The mid-year mark is upon us. How do you feel about it?
⏰ Time for a new edition of HUSTLE & FLOW.
This month, I talk about Nigeria shining at Cannes, new advances in AI, the evolution of the African podcast ecosystem, the PFL Africa launch, and more.
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FILM
🇳🇬 After years of a characteristically un-Nigerian muted presence, the Nigerian delegation, led by its dynamic Minister of the Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa, came out en force this year at Cannes.
The Nigerians worked the Croisette, the Palais and the Market, shaking hands and signing deals.
🔦 But they were also there to support one of their own, as for the very first time, the very elite festival’s spotlight shone bright on Nigerian cinema.
Akinola Davies Jr.'s debut feature, “My Father's Shadow”, made history as the first Nigerian film selected for the Cannes Film Festival's official lineup, screening in the Un Certain Regard section.
🏆 The film was honored with a Camera d’Or Special Mention, and a cascade of rave reviews.
Deadline called it “one of the most moving and universally relevant and emotional films of any in this year’s fest.”
The poignant, semi-autobiographical film, was co-written by Akinola and his brother Wale. It explores themes of masculinity, familial relationships, and socio-political instability, set against the backdrop of Nigeria's annulled 1993 elections.
I haven’t seen “My Father’s Shadow”, but I have watched Davies’ 2020 short film “Lizard”, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and earned a BAFTA nomination. His talent was already unquestionable then.
For years, Nigerian filmmakers have voiced concerns about their lack of representation at Cannes. But, I would argue, they were not ready.
With “My Father's Shadow”, Davies provides a clear example of the caliber and storytelling that resonate with international audiences.
💡 Nigerians are well-known for their quick grasp of a winning formula when they see one. So we can expect “My Father’s Shadow” to inspire other filmmakers to lean more into the kind of understated emotional depth that connects with audiences beyond their cultures of origin.
The film was acquired before its Cannes showing by streaming platform MUBI for North America, the UK, Ireland, and Turkey, but as of now it’s unclear where the Africa rights will end up. Hello, Netflix?
WHAT’S UP AI?
The Cannes Film Festival is well-known as a bastion of arthouse cinema and the world’s glitziest movie gathering.
🤖 But this year, the real buzz on the Croisette was less about tradition and more about cinema’s uncertain future. More specifically, what everyone was talking about was AI’s fast-expanding role in the industry.
This is, indeed, the revolution we cannot ignore. So I’m introducing a new section in this newsletter to keep an eye on how AI is impacting the creative space.
The big news last week was Google ’s unveiling of Veo 3, the latest version of its generative video model, and it’s not just generating moving images anymore.
🎞 It now includes synchronized sound - music, dialogue, ambient noise. Veo 3 can now produce entire scenes from a single text prompt, complete with camera moves, realistic characters and audio.
Yes, this used to take a whole crew, months of work, and a substantial budget. And now it can be done in seconds.
According to Google, the tech is still in the research phase. But it’s already being tested by select artists and creators, and the results are mind-blowing.
While we are sleeping, Hollywood’s most forward-thinking filmmakers are embracing AI.
Case in point: Darren Aronofsky's new AI outfit Primordial Soup is behind “Ancestra”, a short film mixing live action with Veo3 images, which is set to premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
The good news is, innovation can now come from anywhere.
Last month, Nigerian channel TVC introduced four new anchors in charge of delivering bulletins in Igbo, Pidgin, Yoruba, and Hausa. But none of them are real - they are all AI avatars.
💡With this thought-provoking move, TVC News aims to expand coverage in 5 major languages (an AI twin of real-life presenter Olamide Odekunle also handles the news in English) across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones, while maintaining editorial integrity through human oversight.
According to the network, each AI-generated segment undergoes rigorous vetting and includes digital watermarking to combat deepfakes and misinformation.
Is this the beginning of the end of language barriers in news and access to information?
😵💫 The speed at which our reality is turning into science fiction (or vice versa) is dizzying.
PODCAST
🎙 I am a massive consumer of podcasts (which makes my annual Spotify Wrapped very dull) and a regular guest on African business shows (listen to my latest interview on InsightsOut Africa’s Investment Readiness podcast).
So I was really interested to learn that Africa’s podcast space is maturing, thanks to this detailed analysis from Oritsejolomi Otomewo for Communiqué.
According to Otomewo, the ecosystem is evolving beyond independent creators into professionally structured networks.
🌐 Media brands like Pulse (with Terms and Conditions, Women Talk Sex, and Life in Naija) and OkayAfrica (with Afrobeats Intelligence, No Wahala, and To Be Clear), are now aggregating shows under a unified umbrella.
This approach enhances visibility, centralizes intellectual property, and makes larger advertising deals possible. It also ensures content continuity when hosts transition and scales impact across diverse listener demographics.
🗣️ We’re also seeing the emergence of new formats, besides the dominant conversational podcasts. Narrative-driven and documentary-style productions such as The Republic Podcast and 4th Republic are raising the bar with richer storytelling.
And as always, distribution matters as much as content. Reaching African listeners means meeting them where they already are: on social media and messaging platforms.
📱 A strategic approach to distribution means chopping up a long conversation into snackable clips and visual content optimized for socials. So it’s not a surprise that video formats drive more engagement and help spread the content virally.
There is still a lot of room for growth, but, as the title of the article says, “Maybe podcasts can scale in Africa after all?”
FASHION
Lagos-based VC firm Consonance released a welcome report prepared by Jadesola Campbell on Nigeria’s missed fashion opportunity entitled “Who is Dressing 220+ Million Nigerians?”.
The entire report is worth a read, but here’s what stood out for me:
🔍 Nigeria’s fashion market is massive but economically invisible.
Consumer spend reaches $2.5–6 billion annually, yet the sector contributes just 0.47% to GDP ($129M).
This means two things: consumers are spending massively on non-Nigerian fashion goods, and over 85% of fashion supply bypasses formal channels.
📦 Nigeria imports $6B+ in apparel and textiles (plus $1.2B in smuggled goods), while exports remain under $100M.
Local production accounts for less than 15% of the supply.
Just 5% of clothing is produced by formal Nigerian brands, and 9.9% through broader local production. Nearly 90% of “Ankara” consumed in Nigeria is imported, costing the country $3B.
This represents billions in lost value and missed industrialization potential.
🧵 The entire fashion value chain - from cotton farming to export - is fragmented.
Cotton processing is minimal and garment production is largely informal. Local brands must build infrastructure from scratch. Logistics and export support are critically underdeveloped.
💸 Self-financing dominates.
85% of the sector is informally funded and mostly made up of micro-entrepreneurs relying on savings, co-operatives and family.
Only 15% of funding comes from formal finance (banks, DFIs, VCs).
🌍 The good news: global fashion lessons are transferable.
Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Turkey turned fashion into export engines using industrial clusters, export zones, and favorable textile policy.
Nigeria could emulate these strategies with local tailoring hubs, finishing tech, and export desks.
As the numbers show, the opportunity is enormous.
SPORTS BUSINESS
🤼 A few months ago, leading MMA operator Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced it had received the backing of Helios Sports & Entertainment Fund to expand to Africa with Cameroonian champion Francis Ngannou as its chairman.
Now, PFL Africa is ready to launch. The inaugural tournament is set for July in Cape Town, marking the first of four events planned for the year.
While the name of Ngannou is certainly bringing some credibility to the venture, I am more excited by the fact that PFL tapped media entrepreneur Elias Schulze as its Africa MD.
As co-founder of Kana TV, which revolutionized the landscape of Ethiopian television, Schulze already has a high-profile success behind him.
🔥In fact, Kana TV is one of the 12 African success stories I profiled in my recent report - keep an eye out for the case study coming out this week on my page.
Under Schulze’s leadership, PFL Africa is actively negotiating media rights deals with major pay-TV operators in East and West Africa, aiming to bring MMA into millions of homes.
These efforts complement existing partnerships with DAZN, Canal+, and MultiChoice.
PFL Africa also aims to explore mobile access and free-to-watch "people's fights" to make MMA more accessible on the continent and grow a new generation of fans.
MMA is just starting out in Africa, so another challenge will be to build a sustainable ecosystem for African fighters.
As exemplified by Ngannou’s life story, it is clear that African athletes have what it takes to compete globally. They just need someone to light that spark and show them the way.
CREATIVE SUCCESS STORIES
🤔 Have you downloaded my Proparco/CREA Fund study on African creative success stories yet?
TLDR - Prefer to get the gist in bite-size format on your phone? I got you.
I’ve been showcasing an individual case study every week with a visual (and downloadable!) carousel.
Click on the links below to read the following stories:
How Africori Conquered the African Music Scene
Chocolate City: From Campus Raves to Music Empire
Christie Brown: From Ghana to Global Fashion
How FilmHouse Transformed Nollywood
Coming up in June: Kana TV (Ethiopia), Landmark Center (Nigeria), Marodi TV (Senegal) and Mavin Records (Nigeria).