Ikemesit Nkereuwem-Tim, An Unwavering Pursuit For Change in Nigeria

By Emmanuel Daraloye

With Seven Hundred and sixty six posts already made, thirty thousand and more followers and a mere 250 followed accounts on Instagram, one thing continues to be the uniform in the posts, the account owner’s love for sneakers and motor racing. At the last time I checked, it was three against one.

Ikemesit Nkereuwem-Tim is a sneaker enthusiast originally from Nigeria, but now based in the United Kingdom. Over the past four years, he has been actively promoting the Sneaker Culture via Creativity, Art, Fashion, Sports and Entertainment and using it to encourage young people towards entrepreneurship and self-reliance towards Nation building. He is a strong advocate and believer that every member of the society has a vital part to play towards a great country. His annual SneakerFest has become the most highly anticipated youth event in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Since its launch in 2020, SneakerFest has attracted over Eight thousand participants including prominent figures such as musicians, comedians, actors, and even the Lagos State government.

Ikemesit was born in Etinan, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria barely four decades ago and has always had a passion for creativity, art, entertainment and sports. Before creating SneakerFest, he had a Single in 2011 titled “Ballin” which enjoyed airplay on Cool FM, Wazobia FM and TopFM. He was also very actively involved in Motorsports racing and achieved great success until his retirement 6 Years ago due to an auto crash injury in April 2018 while preparing to challenge for the 2019 Nigerian Superbikes Championship.

In 2017, Ikemesit “BadBlood 28” was the Vice Champion of the Superbike Nigeria Championship in the 600 Super Sport category racing the 2011 Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja. He also in 2017 formed the first ever Motorsports Race Team when he paired with Ahmed ‘Alpacino47’ Mohammed to form the #OddInstinctGremansiRacingTeam – They ran away with the 1st and 2nd spot trophies becoming the first and only Motorsports Race Team to do so. 2018 saw Ikemesit and Jack ‘AirBenda41’ Affara teaming up to form Throttle Heads Racing winning Silver in the 1000CC Superbikes class in 2018 with Jack ‘AirBenda41’ Affara and won the Superbike Nigeria Championship in 2019 in the 600CC Category and had completed being on the Rostrum both as a Racer as a Team Owner across all Classes. First person ever to do so.

His love for motor racing extends beyond Nigeria and Africa as he has been involved in Motorsports events around the world. Notably, in 2019 Ikemesit worked with the 3 Times UAESBK Champion Saska Totaro (Factory Ducati Racing) in the United Arab Emirates Superbikes and was part of the team.

As motorsport is still a growing sport in Nigeria, Ikemesit has published three editions of The BikeNation magazine 2016, 2017 and 2018) to promote it within the country.

After his retirement from motor racing, he returned to his first love and expanded it beyond just wearing luxury shoes. He incorporated various art forms into the event. Some months before this happened, Ikemesit worked as a journalist with Silverbird Television , this was between April 2007 to January 2008. His years of training at Kogi State University, Anyiagba was put to test as he reported news, compile reports for the television station.

With a large youth population in Nigeria, many are searching for an outlet to channel their energy and showcase their talents while also seeking mentorship for personal growth. Through SneakerFest, Ikemesit has provided a platform for all of these aspirations to come true.

Organizing an event for over three years in Nigeria takes a lot of ingenuity, and Sneaker Fest continues to improve with each edition. The event has attracted notable musicians such as Afrobeats artist Ladipoe and celebrated poet and former signee to Davido’s DMW, Dremo, Hermes Iyele of Big Brother Nigeria, revered nightlife promoter, Yemohlee, “Soweto” crooner, Victony and others.

Currently, Ikemesit Nkereuwem-Tim is an agent of change in Nigeria. With SneakerFest, he has been able to touch life, change the sneaker culture and in a way promote talent. For example, at the 2023 SneakerFest, there was a music competition where the winner was three hundred thousands naira richer. Beyond the financial empowerment, Sneaker Fest offered a platform for creativity, it became an avenue where the singers showed off what they had.

Right now, there is an explosion in the Fashion sense among Nigeria. Sneakers remain their most popular fashion item, for once, we have an event which celebrates the fashion items. Global brands like Nike have already keyed into this event, they were one of the supporting partners at the last event. In this way, they get to sell their product, and also show support to the event.

SneakerFest is a legacy project and it must have taken some level of deep thinking, planning and execution to pull such an event up. Ikemesit Nkereuwem-Tim has already written his name in gold, I hope the next generation can take a cue from it and come up with other awesome ventures.