In 2021, Africa’s creative economy was valued at over $58 billion, with projections suggesting it could double by 2030 if supported by sustainable systems and infrastructure. Yet for all its potential, the challenge has never been creativity as the problem has always been access.
That challenge is precisely what Deola Art Alade, the Group CEO of Livespot360, has spent the better part of two decades working to solve. Deola sits at the intersection of media, entertainment, and technology, as one of the leading architects of Africa’s creative infrastructure. She is building platforms that are transforming creative passion into sustainable enterprise.
She calls this moment “Africa’s infrastructure era of creativity.” Speaking with Glamour, she explains, “For years, our ideas were the export. Now we’re building the systems, the talent pipelines, and the platforms to sustain them.” It’s a statement that reflects both her personal journey and the broader cultural shift unfolding across the continent. We have witnessed Afrobeats, Amapiano and Nollywood’s global rise, Africa’s creative industries have moved from the margins to the subject of global conversation. What Deola and her team at Livespot360 are doing is ensuring that momentum lasts.
With over 20 years in entertainment and brand strategy, she has built a career that merges creativity and commerce seamlessly. As the founder and CEO of Livespot360, she leads one of Africa’s most dynamic creative companies, an agency that merges entertainment, production, talent management, and digital innovation to shape how audiences connect with culture.
Livespot360’s ecosystem spans Livespot Studios, Connect, Fabricate, Experiences, and Icons—five divisions that collectively power campaigns, festivals, and shows across the continent. The company has delivered work for Amazon, Netflix, Meta, Adidas, Disney, and Microsoft, while producing large-scale cultural platforms such as Entertainment Week Africa and The Livespot X Festival. Yet for all the scale and spectacle, Deola’s core mission remains rooted in impact. “We’re building ecosystems that allow creatives to turn passion into prosperity,” she says. That philosophy came to life in Entertainment Week Africa (EWA), one of Deola’s most ambitious undertakings. Founded to address the gaps she faced as a young creative, limited access, no mentors, few collaborative spaces, EWA has evolved into a continental hub for talent development and industry dialogue.“It’s a creative marketplace where talent meets opportunity,” she says.
Through initiatives like Labspot and The Deal Room, EWA trains and mentors young creatives while connecting them with funding, partnerships, and networks. The platform embodies Deola’s belief that access to skills, capital, and community is the springboard of Africa’s next creative leap.
Her approach to leadership is grounded in what she calls “execution as a language.” As she puts it, “Dream big, but ground it in discipline. Creativity without systems is chaos, and systems without creativity are soulless.” This balance of vision and structure defines Livespot360’s success. The company’s projects operate on a clear creative equation—test fast, learn faster, lead with culture. “Data tells us what’s happening and creativity tells us why it matters,” Deola notes. “We use insights to shape ideas that resonate emotionally and perform commercially.”
Her ability to merge art and analytics has positioned Livespot360 as a leader in Africa’s expanding creative economy, a sector employing more than five million people and contributing over 1.5% to the continent’s GDP, according to UNESCO.
Deola has become a voice for women in leadership across the continent’s creative sectors. Her advocacy is rooted in experience. “I’ve been in rooms where women had to work twice as hard to be half as visible,” she tells Glamour. “I don’t just want to sit at the table; I want to redesign it.”
Her leadership has helped foster what some call a “creative matriarchy”, a growing network of female producers, directors, and executives empowered through her platforms.. “If you want sustainable growth, invest in women,” she notes.
Having once turned a $2,000 loan into a multimillion-dollar business, she is living proof that ideas, when supported by systems, can scale into industries. Each business she builds, she says, begins as a response to a problem. “Creativity is only powerful when it solves something,” she notes.That mindset has made Livespot360 an incubator for Africa’s creative potential.
When discussing her legacy, Deola kept it simple. “I want to be remembered as someone who built bridges between creativity and commerce, talent and opportunity, Africa and the world.”Her advice to young creatives is pragmatic and deeply rooted in lived experience: “Master your craft as skill is the safest currency. Start small, start now. Your vision doesn’t need consensus. And build community, because collaboration compounds progress while ego taxes it.”
Deola also spoke fondly about her roots and shared about her evolution. “Nigerians are resilient and bold,” she says. “We take up space because we believe we belong there.” Growing up in a family of accountants, she found her calling early in art and design. Even then, she knew she would one day work in the creative sector, despite the absence of mentors or blueprints to follow. “I built what I wished existed,” she says.Today, she ensures others don’t face the same barriers.
Words by Takudzwa Nyambi
