Amplify is a Pan-African focused project poised to transform African event production—-Ewedemi
admin August 14, 2025 0
Siji Ewedemi, the Convener of Amplify Conference, at The Zone Tech Park, Gbagada, Lagos between August 12 and 13, said that Amplify is a Pan-African focused Project that is set to transform African event production.
Amplify was the gathering of sound engineers, artists, producers, and young minds who want to make careers in these fields; they gathered under the mantra of Amplify to brainstorm on better ways to ensure effective event planning strategies, not just in Nigeria but also in Africa.
Designed to leverage innovation & technology to create high-impact experiences, scale up businesses through better monetization & global competitiveness, strengthen safety & risk management in event execution, and build networks & collaborations that will push African events to the world stage.
Amplify was not just another conference, it was a movement to transform African event production into a well-structured, highly-professionalized, and globally competitive industry.
The Convener of Amplify Conference, Siji Ewedemi, speaking on the reason he gathered the hustlers and industry people together said, “For me I believe there are a lot of talents in Africa, there are a lot of talents in Nigeria, especially in life event production space, from sound engineers, to musicians, to artists, producers, there are a lot of talents but I think we generally have structure and infrastructure problems, strategy problem in the industry, I won’t call it problem, maybe a challenge, more or less.
“This is my own way of bringing people who have done it well, who have gone ahead, and those that want to be like them to come together, to form a coalition, to collaborate, to be able to make these changes in the industry, and over all better our lives in the industry,” he added.
Speaking on what has been being done wrongly, he said, “I won’t say getting it wrong, like the theme says from hustle to industry, an average event just survives, so we need to realise that there is a part we need to play collectively, as the audience that are going to be watching or attending events, and even as producers who make these events happen. So it is a lot of work, it is not like there is something being getting wrong but it is more of the inadequacies that are affecting us from thriving, we are surviving not even thriving as it should.”
Speaking on the place of money in achieving success in the industry, Ewedemi said, “It is not all about money, yes, money plays a part to run events, equipment, there is a lot of money needed to do that, but for me, what I will say is that, no matter the amount of money you have at hand or that is available, what matters is having a vision to run with, if you have that vision to run with, you can start by buying a microphone, and hiring that out, it can mean buying one camera and use it until you are able to purchase 10, 20, 30, 40, however, it is not about money and again, at the end of the day, the value you bring can transit into monetary benefit for you.
“So it is quite important that we are able to take the little money we have and build the actual brand and identity and have a vision to run with and then the money will come,” he said.
On whether there is assistance coming from the organisation for the young ones who wants to upskill in the industry, he said, “Amplify, what we are looking forward in the new year is to roll out some educational platforms, technical training, for anyone that wants to upskill in this field, and we are collaborating with some international brands which will be announced very soon to make sure that this things are done with the best hands and we are building the best possible output and quality available.”
Speaking on sustainability, he said “Amplify has come to stay. What am I saying? This is because people are graduating from school, they are having new entrants, so we are here to stay, we are here to keep making sure we have this continuously, the conferences make people to learn, then the educational that gonna happen, all across the year, we are hoping that the next event that is going to happen, we are doing it with more industry than hustles, so that in the next one year, two years, five years, we can boast of bigger things, grander things, bigger skills than we are already doing now.”
Ewedemi further disclosed that Amplify intends to achieve a general upscale of event production industry in Africa, “For example, we are doing this event in Lagos today, on Saturday in four days time, we are having another one in Zambia, so it is a Pan-African focused Project where we upscale the people, and the experiences the people have from live events that are being run in the continent.”
Itinu Joe, one of the speakers at the Amplify conference said, “It is like a baby step into making this our industry a lot more relevant in the social and economic set up of this country. The Industry has a lot of potential but over time, we have not really seen that potential, thank God for events like amplify that educates, exposes, and also shows all the values and treasures inside our industry, and also gives a kind of international attention to what we do. So events like this expose us and show the world what we can do.
“In terms of talent, we have it but in terms of exposure, we are very behind, in terms of economic value, we are also behind, but with events like this, I am sure, the future is bright,” Joe stated.
He further advised the upcoming ones in the industry. “You know some of the things that discourage young ones, is, is there a future in what I am doing? But when we show them possibilities, when they see that what they are doing locally can have global relevance, it will encourage them to be part of what we are doing. There are a lot of training facilities around, people learn, especially from churches for example, most of us learn from churches, it is in time of service but it is actually a training ground and now with this, many young ones are definitely going to key into this kind of event, exposing the industry and exposing the treasures in the industry.”
