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REWA

@rewa_u

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That Igbo Barbie | Art + Finance Collision | World Economic Forum Young Global Leader 2026 |
Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman 2024 @artbyrewa | @cranstoun.co

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I’m so proud to join the @worldeconomicforum Young Global Leaders Class of 2026.

This is one of the most significant moments of my journey so far.

I look forward to learning from, and contributing to, a global community of leaders working to address complex challenges across regions and sectors.

I care deeply about building at the intersection of capital, culture and African influence, and about expanding how African value is created, invested in and seen globally, through my artistic practice that is rooted in Igbo cultural memory, and through Cranstoun - the platform I founded to expand African access to global capital markets.

World, get ready for an onslaught of pink glitter! 💖

#YGL26 #WEF26 by @rewa_u

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6 months ago

I spent months painting masquerades. For opening night of Embodied Spirits, I thought it was only right to become one. In custom pink raffia, of course. 💗 #EmbodiedSpirits #WEF #YGL #AlikoDangoteFoundation #Masquerade by @rewa_u

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15 days ago

I have painted the Agbogho Mmuo masquerade for years. This time, I stood among them.

My relationship with the dancing maiden spirit has already travelled far beyond Onitsha. In 2024 / 2025, an Agbogho Mmuo became the central figure in my official poster for the Carnaval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the second largest carnival in the world, making me the first African artist in the Carnival’s 67-year history to create its official poster.

And then, in Lagos, the distance between painting and living tradition disappeared.

For the opening of Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland, three Agbogho Mmuo travelled to Lagos, from Onitsha, and danced alongside the paintings they helped inspire.

There was something quite extraordinary about standing amongst them, not as images on my canvas, but moving, dancing, responding to the drums.

A few more moments from the night. 💖 🎭

Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland

#EmbodiedSpirits #AgboghoMmuo #REWA #ADF #WEF by @rewa_u

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23 days ago

From Onitsha to Lagos, my paintings met the living traditions that inspired them.

For the opening of Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland at Gaia Africa Club, Ijele welcomed our guests, three Agbogho Mmuo filled the room with dance, and we gathered to consider how we sustain the people who keep this heritage alive.

Presented as part of the Aliko Dangote Foundation’s convening in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, the evening brought together art, performance and a conversation about the value of African creativity.

My thanks to the performers, panellists and everyone who shared this evening with us. Above all, to the makers and custodians whose knowledge lives in every costume, drumbeat and step. Thank you @bellanaija 🎥

#EmbodiedSpirits #ArtByREWA #MasqueradesOfIgboland #AlikoDangoteFoundation #REWA by @rewa_u

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a month ago

A hundred people. Six months. One afternoon. Then it is taken apart.
That is what it takes to build Ijele, the King of Masquerades.

On Friday 11 September, Ijele travelled over 500km from Onitsha to Lagos for the opening of Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland. Standing more than 14 feet tall, it could not fit through the door so it presided over the entrance, and we all came out to it.

The night closed the 2nd day of Aliko Dangote Foundation’s convening with the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, From Promise to Powerhouse: Building Africa’s Next Era. Two days on finance, technology and industry. Then this.

Inside, five paintings. Three Agbogho Mmuo, the maiden spirits, danced. The drummers played live, as they always do, because the dance answers the drum and no two performances are the same.

I paint masquerades as presences, not costumes. A masquerade is not an object. It is a body a spirit can wear, and dance. It still walks the streets of Onitsha, where I am from.

Too often we meet African culture behind glass. A mask in a museum case, labelled, still, far from home. This was the opposite of that.

Behind every masquerade is an economy. Carvers, weavers, textile artists, and the apprenticeships that pass the knowledge on. The question I keep asking is who funds them.

Swipe for the night. Full gallery and catalogue at artbyrewa.com, link in bio.

#WEF #YGL #AlikoDangoteFoundation #REWA #Ijele by @rewa_u

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a month ago

From promise to powerhouse.

At the Dangote Refinery today, seeing first hand what industrial ambition at African scale actually looks like. Mind-blowing!

At c. >650,000 barrels a day, this is far more than a refinery. It’s a statement about what African capital, enterprise and conviction can build & about Nigeria’s ability to move from importing refined petroleum towards producing and exporting at scale.

With the refinery now moving towards an IPO in the coming days, the next chapter is also about ownership, opening one of Africa’s most consequential industrial assets to a broader base of investors.

Alhaji spoke today about legacy, and said that for him, legacy is about creating value. Standing here, it is difficult to think of a clearer expression of that idea. Value through industry, jobs, infrastructure, capital formation and the confidence to build something of this scale on the continent.

Particularly meaningful to experience this as both a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and an Aliko Dangote Foundation Fellow, at a gathering bringing those two communities together around Africa’s next era.

Just wow.

#WEF #YGL #AlikoDangote #DangoteRefinery by @rewa_u

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a month ago

Mongolia 🇲🇳 by @rewa_u

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a month ago

Cranstoun’s SADC sojourn continues 🇧🇼🇿🇼

Recently, I’ve been spending time in Botswana and Zimbabwe meeting asset managers, banks, insurance institutions, reinsurers + other allocators as we continue building @cranstoun.co’s institutional footprint across Africa.

What has been particularly encouraging is the appetite for global diversification in public marketss. Across both markets, the conversations have moved well beyond why African capital should have exposure to developed market equities and increasingly towards how that exposure can be structured responsibly, whilst carrying IPEC-Zim, RBZ and SEC along because we don’t want to chop cane 😬

From African Alliance, MVA, GrandRe, FBCRe and FMRe in Botswana to ZB Financial Holdings, CBZ and Datvest in Zimbabwe, it’s been fascinating getting under the bonnet of two very different financial markets and understanding best practice.

Lots of flights. Lots of investment committees. And a commensurate amount of coffee…

Slowly, steadily, building. 🌍

#Cranstoun #PublicMarkets #PinkGlitter by @rewa_u

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2 months ago

When a personal invitation from Her Excellency, Nomin Chinbat, Mongolia’s Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Communications, says gala dinner at the stunning @tereljhotel in the Mongolian countryside, what’s a gal to do 🇲🇳✨

Such a splendid evening at the Terelj Hotel, surrounded by the mountains and forests of Mongolia, with an extraordinary group of leaders from around the world.

This trip has been surreal; one minute we’re deep in conversations about Mongolia’s economy, culture & ambitions for the future, the next we’re out in the countryside, being welcomed with the warmth & generosity that has characterised this entire journey.

I honestly have to keep asking, how exactly did life bring me here?

Thank you, @nomin.chinbat, for the invitation and for making me feel so incredibly welcome in your beautiful country 🇲🇳 🩷

#Mongolia #YGL #WEF #Terelj #ArtByREWA Cranstoun taken in Terelj Hotel by @rewa_u

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2 months ago

Dinner at Khatan Tuul Palace for the State Reception at Ikh Tenger Residence 🇲🇳

When you’re casually seated at a table with Mongolia’s Prime Minister, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Mongolia, and the formidable Lady Mariéme Jamme, and then security protocol dictates #NoPhonesAllowed…

No photos from the table, just a genuinely fascinating conversation on leadership, capital, policy, technology and Mongolia’s ambitions for its next chapter.

There are moments when I become acutely aware of how far my God-given gifts have carried me. To have been given a seat at this table was one of them, and I am profoundly grateful.

“A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.” Proverbs 18:16. 🇲🇳✨

#Mongolia #YGL #Cranstoun #artbyREWA taken in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia by @rewa_u

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2 months ago

Greetings from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia! 🇲🇳
This afternoon, I had the privilege of a meeting with Temuulen Bayaara, CEO of Mongolia’s Chinggis Khaan Sovereign Wealth Fund, for an insightful conversation about a question every resource-rich nation wrestles with:

How do you turn today’s mineral wealth into prosperity that lasts for generations?

We talked about everything from intergenerational investing & sovereign governance to AI, data centres & long term nation building.

Also, it was just so refreshing to see a young woman at the helm of one of Mongolia’s most important new institutions. Competence, vision and leadership know no age or gender, but seeing women leading at the highest levels never stops inspiring me! @temyuulen ✨

Thank you, Temi, for your time and generosity - I look forward to our many future chinwags 💕💖

#YGL #SovereignWealthFund #Cranstoun #WomenInLeadership #ChinggisKhaan taken in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia by @rewa_u

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2 months ago

My first article for the World Economic Forum is live.

The Ijele takes one hundred people six months to build. It performs for a single afternoon. I wrote about the economy behind that afternoon, the carvers, weavers, drummers and apprenticeships that carry it, and what it would take to fund the makers rather than just admire the spectacle.

I have spent many months documenting Igbo masquerades on canvas through Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland. This essay brings that work into one of the world’s largest policy conversations.

More from this series coming, including a showcase in Lagos this August with the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

@worldeconomicforum

#REWA #WEF #YGL #Ijele #MasqueradesOfIgboland IgboCulture ContemporaryAfricanArt CreativeEconomy by @rewa_u

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3 months ago