Cobhams goes to London

THE British Council has named Cobhams Asuquo the Nigeria’s International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY). The Cross River State native, who has worked with notable Nigerian artistes, was honoured for his creativity in music production, having been selected by the panel of judges.
For coming tops in the contest, Cobhams will be involved in a 10-day tour of the UK music industry, where he will compete with nine others from Colombia, Estonia, India, Jordan, Kenya, Latin America and the Caribbean, Lithuania, Malaysia and Poland for the global award.
The contest attracts a cash prize of Seven Thousand Five Hundred pounds (£7,500) for the winner, which will be spent on a collaborative project with the British Council. The winner will be announced at The Great Escape –– a music-trade event in London in May 2009.
Song writer/music producer and music entrepreneur, Cobhams started his professional training as a lawyer but ended up a full-time music producer. Though he started on a low key, working for a Nigerian music label as an in-house producer, today, the man behind Asa’s successful debut album now manages his own entertainment company, CAMP (Cobhams Asuquo Music Productions) located in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
Over the years, Cohbams has won several awards for his excellent work. His awards include The Future Awards 2009 - Producer of the Year; One Gospel Awards 2008 - Gospel Composer/writer of the year; Hip-hop World Awards 2007- Producer of the Year and Hip-Hop World Awards 2008 - Producer of the Year. He also clinched the Nigeria Music Award (NMA) 2007 - Producer of the decade and the Future Awards 2006 - Producer of the Year and others.

IYMEY is an award designed by the British Council to champion and celebrate the notion of creative leadership; specifically the need to identify and nurture future leaders of the music industry. It is part of a suite of British Council awards, which include awards in eight other sectors namely: Communications, Design, Fashion, Interactive, Performing Arts, Publishing, Screen and Visual Arts.
Nigeria has featured in the music category since 2006 and has since produced one global winner – Audu Maikori, CEO Chocolate City Nigeria Limited , who was the IYMEY 2007 global award winner.
Members of the IYMEY panel of judges include Olisah Adibua (Storm Records), Aziza Uko (Bank PHB), Audu Maikori (Chocolate City and IYMEY 2007), Tunde Kuboye (Jazz 38), Lanre Lawal (International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year 2005), and Ojoma Ochai (Connected Africa Arts Project Manager, British Council).