Creatives have been urged to guard against infringement of intellectual property, at the 2024 edition of the Impact Day with Tubobereni themed “Owning Your Creativity and Protecting our Intellectual Property.”

Over 400 artists, designers and innovators in the creative and food industry as well as women pivoting into entrepreneurship from white collar jobs were enlightened on means to offer a unique representation of their skills through effective brand management. They were also taught the importance of preventing encroachment of copyright, among other highly insightful sessions, led by seasoned facilitators.

Convener of Impact Day with Tubobereni and Creative Director Tubo, Sandrah Tubobereni, said that the event was targeted at passing down key knowledge and experiences to upcoming creatives, and offering more clarity on steps to maximizing the potential of their brands: “The whole aim of Impact Day is to to share, and transfer knowledge from good experiences to people. Due to my background in the corporate world, I am able to address things like branding and intellectual property, which someone else may not address in this manner.

“There are so many things that we do in the industry that are actually killing the industry and if people are not speaking up about it, from a place of educative influence, we might not grow as an industry. And if we’re not growing as an industry, we’re not going to be taken seriously in the global market,” she added.

Tubobereni called on the government to make vital interventions in the creative industry by making massive reforms in the education industry, and raising the bar of youth empowerment initiatives: “We need to invest in the business side of things – funding projects and awarding scholarships. I feel there are a lot of ways that the government can help, starting with education by investing in education. The government can also come in by improving the quality of empowerment programmes that they put out. We cannot afford to continue to do things the same way. It would help if we can hold more seminars like this, where we can actually get local and international experts, to train people on how things should be done.”

While challenging the creatives and entrepreneurs to continually be a better part of themselves and build their mindset positively, Chief Executive Officer, Live Your Dreams Consulting, Bankole Williams, said, “Give yourself a taste of what your future goals look like. Every space you find yourself in should be used to project your scheme. Your environment always tells your scheme what your future is going to look like. Creatives should always strive to gain the right exposure, as it applies towards their future ambitions”

In a panel session, Creative Director of renowned fashion brand, Eki Kere, Abasiekeme Ukanireh, advised upcoming artisans in the Nigerian creative industry to continually strive for excellence, and actively work towards promoting their brands in order to gain more visibility.

While Senior Associate at Maverick & Spectre, Edidiong Umokaso, believes that protecting brands from a breach of copyright is a huge step towards placing the Nigerian creative industry on the global map: “We cannot move past a certain level in the industry until we are thinking collectively how we can protect each other. It is important that everyone is thinking about brand protection. Infringemnet on any aspect of what is considered your brand; whether it’s your name, designs, fabric, textiles, or your pictures and videos, and content that you are uploading on social media; any aspect of your business should be disallowed. You must think about protection always.”