Tokini Peterside: Catalyzing African Creativity

This week, we're speaking with art mogul Tokini Peterside! Tokini is the Founder & CEO of ART X Collective, through which she launched ART X Lagos, West Africa’s pre-eminent art fair (and its first) in 2016.

Christened “one of the most important figures in the world of contemporary African art” by Lola Ogunnaike, Tokini emerged from a Victoria Island upbringing in which she yearned to be a creator, to ultimately study law at the London School of Economics. She earned her M.B.A. at INSEAD, in Paris, where she formulated her business plan for Art X, leading a handful of classmates.

Prior to launching Art X, Peterside spent more than a decade working as a marketing-and-strategy consultant in the Nigerian luxury sector, advising Moët Hennessy, boutique owners (she helped launch Alara, Africa’s answer to 10 Corso Como), and fashion labels such as Maki Oh, a Michelle Obama favorite.

She was named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company USA in 2019, and in 2018 she was featured as a Quartz Africa Innovator–a list of the continent’s Top 30 pioneers. Her work has been featured in the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNN, Le Monde and Vogue, among other notable publications.

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