Future Leaders

After closing the doors on StayFresh, Despa founded BE83, specialising in content production, artist management and recordings. BE83 have represented big-name acts, both local and national, including Jaykae and Dapz On The Map, with Despa recently appointed to the AIM Board.

With her DIY Generation platform, Jamz spotlights the next wave of young women and POC talent. Alongside that, she also hosts the DIY Handbook podcast where she speaks to guests like Otegha Uwagba and Conducta about her journey and the inner workings of the music industry.

Since then, Elijah has gone on to be a public speaker and consultant, including working with Youth Music. During lockdown, he started the Yellow Squares project that has since grown to become a motivational powerhouse and has even inspired a joint album with grime MC Jammz.

Pushing diversity in the music tech sector, Saffron offers training in music production, sound engineering and DJing. They continue to run regular live events, including the ongoing Funding With Mina series and Mix Nights, which this year was featured on the Boomtown lineup.

NQ recently celebrated its fifth birthday at their lavish Manchester headquarters. With a roster that includes Birmingham rapper MIST and chart-topping producers LiTek and WhyJay, their growing list of partners and clients includes Sony, Warner, Channel 4 and Manchester United.

Sheniece was also responsible for launching The Excellence Brunch with Lyor Cohen and Tuma Basa ahead of the 2020 BRIT Awards. She also started The Legacy Series, an event series celebrating Black British culture and helping to push Black fashion designers and music talent.

Otung is also the co-founder of Insidr Music, an app designed to push unreleased music. Billed as “Spotify meets Patreon”, the streaming app pays artists 4000% more than other streaming platforms by paying royalties directly to artists.

In May this year, RECESS took over the Dreamland Margate theme park for the first ever RECESSland for the 100th edition of the event series. And in August, No Signal hosted their first takeover at fabric with acts including Hagan, Supa D, Tuggzy and more.

More recently, Soga World collaborated with Limewire to launch the NFT campaign for Aitch’s album Close To Home, making it the first artist to hit the UK’s official album charts with an NFT campaign.

As Artist Manager with the other company she founded, Moor Music Management, Shakira also nurtures talent in hip-hop, R&B and UK garage, representing a number of artists including C Cane, DJ Shaxx and Lauren Marshall. Shakira was also included on the PRS Power Up 2023 list.