Lukman Akanbi, is an accomplished & visionary Entrepreneur/ businesses leader and Coach with over 20 years of management, strategy, product & service development, delivery & operational experience in a variety of industries including Telecoms, Hospitality & Entertainment.
Over the years my activities have continued to evolve resulting from my bigger purpose to change things for the better. I am fortunate to have had an adventurous career in Hospitality, entertainment; youth focused empowerment ventures that promote fashion, music, arts and African culture in Dubai, Canada & Nigeria till date.
I have spent the last decade building the Kiza Brand in Nigeria, Dubai, Kenya & Toronto. The Kiza brand includes:
- The Kiza Resturant in Dubai & Kenya ā€“ The first 5-Star African restaurants in the world with over $25M in combined annual revenues, employing over 150 staffand serving over 20,000 customers since inception in 2013.
- The Kiza Music & Entertainment ā€“ A full service independent music label founded in 2013 to showcase African music & culture as well as the talented artist from Africa. Kiza M&E partnered Music Africa in 2016 to organize Afro-fest ā€“ a 2day music celebration in Dubai with over 100, 000 attendees and young talented artist from Africa and the world.
The Kiza Music & Entertainment was also the logistics support partner to the Golden Eaglets in 2013 during the Under17 Fifa Worldcup in Dubai. Through Kiza Kiza Music & Entertainment I have been able to connect and empower the youths through programs and events in Fashion, Music & Arts whilst promoting African culture alongside the diversity of Toronto.
In Canada, the Kiza Music & Entertainment organizes yearly events In Toronto & Edmonton and partners with Music Africa to produce AFROFEST ā€“ the largest annual African cultural festival in N. America with over 80,000 visitors annually, showcasing AList artist from Nigeria and parts of Africa and the world. Some of these events are in collaboration with different event producers globally and it presents a platform for over 500 exciting local, national and international artists to showcase their art in Toronto.
Alumni ofĀ University of Ife andĀ Harvard Business School; I was charged in 1999 with the task of building teams, growing market share and penetration as well as expansion and revenue generation for Wireless Trade Group Inc ā€“ a Toronto Telecoms company.
I spent the first 5 years building and positioning that business in my capacity as CEO and expanded into Africa, partnering with major Telcos such as MTN in Nigeria and Safaricom in Kenya. Wireless trade Group Inc distributed over 3million smart phones in Africa and partnered to develop the numbered program for Safaricom in Kenya, growing the companyā€™s revenues from $100,000 to over $12 million within this period. Wireless Trade Group Inc became a major partner to telecommunication, technology and mobile industries across Africa.
As a business coach, I enjoy educating, mentoring and working with my community, business owners and their teams to achieve their ideal vision for their company and create a thriving, profitable, well-structured and process-oriented business.
My core competence is in Leadership and Community Engagement, Business & Executive Coaching, Civic Innovation & Social Impact, Business Strategy & Development, Public Speaking Opportunities and Program Management. Within the Toronto community, I sit on the board of the newly constituted Afro-Canadian Outreach Foundation to oversee the Toronto We Care initiative in collaboration with businesses and organizations in the GTA. Toronto We Care offers free aid and relief to the most vulnerable seniors, pregnant women, single parents and families who are in need and unable to acquire groceries or other necessities during this Corona Virus pandemic.
At the heart of it all, I am always interested in learning from and interacting with others, I am happy to connect with like-minded individuals and even those who hold contrary views to mineā€¦this spirit fuels me every day!