Sandra Mbanefo Obiago Joins 'Behind the Glass: From Living Heritage to Lasting Value' at the Aliko Dangote Foundation-World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Convening.

One of our September highlights was a conversation on “Behind Glass to Asset Class: The Business of Keeping Culture Alive”, organised and moderated by the talented REWA, at the Gaia Africa Club. The conversation was the cultural centrepiece of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders convening in Lagos, which focused on investment, technology and innovation in Africa.
Our conversation opened with a live performance by the fascinating Agbogho Mmuo maiden-spirit masquerades, which were surrounded by a series of stunning large artworks by REWA from her Embodied Spirits series. The energy in the room was palpable.
Together with Femi Akinsanya (Investment banker, chartered accountant and one of Nigeria's foremost collectors of African art and Chairman of NGX Regulation and trustee of the J. Randle Centre for Yorùbá Culture & History) and Karabo Morule, (Founder of Amara Strategic Investments and Capital Art) SMO discussed some critical questions around African Art & Culture:
So much of Africa's art and heritage sits behind glass, often abroad. What does it mean to keep it alive and in African hands? If African art is genuinely an asset class, what has to be true, provenance, data, liquidity, trust, and how would an investor actually get exposure?African creativity is consumed everywhere, yet the value is so often captured elsewhere. Where does it leak, and who plugs it?Behind every masquerade is a supply chain of makers that no spreadsheet counts. How do we fund the makers, not just admire the spectacle? What changes when we put women at the centre of the creative economy? What could this room of leaders do in the next year to turn African culture into durable value?
Needless to say, the evening was a super charged, fantastic celebration of African art accompanied by an open discussion on cultural value, the art market, collecting, spirituality, religion and superstition, and the need to claim, celebrate and leverage our rich culture and identity.

September 30, 2026