It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with Foza Fawehinmi, the legal architect of Africa’s creative revolution, as we anticipate the upcoming Africa Creative Market 2024. Fawehinmi, a distinguished professional in entertainment law and business, is gearing up for the inaugural edition of the Global Creative Legal Summit (GCLS) during ACM 2024. Her brand, GCLS, is a key partner for the event, focusing on “Creative Industry and the Law: Unleashing Africa’s Creative Economy Potential through Innovative Legal Knowledge and Solutions.” A graduate of Babcock University in Nigeria and the Quantic School of Business and Technology in Washington, D.C., she leverages her legal expertise and MBA to navigate the complex landscape of the music industry. Whether she’s brokering international deals, securing intellectual property rights for Afrobeats, or championing new policies, her work remains deeply rooted in one belief: creatives deserve to be fairly compensated.
FAB: Winning the Future Award for Young Lawyer of the Year in 2022 must have been an incredible moment. What did that recognition mean to you, and how has it influenced your career since
Foza Fawehinmi: It felt really good to see an unconventional decision rewarded. When I decided to focus on the creative industry as a lawyer, I had many people, including law school lecturers, insinuate that I was wasting my time. The Future Award has opened up doors and conversations for me, and I am grateful for that.
FAB: As the co-founder of The Sarz Academy, you’re helping to shape the future of Afrobeats by nurturing young talent. Now, as a stakeholder in ACM, what’s it like to work with the next generation of stars, and what do you look for in emerging artists?
Foza Fawehinmi: The Africa Creative Market is an important platform for discussions and sharing of ideas to drive the building of the ecosystem. I was privileged to join Sarz in creating a platform that bridged creativity and the models of doing business up to global standards. In my partnership with ACM through the global creative legal summit, I am committed to nurturing the next set of legal stars that would cater for the creative economy in Africa. From experience, I have learnt to look for hunger in people. Hunger for excellence drives you to achieve and do great exploits.
FAB: You’ve got an impressive track record in sync and sample clearance with over 50 placements for Afrobeats music in major productions like The Black Book and Gangs of Lagos. What’s been the most rewarding or perhaps the most challenging project you’ve worked on in this area?
Foza Fawehinmi: I love when people get paid. The journey of music licensing in Nollywood has been a joy to watch. One of the most rewarding things about my journey in this area has been the fact that my fights with some producers led to music licensing in films taken seriously and also seeing several young artists sampling old music, and I know that the right owners are getting paid and credit because I handle most of these clearances.
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FAB: Continuing on sync placements, you’ve played a significant role in bringing Afrobeats to the global stage through sync placements and deals with international labels. What’s your vision for the future of Afrobeats, and how do you see it continuing to influence music worldwide?
Foza Fawehinmi: My vision is to see our industry set new business models and standards of practice for the world. We have the opportunity to learn from the established industries’ mistakes, and we can fix them with our solutions.
FAB: Greenlight Music Publishing, which you founded, represents top producers like Andre Vibes. How do you identify and support emerging producers, and what role does publishing play in their overall career growth?
Foza Fawehinmi: I call publishing monies your pension fund or retirement fund. One instrumental or composition can change your life without you having to be the lead performer or artist. Publishing is your right to earn from your composition. The law gives you that right, and with great lawyers, you can secure this revenue stream and make sure your children eat from it.
Foza Fawehinmi on AfricaCreative Industry and the Law
FAB: Intellectual property (IP) valuation is a big part of what you do. How do you approach valuing IP in the music industry, and why is it so important for artists and music companies to understand their IP’s worth?
Foza Fawehinmi: IP valuation involves a lot of paper trailing. The more paper you can show, the more value you can argue for. IP rights and assets are huge trading commodities locally and internationally. Understanding your IP rights gives you and your company opportunities to raise money and everything in between.
FAB: You’ve contributed to policy development within the creative industry—no small feat! What are some of the key policies or changes you think are necessary to take the African creative industry to the next level?
Foza Fawehinmi: I have been pushing for a specialised court for intellectual property cases to accelerate the turnaround time for IP cases, which in turn guarantees an effective enforcement system that signals confidence in the protection of IP assets locally.
FAB: You’re all about empowering African creatives to own their narratives globally. What steps do you think are crucial to making that happen, and how can African creatives take control of their stories on the world stage?
Foza Fawehinmi: African creatives and its stakeholders need to work assiduously to build our local industry value chains across Africa. It is only when this is done that we can fully own our IP assets and negotiate from a powerful position. To own your narrative, you have to have money, power, and influence.
FAB: ACM 2024 is themed “Innovation Meets Imagination.” With a focus on propelling African stories globally, what role do you think technology and innovation will play in the future of the creative industry in Africa?
Foza Fawehinmi: Tech as a tool in the creative industry for Africans reduces the distance to the world in my eyes. I expect to see more global collaborations through technology that reduces the distance between your room of creation and the world as a global market.
FAB: Any exciting projects or initiatives in the works that you’re particularly pumped about and believe will push the African creative industry even further into the global spotlight?
Foza Fawehinmi: I am currently working on the Global Creative Legal Summit, which I am doing in partnership with the Africa Creative Market team. The idea of this summit is to spotlight the niche industry of lawyers working in the entertainment space and also bridge the conspicuous gap between legal skateholders and creative stakeholders. I am also working on an academy to train lawyers for the creative ecosystem in Africa called Protekt-We. It launches on the 19th during the ACM. These initiatives are focused on the lawyers to ensure rapid capacity growth of the lawyers from Africa fit for the continent and pushing new boundaries in terms of models and policy conversations.
FAB: Finally, you’ve secured some pretty significant recording deals with labels like Sony Music France. What’s your secret sauce for negotiating these kinds of deals, and what advice would you give to artists aiming for similar opportunities?
Foza Fawehinmi: My secret sauce is patience. You have to be patient to eat the fattest bone. My advice to artists would be to fully understand their current context and juxtapose that with their visions and potential context before entering any agreement.
