African creators lack infrastructure to turn audiences into income

African creators have the talent and the audience, but not yet the infrastructure that converts attention into income. That was the central message of a panel at Moonshot by TechCabal on Thursday, titled "Can African players build the infrastructure creators need?"

Speakers were Richard Oyome, co-founder and COO of Raenest; Kene Okwuosa, founder and group CEO of Filmhouse Group; Darey Art Alade, co-founder and chief creative officer of Livespot360; and Kopano Cowen, CEO of Connect Channel.

Thin earnings, patchy payouts

The Nigerian Creator Economy Report 2025 found that 56.45% of Nigerian creators earn less than $100 a month, while only 3.23% earn more than $5,000. Money does flow to some: Nigerian artists received more than ₦58 billion from Spotify in 2024, up 146% from 2023, according to the same report.

Platform payouts have been a weak point. Brand deals were often creators' only income route because major platforms did not pay Nigerian creators directly until Meta enabled ads on Reels for creators in Nigeria and Ghana in 2024.

Oyome argued the answer starts with a bigger market. "We could penetrate foreign markets, especially in film, through collaboration, to produce better quality and attract international audiences," he said. Raenest, which offers dollar, pound and euro accounts to freelancers and creators, raised an $11 million Series A in February 2025 and says it has processed more than $1 billion in payments for over 700,000 individual customers.

Piracy, policy and partnerships

Okwuosa rejected the idea that Nigeria's market is small. "It only feels that way because we haven't activated its size," he said, naming piracy as the real brake on rewards and reach. Estimates of Nollywood's losses vary widely: MultiChoice has cited ₦10 billion to ₦15 billion a year, while other industry figures run far higher. TechCabal's 2026 outlook also notes that Netflix and Amazon Prime have cut African content spending, pushing more filmmakers to YouTube.

Alade called for public-private partnerships and legislation that makes collaboration easier. The government has started to act: its Creative Economy Development Fund is backed by a $200 million seed commitment from Afreximbank, according to the ministry.

The panellists agreed the next wave of investment need not be a new standalone product. It could be a partnership or acquisition linking players already working on payments, production, distribution and policy.