Ideating around the future of African fashion is the most exciting phase of my career – Chinaenyenwa Nwokedi, Group CMO, CashToken Rewards Africa

A brand and marketing communications professional with over 13 years of experience across Africa and UK, Chinaenyenwa Nwokedi is the Group Chief Marketing Officer of CashToken Rewards Africa, and Director of Operations of the Lai Labode Heritage Foundation.

She holds a B.A Combined Honours in French and German from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, an Executive MBA  from CEIBS, and a Master’s in Research and Public Policy from the University of Lagos.

On how she came into marketing, she answered: “Honestly, I stumbled into it. I was hired for a telemarketing role and quickly discovered there was no system in place to attract and retain the customers I was meant to bring in. There were no electronic catalogues or social media presence, so I built those from the scratch.”

She added: “That experience helped me discover that branding and marketing communications came naturally to me, and I genuinely enjoy working on those projects. That led me to deliberately equip myself for the field, taking additional courses and earning Diplomas in Viral Marketing and Digital Marketing from Shaw Academy, now known as Upskillist. What started as a necessity became something I genuinely enjoy doing, and it has grown into a career in branding and marketing communications that continue to evolve.”

At NextGen Media where she equally worked before moving over to CashToken, she recalled working with over 50 SMEs and pre-seed start-ups, some of which have since scaled internationally. According to her, working with businesses at that early stage was particularly helpful because she got to see ideas grow into businesses and expand into other countries. Besides, she noted that the experience was really exciting and tops the list of her memorable experiences in her career even as it strengthened her belief that  branding can influence how a business is understood from the very beginning.

She is thankful to her boss, Aare Prof Lai Labode for creating an environment where women like her thrive and occupy key decision-making positions in the organisation. In particular, she is thrilled that she could be entrusted with the role of Director of Operations for the Lai Labode Heritage Foundation as well as the encouragements she gets from him to step into rooms and onto global stages, to ideate and drive conversations on culture, and its role in connecting African people whilst also strengthening diplomatic relations. This, she declared, has been the most exciting phase of her career.

“I have had the priviledge of working alongside the Chairman, Aare Prof Lai Labode on the Afroliganza and Egbaliganza brands. It has been exciting to see the results as we continue to break new limits”, she says. “At Egbaliganza 2025, we reached over 20 million people online. Egbaliganza 2026 brought 50 countries to Abeokuta for a Parade of Nations and a showcase of culture, heritage and fashion. Having 50 countries in Abeokuta demonstrated in a very practical way how culture and fashion can serve as tools of diplomacy, connecting people, creating opportunities for engagement and furthering the Confederation of African Fashion, CAFA, agenda.”

She stated further: “Recently, during CAFA Ignite 2026 in Rwanda, we took the conversation a step further bringing together heads of industry and government to explore the role of African fashion as a driver of Rwanda’s Made In Rwanda Campaign and its potential to strengthen Africa’s fashion industry in line with CAFA’s goal of building a $500billion African Fashion economy. Our work at CAFA is focused towards Rwanda’s formal adoption of the African Fashion Growth Charter. Seeing how far the work has come has been surreal.”

She is a two-time published author of What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do and Winning Mental and Emotional Conflicts, and the host of The Unphiltered Podcast, a lifestyle, mental and emotional wellness podcast.