agency becomes Africa’s window in art-driven creative transformation group. “This means stakeholder engagement, fundraising, market expansion planning, and maintaining our unique position as the only African agency backed by a major contemporary art festival.”
Dele Odugbemi is an unfamiliar name in Lagos art management environment. Perhaps, handling an unfamiliar market like visual arts comes with huge challenge, particularly with a task of taking ArtMiabo  beyond its current status. Perhaps, AMIAF 2026, being Odugbemi’s first handling of the yearly festival, comes as a test of his management ability.
Being fresh on the art management scene of Lagos appears like an asset, and not a disadvantage, he argued. “Yes, I’m new to the Lagos art management scene, but that’s precisely the point.” He boasted that  ArtMiabo Agency is not competing as just another gallery in the traditional art consultancy space. “We are building Africa’s first art-driven creative transformation company. This requires a different skill set entirely.”
He emphasised that ArtMiabo is erecting a commercial space, built on art patronage foundation. Odugbemi masked in his 25 years of experience passing through  businesses, especially new markets, which included “driving digital transformation” in different part of Africa. “Whether it was taking JCDecaux Nigeria from startup to $5 million in revenue within three years, directing Airtel’s 16-country brand launch reaching over 100 million consumers, or managing Diageo’s $120 million pan-African media account, the principles remain consistent: understand your market, build scalable systems, deliver measurable value, and execute with discipline.”