Q21 Solutions is Celebrating Authenticity with Alté Culture Festival

In today's creator spotlight, we were thrilled to speak with Temitope Osakue, the Event Executions Director of Q21 Solutions. With over a decade of experience in the events industry, Temitope has established herself as a leading expert in event planning and execution, creating memorable experiences for clients across a range of industries.

Her expertise in project management, creativity, and attention to detail has made this conversation very insightful for event creators. In this blog post, we'll dive deeper into Temitope's background, her experiences as the Event Executions Director at Q21 Solutions, and their upcoming event, Alté Culture Festival.

R: Tell me a little about yourself, your background, and what you do at Q21 solutions.

My name is Temitope Osakue, the events execution director at Q21 solutions, and Q21 solutions is a corporate event management company. We're 14 years in business this year, and we've been doing corporate events in the last couple of years in Nigeria, across Africa and actually globally. We have offices in Lagos, Canada, Kenya, and the UK. We have footprints all over those places. That's what we do in a nutshell.

R: Okay, sounds great! So what would you say is the easiest and the hardest thing about what you do?

T: The easiest thing about what I do is creating experiences for people. So for me, bringing your brief to life, interpreting your brief and executing it. If you give me a brief, what I plan to do with that brief, and actually bringing it to life, is very easy. The hardest thing is actually two things. In this industry, that is dealing with difficult people and also budgets. As we know, budgeting has always been an issue, but it's grown stronger in the last couple of years, and there are budget cuts here and there. So now it's a little hard getting briefs, coming up with fantastic ideas, and then hearing that we would not have enough budget to cover it. However, we're very flexible in working with your budget and still trying to create the best we can with any budget. But that's really the most difficult thing.

R: Okay, sounds great! So what would you say is the easiest and the hardest thing about what you do?

T: The easiest thing about what I do is creating experiences for people. So for me, bringing your brief to life, interpreting your brief and executing it. If you give me a brief, what I plan to do with that brief, and actually bringing it to life, is very easy. The hardest thing is actually two things. In this industry, that is dealing with difficult people and also budgets. As we know, budgeting has always been an issue, but it's grown stronger in the last couple of years, and there are budget cuts here and there. So now it's a little hard getting briefs, coming up with fantastic ideas, and then hearing that we would not have enough budget to cover it. However, we're very flexible in working with your budget and still trying to create the best we can with any budget. But that's really the most difficult thing.

R: Did you always know you wanted to work in events?

T: No, actually. Ensuring that physical customer service is what I really like to do. So basically, ensuring that people’s problems are solved and things like that. And that also happens to tie into events. So I meet a client, and they give me a brief. I make sure I execute it to the best that we can and also to what the client's expectations are and make them happy. So there's a bit of what I love to do inside event management. It’s a win-win for me.

R: What would you say is your favourite thing about your job?

T: Oh yeah, my favourite things about my job are the flexibility and the productivity. It's very flexible, and I enjoy it a lot. Also, the fact that it allows me to be very productive is great too. So, I know some people have jobs they are not entirely productive in. But this job allows me to be productive and also creative. So I, I enjoy that. In fact, that’s what I prayed for, actually.

R: That's great! What events have you worked on recently that really made you proud of what you do?

T: I'm always proud of all the events that I manage, whether it's a small scale, medium scale, or large scale. I'm proud of them because, for me, the end goal is to see that my clients are happy. So I'm proud of all the events I do as long as my client is happy. This is a plus for me because of the recommendations and reviews that I get after the event, and that’s what drives me.

R: What's your number one tip for managing event clients?

T: Okay, so to manage events clients, honesty is the best policy. Always be transparent. For instance, my client is asking for an elephant, and I can’t get them one. I’ll tell them, “you know what? We can't get you an elephant, but we can actually get you a rabbit”. Be clear from the beginning with your client about what they’re getting from you. It might be a budget constraint, or even your own ability to source what they have asked for, but just be clear. This is good for your credibility. You should be honest about whatever you do. Integrity is my topmost key watchword.

R: That's such a great tip and definitely helps a lot. Just be honest from the beginning. What brands would you say you are really proud of working with at Q21 solutions?

T: So we create events for only corporate clients, and we have clients ranging from tech to banking to oil and gas to TV, and more. We have a large range of clients across the board, and we're proud of every single one of them. I also want to mention that most of our business, actually 99% of our business over the last 14 years, has been based on referrals. Which just shows that we're doing good work.

When we opened shop, you know, 14 years ago, obviously, somebody took a chance on us. We had the first event, and from there, only very few of our clients, and I mean less than a handful of our clients, have we had to actually go after for business. Most of our business has just been referred to us and we've had very good retainers with our clients. So we have clients that have been with us for the last 10 years. This just really shows that this is really something unique and good that we're doing.

R: So we’re coming close to the end of our chat here. Do you have any upcoming events that we should look forward to?

T: We've been in the industry for over a decade, and we have some curated events that we have done. I mean personally, that’s our events. So this time around what we're doing next month is our Alté Culture Festival, which is happening on April 8th and Muri Okunola Park. This is the second edition. We did our first edition last year at the same venue during the Easter long weekend, and this year, we're doing it again!

This is us celebrating the unique things that people are doing in different areas, authenticity, uniqueness and people coming up with a different styles of everything. So it's literally for everyone to come, have fun and enjoy. We have a great lineup of artists already and really nice and unique vendors. It’s going to be a cool chilled Easter Saturday at Muri Okunola Park on April 8th.

R: We’re definitely going to be there, and I hope our readers will be too. What piqued your interest in Tix?

T: The first time we did this Alté Culture fest, one of the partners on board had recommended Tix and said we could have our tickets sold on Tix. So we tried it out, and we know there are other platforms for this, but Tix was actually very easy to set up. I didn’t need to call anybody. I could go and set up my event and tickets myself. It was pretty easy.

And then the service both offline and online was actually very great. That's the same reason I'm coming back on the platform this time around and also just making it my official ticketing platform. So yeah, I would recommend Tix to anybody, to be honest.

R: We’re so glad you love using Tix. What's your favourite thing about Tix?

T: It's very user-friendly, so big up to you guys. Your team did. a great job because it's very easy to set it up, it’s user-friendly, everything is accessible, and you guys have great customer service. So yeah, that's it.

R: Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to me and for your amazing words about Tix too. We’re looking forwards to Alté Culture Festival and rooting for you!

Get tickets to Alté Culture Festival, happening on April 8th at Muri Okunola Park!