RED | For Africa appoints Ayodeji Razaq as first non-founder Group CEO

The board of directors of RED | For Africa, in a pioneering move, has officially announced the appointment of its first non-founder Chief Executive Officer, Ayodeji Razaq.

Razaq, who now leads all the companies in the group, including Red Media Africa, StateCraft Inc., Red Productions, Creo, Zed Digital and The Future Project, was appointed as CEO in the second quarter of 2022.

“Succession planning is not part of the Nigerian corporate culture, and we had only two big models to follow for the kind of transition we wanted: from founder-CEOs to non-founder CEOs,” the co-founders of RED | For Africa, Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams said in a statement published on the group’s website.
“We made mistakes, inevitably, but we were driven by the singular vision to do this thing that was uttermost in our hearts: build a profitable, impactful, flourishing institution that would outlive us.
“Through the grant of equity to foundational team members, the building of a world-class board, and the experimentation period with chief executives of the various companies within the group, we have finally arrived here: Chude handed over as chief executive officer to Adebola Williams in 2017, and Adebola handed over as chief executive officer in the second quarter of 2022. After 6 months of solidifying that process, we are excited to announce Ayodeji Razaq as the first non-founder chief executive officer of RED | For Africa.

“Ayodeji has a history steeped in RED, as an old member of our team, even as he has gone on to co-found his own successful media companies and win multiple awards for his work. In the past half-year, he has justified the confidence in him, by quietly and determinedly going to work on solidifying the culture, rallying the team, and extending the frontiers of the organisation with new business and new products.
“We are also beyond grateful to the exception #HumansofRED who have remained firm and brilliant in the midst of all this flux in the past few years. This is only truly possible because of them. We are also beyond grateful to the exceptional #HumansofRED who have remained firm and brilliant in the midst of all this flux in the past few years. This is only truly possible because of them. We are doubly grateful to our leadership team and advisors – Isime Esene and Remi Ogunkayo and everyone else whose guidance made this a seamless process,” the statement read. Jideonwo and Williams remain on the board of directors.