Nigeria has featured in the music category since 2006 and has since produced one global winner – Audu Maikori, CEO Chocolate City Nigeria Limited who was the IYMEY 2007 global award winner.

This year, several applications were received nationwide and Cobhams emerged winner following a keenly contested shortlisting and interview process which was done by a distinguished panel comprising Olisah Adibua (Storm Records), Aziza Uko (Bank PHB), Audu Maikori (Chocolate City and IYMEY 2007), Tunde Kuboye (Jazz 38), Lanre Lawal (International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year 2005), and Ojoma Ochai (Connected Africa Arts Project Manager, British Council)

Cobhams Asuquo is a song writer/music producer and music entrepreneur, who started his professional training as a lawyer but is now into music full-time. His career in music started with working for a Nigerian music label as an in-house producer. He now manages his own entertainment company CAMP (Cobhams Asuquo Music Productions).

Cobhams states: "In 2001, I was straight out of secondary school with nothing but a laptop and a keyboard to my name. I burned with academic ambitions to become an international judge of justice, but musical bias and economic necessity led me to begin writing and producing commercial songs and radio jingles for corporate bodies and agencies. What began as a one-man music hot shop has turned into a legitimate music business that houses producers, engineers, project managers and administrative support staff. Today I can say that we're not just into music, we're into the business of music".

Cohbams has over the years won several awards for his excellent work. Some of these include: The Future Awards 2009 - Producer of the Year; One Gospel Awards 2008 - Gospel Composer/writer of the year; Hip-hop World Awards 2007- Producer of the Year; Hip-Hop World Awards 2008 - Producer of the Year; Nigeria Music Award (NMA) 2007 - Producer of the decade and the Future Awards 2006 - Producer of the Year.

Based on his success as the Nigerian winner of the British Council Award, Cobhams took part in a 10-day tour of the UK music industry and will competed with nine others from Colombia, Estonia, India, Jordan, Kenya, Latin America and the Caribbean, Lithuania, Malaysia and Poland for the global award and a cash prize of Seven Thousand Five Hundred pounds (£7,500). Although he did not win, Cobhams received a commendation from this year’s judges.

While working with a Nigerian music label as an in-house producer, he gained unique insight into the local music scene. He saw the opportunities and challenges within the industry with a vision to develop an entrepreneurial platform from which to drive the industry forward. In view of this, CAMP (Cobhams Asuquo Music Productions) was formed as an all-encompassing entertainment company aimed at propelling the Nigerian music industry.

As a musician, Cobhams’ music style comprises a wide spectrum of genres based on his careful understudy of such classical, jazz and traditional music greats as Tchaikovsky, Dave Grusin and Haruna Isola respectively. He is currently signed onto Sony ATV (Sony Publishing), London as a songwriter and has won awards in music as well as his other fields of interest.

INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PERFORMANCES
Cobhams has arranged music for and performed with bands at such international music events as The Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA 2006); AFA Sponsored French Cultural Center Concert with Asa and Angelique Kidjo (Malawi); AFA Sponsored French Cultural Center Concert in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nigeria Week (Paris); The launch of MTV’s one hundredth channel (MTV Base Africa) at Abuja, Nigeria. The NIGCOM SAT launch (the launch of Nigeria’s First Communication Satellite). More recently, he performed at the launch of Nigeria’s newest media sensation, NEXT newspapers.

Film scores
He has composed and arranged film scores to be interpreted for conservatoires as well as other forms of stage performance including “A Voice for Ella” by Uche Macaulay, Sunshine (Alpha Vision), “Bent Arrow” by Isang Awah.

Awards
Worthy of mention among the awards are The Future Awards 2009, Producer of the Year, One Gospel Awards 2008 Gospel Composer/writer of the year; Hip-hop World Awards 2007 Producer of the Year; Hip-Hop World Awards 2008, Producer of the Year; Nigeria Music Award (NMA) 2007 Producer of the decade and the Future Awards 2006, Producer of the Year.

For more details on Cobhams Asuquo, visit his blog here.