Me waving goodbye to 2024, according to AI.
A year ago, I wrote “2023 was the year where the Creative Industries officially landed on the radar of institutional investors. All combined, these investors are now sitting on some $2.5 billion of funds committed to the African Creative sector, which they are itching to deploy.”
🧐 Well, in hindsight, 2023 may have been the year of naive optimism. Twenty-twenty-four, in contrast, was the year of the reality check.
This doesn’t mean that we haven’t witnessed great success, reach, and talent in the African Creative and Sports space this year.
But (contrary to this image 👆 of me waving goodbye to 2024 according to AI) things are getting real.
In this last HUSTLE & FLOW edition of the year, I take a look at some of the hard lessons that 2024 taught us, but also at what has inspired us over the past 12 months.
👋 Read on, share, subscribe, enjoy the Holidays, and see you in 2025!
SHOW ME THE MONEY
🤔 In 2024, the surge of new funding announcements continued, but, as concrete results remained scarce, the industry’s response morphed from excitement to skepticism.
It would be easy to blame investors for this. Yes, they may have overreached by making these bold statements too early, but they have since recalibrated, working internally to gather knowledge and develop tools. The commitment remains.
On the industry’s side, however, a similar reckoning is yet to take place. The reality is that most creative enterprises are not yet investable - either because they lack a solid business model, a well-rounded team, or the ability to scale.
🛠 Building up business expertise in the creative sector is an area where we should collectively put our efforts in 2025.
AFRICAN FILMS: THE DISTRIBUTION DILEMMA
Another harsh reality check of 2024 is the rug pull that Amazon Prime and Netflix performed on African filmmakers’ hopes and dreams.
⏸ With both global streamers hitting pause (or even rewind in some cases) on their investments in African Originals to refocus on a much less capital intensive licensing approach, African filmmakers are reminded once again of their precarious position on the world’s content chess board.
🌍 The real issue here is that an entire region’s film output cannot, should not, be dependent on the financial decisions of one or two foreign buyers for whom the region in question is not a priority.
(The fact that Netflix’s downsizing happened within weeks of the launch of two new African Film Funds is a serious case of bad timing for these funds.)
For a heartwarming example of what happens when the right content is put in front of the right audience in the right way, check out this video of the opening night for the Nigerian film “Everybody loves Jenifa” at the Odeon Greenwich in London, where the movie sold out 5 screens on December 20. This result was delivered by distribution veteran Moses Babatope and his team at the newly minted The Nile Group.
🏗 Let’s hope that 2025 will bring a renewed focus on building out Africa’s own content distribution infrastructure, from cinema, to mobile, digital, and to the basket case that is the African broadcasting sector.
CONSOLIDATION MOVES
📺 Talking about the broadcasting sector, one of the biggest news of the year was the acquisition of Multichoice by France’s Canal+, which, once realized, will create a pan African Pay TV monopoly, uniting the previously separate English and French-speaking broadcast markets.
On one side, this means yet one less buyer for African producers, as the new combined entity plans to pool content budgets and teams.
🔀 On the other, it gives the new and boosted Canal+Multichoice and its platform Showmax a better chance at long-term survival, as the group navigates the painful but unavoidable transition to streaming.
The fact that two behemoths like Canal+ and Multichoice decided that they would be stronger together should remind us that for many businesses, including creative ones, scale is a key determinant of success.
✊🏾 From content production and distribution, to music, to fashion, the African Creative sector is brimming with micro-enterprises essentially doing the same thing in their own little corner. The winners will be those who are smart enough to set their ego aside and come together, combining expertise and resources towards a greater goal.
2024’S BIGGEST SUCCESSES
Despite a challenging environment, 2024 also brought us some inspirational successes:
💫 Universal Music Group acquired a majority stake in Nigeria’s Mavin Records in the biggest deal that the African Creative Industries have seen so far. The story of how Don Jazzy, Tega Oghenejobo, and the Kupanda Capital team built and grew Mavin together is a serious case study of what it takes to achieve global success (spoiler alert: it’s not ego).
🎤 Still in the music space, 2024 was also the year where 22-year-old Tyla single handedly redefined African music to the world. Mark my words: Tyla will become to South Africa what Rihana is to Barbados - her country’s first global pop icon and very possibly, its first self-made creative billionaire.
⚽️ Finally, the triumph that was the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast showcased not only the exceptional talent present on the continent and the ability of African nations to host large-scale international events successfully, but also the true size of the African homegrown football audience and market.
All eyes are on Morocco, the host of the 2025 AFCON which will kick off in December.
CAN THE CREATOR ECONOMY SAVE US ALL?
🤳🏾 A key bright spot this year was the emergence of the Creator Economy as a substantial growth sector for the continent.
With countries like Kenya (global #1!), South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt leading the world in social media usage, the African Creator Economy is expected to grow from $3.08 billion in 2023 to $17.84 billion by 2030.
💵 Already, tens if not hundreds of thousands of young Africans are making a living creating content online. Considering that the ecosystem remains nascent with few monetization options, this gives great hope for the future.
👽 However, the arrival of AI presents both opportunities and disruptions. These new tools have the potential to enhance content creation and engagement, but also threaten to outpace creators who lack access to them.
As AI reshapes creative processes, the challenge will be ensuring that African creators can leverage these technologies to their advantage, rather than being sidelined by them.
MY WISH FOR 2025
The same as you: less talk and more action.
💪🏾2025 should be about execution.
Happy Holidays!
* The cover image is DALL-E’s response to the following prompt: “Create an image of me waving goodbye to 2024, surrounded by African artists, musicians, filmmakers, and fashion designers.”