The 2026 MARKETING EDGE EDGE Awards is set to take another significant step in its tradition of celebrating excellence, with one of Nigeria’s most accomplished advertising and marketing communications professionals, Udeme Onofiok Ufot, MFR, appointed Chairman of this year’s edition.

The prestigious awards ceremony is scheduled to hold on September 25, 2026, at Ten Degrees Event Hall, Billingsway Road, Oregun, Lagos, bringing together leading professionals, brands, agencies, business executives, public officials and stakeholders across Nigeria’s marketing communications ecosystem.

For an industry that has come to anticipate the EDGE Awards as one of its major annual gatherings, the choice of Ufot as Chairman gives this year’s ceremony an added layer of significance.

The EDGE Awards has, over the years, grown beyond a conventional awards ceremony into an occasion that the marketing and advertising industry looks forward to at this period of every year. Its appeal has also extended beyond the core communications industry, with the platform recognising individuals and organisations whose contributions have shaped business, public service, leadership, creativity and society.

That tradition has seen the awards recognise prominent personalities, including the present Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Ekiti State Governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, alongside other notable professionals and public figures.

At the 2024 edition, Sanwo-Olu received the Grand Prix Award in Political Leadership, while Oyebanji was recognised as Outstanding Governor of the Year for Inclusive Leadership and Grassroots Development.

The history of the EDGE Awards therefore reflects an increasingly broad understanding of excellence, one that cuts across advertising, marketing, business, governance and public leadership.

With more than four decades of experience spanning advertising, creative direction, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, industry regulation, economic policy and mentorship, Ufot represents a professional generation that has played a major role in shaping Nigeria’s marketing communications landscape.

His profile is not simply that of an advertising practitioner. It is the story of a creative professional who progressed from the art department of an advertising agency to building one of Nigeria’s respected indigenous marketing communications groups and subsequently taking on leadership responsibilities within the industry and the wider private sector.

From an early fascination with advertising, Ufot’s journey into advertising began with an encounter that could easily have passed as an ordinary moment but eventually influenced the direction of his professional life.

As a teenager, he came across an image of what was described as a “trendy art director” in an American marketing journal. The image captured his imagination and introduced him to the possibilities of advertising and creative direction. That early curiosity later developed into a career that has spanned more than 40 years.

His educational journey took him through Government Demonstration Primary School, Surulere, St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka, St. Teresa’s College, Nsukka, and Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar.

He later proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied Industrial Design with a specialisation in Graphic Design. Ufot graduated in 1981 as the best graduating student in Graphic Design and received the Joe Adeka Prize.

His professional career began in 1982 at Desmark Advertising Limited in Calabar. In 1984, he moved to Lagos and joined Insight Communications, then one of the leading advertising agencies in Nigeria.

At Insight, Ufot’s creative ability quickly translated into career advancement. Within five years, he rose from Senior Visualiser to Deputy Creative Director, Art.

The period helped sharpen his understanding of the relationship between creative ideas and business objectives. For Ufot, advertising was not simply about producing attractive visuals. The creative product had to answer a business need and communicate with purpose.

In 1987, he participated in an internship programme with German agency Scholz & Friends. The experience exposed him to international advertising practice and expanded his understanding of how global creative businesses approached ideas, strategy and execution.

After a brief period as Creative Director at CASERS in 1989, Ufot embarked on the entrepreneurial chapter that would become one of the defining milestones of his career.

In 1990, Ufot, alongside Gbemi Sagay and Julia Oku, founded Sagay, Oku & Ufot, popularly known as SO&U. The agency was established at a time when the Nigerian advertising landscape already had several established players. Its founders therefore had to build their reputation through the quality of their ideas, professionalism and ability to deliver for clients.

SO&U subsequently grew into a respected marketing communications group, with Ufot serving as Group Managing Director. The company became an important part of Ufot’s professional legacy, demonstrating his ability to translate creative expertise into entrepreneurship and institution building.

His journey from visualiser to agency founder and Group Managing Director also reflects one of the defining themes of his career: the movement from practising creativity to building structures through which creativity could generate lasting business value.

Over the years, he has moved from being an advertising practitioner to industry statesman. Ufot’s contribution to the industry did not end with the growth of his agency.

He became deeply involved in professional leadership and served the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria in different capacities, including as Vice President and President.

He also served as Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, contributing to conversations around professional practice, regulation and the development of the advertising industry. These roles placed him at different points of the industry’s institutional development and broadened his influence beyond agency operations.

His professional contributions have attracted several honours from industry organisations and institutions. In 2014, the Federal Government of Nigeria conferred on him the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR, recognising his contributions to the corporate sector and national development.

No doubt, his journey has gradually become a profile that extends beyond advertising. The breadth of Ufot’s professional experience has also taken him into Nigeria’s broader private-sector and development conversations. He served on the Board of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, where he chaired the Communications and Media Subcommittee.

His leadership experience has included the Lagos Business School Alumni Association, where he served as President, as well as LEAP Africa, where he served as Board Chair.

He has also served on the Board of Special Olympics Nigeria and chaired the Advisory Board of the School of Media and Communication at Pan-Atlantic University.

His experience in communications, business and policy has equally positioned him for roles that extend into development and inclusion conversations.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Policy Innovation Centre, where his work has included engagement with issues around inclusion, development and public policy.

At the 2026 Gender and Inclusion Summit, Ufot used his platform to call for a stronger connection between inclusion policies and measurable outcomes, reflecting the broader policy and development dimension of his professional engagement.

Despite the national and international reach of his career, Ufot has maintained a strong connection with his Akwa Ibom roots. His contribution to the state has included serving as Chairman of Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort.

He was also involved in the creative direction of the Dakkada campaign, a major state development communication initiative. His creative footprint has also been associated with the popular “My friend, Udeme” Guinness advertising campaign, further demonstrating how his work has intersected with some of the memorable campaigns in Nigeria’s advertising history.

For Akwa Ibom, Ufot’s career represents the story of a professional whose work has extended far beyond his immediate field into entrepreneurship, corporate governance, economic policy and youth development.

Indeed, he is a fitting chair for a growing tradition. The significance of Ufot’s appointment becomes clearer when viewed against the evolution of the EDGE Awards itself.

Year after year, the platform has created room for the marketing communications industry to celebrate professionals and brands while also acknowledging individuals whose work has made a difference in business, governance and society.

The recognition previously given to figures such as Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Ekiti State Governor Abiodun Oyebanji demonstrates the breadth of the platform.

It has also become a point of convergence for advertising practitioners, marketers, public relations professionals, media executives, corporate leaders and other stakeholders.

The 2026 edition, scheduled for September 25 at Ten Degrees Event Hall on Billingsway Road, Oregun, Lagos, continues that tradition. For the industry, however, the significance of this year’s edition goes beyond another date on the annual calendar.

It brings to the forefront the career of a man whose professional journey cuts across several chapters of Nigeria’s marketing communications history.

Ufot has been a visualiser, creative director, agency founder, Group Managing Director, industry association president, regulator, corporate board member, policy advocate and mentor.

He has experienced the industry from the creative studio to the boardroom and from agency management to professional regulation. That breadth of experience makes his chairmanship particularly notable as the EDGE Awards enters another edition of its annual celebration.

As professionals, brands and organisations prepare to converge at Ten Degrees Event Hall, the ceremony will once again provide an opportunity to recognise accomplishments across the industry and beyond.

But this year, the man at the helm of the celebration also carries a professional history that mirrors much of what the EDGE Awards has consistently sought to recognise: creativity, enterprise, professional service, institution building and contribution to national development.

With Udeme Ufot, MFR, as Chairman, the 2026 MARKETING EDGE EDGE Awards will bring its tradition of recognising excellence together with the remarkable career of a man who has spent more than four decades helping shape the business of advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria.