She co-founded a boutique marketing and PR agency in Atlanta, Georgia specialising in fundraising and partnerships for celebrity non-profit foundations prior to moving to Dubai in 2009 and founding Maven Marketing and Events two years later. Omolewu got her first break in the entertainment industry fresh out of university while working in sales at V-103FM, the top radio station in Atlanta.

While there, she learned how Fortune 500 brands such as Coca Cola, Lincoln, and Delta utilise celebrities to market their brands – insights that would later shape her journey as an entrepreneur.

Events marketing

Maven Marketing & Events is the first privately-owned marketing agency to have organised a major red carpet movie premiere in the UAE (Suicide Squad with Will Smith in 2016) and was also the first to bring celebrity clothing line pop-up stores to Dubai (Jaden and Willow Smith ‘MSFTS’, Giuliana Rancic’s ‘G by GIuliana’, and Nicole Richie’s ‘House of Harlow 1960’ in 2015). As its founder, Omolewu is proud to have led the first female-owned agency to secure talent for the Saudi market, including Ronaldinho and Kevin O’Leary at Misk in 2018 and Usain Bolt for the G20 Youth Summit in 2020.

“The values and high expectations set for me by my immigrant parents became part of my nature at a young age,” says the entrepreneur. “When I found myself in a room of all men in Dubai, negotiating a contract to orchestrate an activation with a current NBA player, which was also a regional first, I was not shaken. On the contrary, I was in my element. Our NBA All-Star weekend concept headlined by the late Kobe Bryant, went on to win the MEEA Award for Best Special Event in the region.”

Though the events industry has been severely impacted by Covid-19 over the past year, Omolewu is looking forwards, not backwards. “I remind myself that change happens at the edge of comfort.

“While 64 percent of Fortune 500 companies already have a presence in Dubai, there is immense potential for economic symbiosis between the US and Middle East for medium-sized businesses.

“My profile allows me to serve as a bridge between both markets. I use my regional experience to support US businesses (primarily female and minority-owned) with cultural insight, logistics, and valuable investor introductions that sets them up for success in the Gulf.”