Dr. Edidiong Udoidiong, who is known professionally as Ed Singer, is the Chairman and CEO of Capital Luxury Group and the visionary founder of the Miss Luxury Foundation. A distinguished entrepreneur and international recording artist, Ed combines creative purpose with business leadership to foster cultural advancement and social empowerment.
He believes that leaders should be able to turn pain into purpose, silence into voice, beauty into service.
With a background in music from Columbia College Chicago and the University of Chicago, Ed’s mission extends beyond business. He is dedicated to uplifting the brokenhearted, marginalized, and voiceless through innovative ventures and philanthropy.
One of his major projects is the Miss Luxury Foundation, which is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Capital Luxury Group, dedicated to empowering women and girls across Nigeria and Africa through advocacy, education, mentorship, and community development programs. The Foundation leverages strategic partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, and private sector stakeholders to address gender-based violence, promote economic empowerment, and foster leadership among women and youth.
The Capital Luxury Group is a diversified Nigerian conglomerate with business interests spanning transportation, real estate and hospitality, logistics, automotive, clean energy, entertainment, tourism, and urban mobility. With eight dynamic subsidiaries, including Capital Luxury Transit, LUXi Ride, Capital Luxury Realty, Ultra Capital Energy, and Capital Luxury Music — the Group is committed to driving innovation, sustainability, and social impact across Africa.
In this interview, he speaks on why redefining empowerment, equity, and leadership for African women is not only urgent but essential to the continent’s future. He shares reflections on business, service, music, and the quiet revolutions shaping tomorrow.
You’ve often described yourself as a purpose-led entrepreneur. What does that mean in practice?
Purpose, to me, isn’t a slogan, it’s a compass. I don’t build for applause, I build to serve. Whether in mobility, real estate, clean energy or advocacy, I ask one question: “Who does this serve?” We have enough companies chasing profit. What we need now are enterprises that make people feel seen. For me, business without impact is noise.
Africa has one of the largest populations of young women in the world, yet they remain underserved. Why?
Because systems weren’t built with them in mind. We celebrate women in songs and campaigns, but when it’s time to fund their ideas, protect their bodies, or share power — the silence is loud. Empowerment has to move beyond talk. It must be structured, systemic, and sustained. We cannot build a future for Africa without putting its women at the centre, not just symbolically, but economically, socially, and politically.
How does Miss Luxury fit into that vision?
Miss Luxury is a mirror. It reflects what happens when you give young women the room to lead, to dream, to heal. It’s less about the title, and more about the voice. And it’s not a standalone project – it’s part of a larger ecosystem we’re building through the Miss Luxury Foundation. We’re mentoring, educating, funding, and building partnerships that outlive any event. My dream is that 10 years from now, the alumni of this platform are running ministries, starting schools and leading movements.
In a world of performative activism, how do you ensure this doesn’t become just another pageant?
By anchoring it in truth. Our team has done the work with NGOs, with communities, with government agencies. We’ve raised money to support real schools, feed real widows, and fund real projects. If the work doesn’t speak louder than the stage, we’ve failed. So we start from the ground up: policy conversations, media literacy, emotional healing. Advocacy is not a side show — it is the stage.
Let’s talk about the Benefit Concert. What does music mean in your advocacy journey?
Music is my first language. Before I built a business, I wrote songs for the forgotten. The Benefit Concert is the continuation of a promise I made when I sang my first note — to always use my voice for the broken. What we’re doing now is scaling that voice. Turning sound into action. Concerts that fund classrooms. Lyrics that spark laws. That’s how art becomes legacy.
If you had to leave today’s young leaders with one challenge, what would it be?
Stop waiting for the world to invite you in. Build your own rooms. And when you do, make space for others. If your leadership doesn’t multiply impact, it’s just ego. But if it uplifts the next person, you’ve built something timeless. Africa doesn’t need more noise. It needs leaders who are willing to start quietly — but end with impact.
Final thought — what’s the legacy you hope Miss Luxury and its surrounding ecosystem will leave behind?
That we created something that outlived us. A movement that turned pain into purpose, silence into voice, beauty into service. Not everyone will understand the vision at first. And that’s okay. Vision is always lonely at the start. But in the end, when we look back, I want to say we built light, and we left it burning.