Nigerian entrepreneur Temi is building Globiqo, a platform designed to help event organisers create, promote and reach audiences while making it easier for people to discover events and communities around them.
The initiative is based on the belief that while event attendees often see the final product — the venue, music, speakers, food and entertainment — much of the work involved in bringing people together happens behind the scenes.
For organisers, one of the major challenges is getting the right people to discover their events.
“How do I reach the right audience? How do people find my event? How do I get my community to show up?” are among the questions organisers must answer before an event can succeed.
According to the vision behind Globiqo, solving that challenge requires going beyond the traditional dependence on social media.
The challenge of event promotion
Social media platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp have become important tools for event promotion, allowing organisers to share flyers, publish announcements and communicate directly with potential attendees.
However, the reliance on existing followers can create limitations.
An organiser may have a well-planned event but struggle to reach people who would be interested simply because they do not follow the organiser's social media account.
This creates a gap between events and potential audiences.
The event exists, and the audience exists, but both may never find each other.
For smaller organisers, the challenge can be even greater.
Some may be organising their first event, building a community from scratch, entering a new city or targeting a specific group of people without having a large social media following.
Creating a platform for discovery
Globiqo is being developed to address part of that challenge by allowing organisers to create events directly on the platform.
Rather than relying entirely on an existing social media audience, organisers can place their events in an environment designed around people actively looking for things to do and communities to join.
The concept shifts the focus from simply getting a post seen to helping organisers connect their events with people who may genuinely be interested in attending.
For the platform, the objective is not necessarily to provide organisers with the largest possible audience, but to help them reach a relevant one.
Connecting events with the right audience
A cultural event, for instance, may be more effective when promoted to people with an interest in that culture or members of the relevant community.
Similarly, a professional networking event may be targeted at entrepreneurs and professionals, while a student gathering may be more relevant to students.
Globiqo's vision is to make such connections easier by putting events in front of people who are already interested in discovering experiences and communities.
Organisers as community builders
At the centre of the Globiqo concept is the belief that event organisers are more than promoters.
They are community builders.
Without organisers, there would be fewer events, and without events, there would be fewer opportunities for people to meet, establish relationships and build communities.
For Africans living abroad, this role can take on additional significance.
An organiser putting together a Nigerian cultural event, African networking programme or social gathering may be creating more than an entertainment experience.
Such events can provide opportunities for people to meet others with similar cultural backgrounds, professional interests and experiences.
Empowering Africans in the diaspora
One of the distinctive elements of Globiqo's vision is its intention to encourage Africans living abroad to become organisers themselves.
.Rather than remaining only attendees, members of the diaspora could use the platform to create events around their culture, professions, interests or communities.
The idea is to give organisers a dedicated space where they can showcase what they are building and potentially connect with people interested in their experiences.
From discovery to attendance
For event organisers, visibility is only valuable when it can translate into attendance.
Potential attendees need to discover an event, become interested in it and eventually decide to participate.
Globiqo is therefore being developed around the idea that event promotion and event discovery should exist within the same ecosystem.
Someone searching for something to do could discover an event at the same time an organiser is looking for people interested in attending it.
Supporting smaller organisers
While established event organisers may already have large audiences and strong online followings, smaller organisers often face a different reality.
A new organiser may have a strong idea but struggle to attract the first group of attendees.
A dedicated event discovery platform could provide another channel through which such organisers can make their events visible.
For someone organising a first community event in a new city or country, that additional visibility could prove significant.
Building stronger communities
Ultimately, Globiqo's vision is centred on creating a stronger connection between organisers and communities.
The organiser creates the experience, the platform helps people discover it, attendees participate and the community grows.
That cycle can extend beyond a single event.
Organisers can build audiences, attendees can become regular participants, communities can develop around shared interests, and new organisers can emerge from those communities.
From personal frustration to a wider solution
Temi's own experience of struggling to discover events while living abroad helped inspire the idea behind Globiqo.
However, the platform's vision extends beyond the person searching for an event to the person working behind the scenes to create one.
For Temi, both sides of the equation are important.
Globiqo seeks to provide organisers with a platform where their work can be discovered while giving audiences an easier way to find events and communities relevant to them.
Behind every event, there is an organiser taking a chance on an idea, investing time, money and energy and hoping people will show up.
Globiqo is being built around the belief that those efforts should have a better chance of being seen by the communities they are intended to serve.
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