By Azuka Ogujiuba
The 2018 Slay Festival had talented and ambitious women from all across Africa who gathered to celebrate technology, culture and innovation.
The impactful and fun-filled event, which is the second edition, took place at the historic Tafawa Balewa Square, and was set up to accommodate the three-themed stages this year; Money & Success, Health & Wellness and Arts & Culture.
These stages featured interesting and educational panel sessions that filled their seats, including: Building a global African brand with Bonang Matheba; Bossing up in a male-dominated industry by TRACE Naija with Sam Onyemelukwe, Waje and Feran; Owootomo, moderated by Ariyike Owolagba; Turning content into cash with Ink Eze and Sisi Yemmie moderated by Dolapo Oni Sijuwade; Designing a life you love with Simi Nwogugu, Betty Irabor and Funmi Victor-Okigbo and many more.
The festival also offered intimate masterclasses with a smaller attendance cap, to allow for more individualised attention from the industry experts leading them. Focuses ranged from marketing, digital content, law, and technology, and some of the most popular sessions included: Personal Branding for Career Women by Glory Edozien; Secure the Bag: How to save and invest so you never go broke by ARM with Henrietta Bankole-Olusina; Taking Mobile Photography to the Next Level by Samsung and many more.
Attendees at the event also got the chance to have one-on-one chats with business and career specialists at the Leaderships Circles and Expert’s Corner. Mentors provided individualised advice in areas like business development, strategy, and even offered resume rewrites and reviews.
Different brands brought life to the event with their various interactive activities, which were a big hit. Crowd favorite Maggi was present and offered a delicacy of yam and plantain porridges, as well as their famous Jollof to keep attendees energised. Both Clinique and House of Tara provided free makeup touch- ups and gift bags to all attendees who stopped by their stations, and it was all tribe and culture as attendees got face and body paint courtesy of TRACE.
After the sun went down, drinks were poured by Chivas and performances from Show Dem Camp, Funbi, Tomi Thomas, Odusin, BOJ and Ajebutter made for the perfect end to a perfect day.
Overall, SLAY Festival 2018 was even bigger and better than promised, and attendees are already counting down to next year’s.
