Aki Abiola was told he needed to become a lawyer or doctor by his traditional Nigerian family. His next move? Open an art gallery – though it wasn’t plain sailing.
The son of Chief MKO Abiola named his gallery after his father’s successful 1993 presidential election campaign, Hope 93, in which the businessman and politician fought for democracy and election reform, before dying in prison after the election was annulled by the military regime.
At his central London premises, Aki shows artists who are under-represented. He also advises the Tate Gallery on African art.
As part of Metro’s partnership with the Black Business Initiative (BBI) today marks the next interview in our Down To Business series showcasing black entrepreneurs.
You haven’t had a standard career journey. Explain to us how you became an art expert and why?
Typical Nigerian families aren’t all that arty, if truth be told. I was told very firmly I needed to be a lawyer or a doctor from a young age and I’m not a lawyer or a doctor.
After uni, I went into finance – I had no formal art training.
But I always loved going to see art and especially art that impacted me. So, over the years, I’d go to museums and galleries and at the same time, when I was able, I started to collect.
I wanted to make sure I supported artists and collecting was a very nice way of doing that.
So why did you decide to make the move?
I opened Hope 93 about eight months ago. I’ve liked art for a very long time but there are some things about the art world I don’t like and one is not seeing very much representation, both on the walls but also among the people who engage in art.
There were a million times that I’d walk into art institutions and there was hardly any diversity in the people around. It upset me that there was so much to be learned and gained from art yet it wasn’t reaching as many people as possible.
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There was a lot of anxiety going into any kind of place where there was art. People didn’t feel like they could ask questions. I wanted to change that.
What have been the biggest challenges since opening Hope 93?
Having a wonderful central London space that can be used for events and providing artists a brilliant platform is all well and good but the biggest challenge is trying to balance the commercial realities of having a business.
There are so many things I would love to be able to do and artists I would love to be able to showcase but I just can’t because the economics don’t work.
So, you almost have to try to predict what people will like, because, quite frankly, without anyone buying anything from an art gallery, you’re not going to be around for very long.
And what have you had to learn in making the move?
I went into the art world with my eyes open and I have had to learn everything. Nothing is easy. One of the most important qualities in being an entrepreneur is staying positive.
You’re going to go through some really, really difficult times and it can be very overwhelming.
I’m very bad at asking for help. At the beginning you really want to do everything but it’s not very efficient to do that. My career in the finance world prepared me a lot for things, but there are different challenges. Being part of BBI has helped me to understand this.
Tell us more about how BBI has helped you and why you joined…
BBI has helped me to interact with people who’ve struggled in the same way that I knew I was going to struggle while building my own business.
The moment you get a lot of people in the room, it’s amazing to see how similar issues and problems that you have, especially being a black start-up or a black company owner.
It shouldn’t be an issue, but looking at a lot of the research that BBI highlighted you can see how difficult it is to get funding as a black-owned business. It’s just a fact.
Once you’re in the same boat as other people, you can start pooling information and sharing information as to, you know, how best to access funding, how best to access marketing and just getting general advice.
So, to me, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded people, and learn from them. It’s very, very impactful.
What do you think has been your biggest success so far since starting the business?
Well, apart from keeping relatively calm in a pretty difficult time as a start-up, I think the biggest success is the support in the community I’ve managed to build in a very short space of time.
You just have to come to one of my openings to see that. There are hundreds of people who come and interact and that is probably the biggest success that I’ve had.
I’m very thankful for that support. And on that front, I’d like to shout out all those collectors, especially those that have brought art for the first time, because without them Hope 93 wouldn’t exist.
And what are you particularly excited about at the moment?
I’m very proud that I’ll be showing the art of a photographer called Misan Harriman, a very interesting character. He’s a wonderful human being but he’s going to be challenging a lot of things.
I’m super-excited to be showing an exhibition called The Purpose Of Light, where Misan has photographed protest movements around the world.
He will be taking over the entire gallery and I’m really interested to see people’s reactions.
He was the first black male photographer to get the cover of British Vogue in its 104-year history. And for someone who’s very much known as shooting celebrities, what he’s done and what he’s shown here is how everyday people make a big difference.
