Adesuwa Ugubuide

Pioneered cultural education through music in West Africa, empowering youth through Afrobeats Academy

Adesuwa Ugubuide: Empowering African Youth Through Music Education

Adesuwa Ugubuide is a Nigerian entrepreneur and cultural advocate who founded Afrobeats Academy in 2021, a groundbreaking initiative that transforms music education across West Africa. Born in Lagos, her vision emerged from witnessing the lack of accessible arts education for marginalized youth. The academy now operates in 7 countries with over 5,000 students trained in music production, business skills, and cultural preservation.

Her Afrobeats Cultural Exchange Program connects African artists with global audiences through virtual residencies and collaborative projects. In 2023, she launched the first Pan-African music tech hub in Accra, Ghana, providing state-of-the-art recording studios and mentorship programs.

Ugubuide's work has been featured on BBC Africa and Al Jazeera, with her 2022 TEDx talk "The Beat of Liberation" gaining over 2 million views. Her methodology emphasizes:

• Cultural preservation through modern production techniques
• Entrepreneurial training for artists
• Gender equity in male-dominated music industries

She recently partnered with UNESCO to create an African music curriculum for schools, marking a historic first for the continent.