Tokini Peterside : Catalyzing African Creativity Sabrina Huff Ashworth

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.