🧐 Astute readers of HUSTLE & FLOW may have noticed that I skipped a couple editions in these early months of 2025.
I’ve been out and about, while churning out content in other formats: a keynote for Dakar Music Expo, a cool podcast episode with Ventures Valley, and interviews for Semafor and Escape Magazine.
But also, I’ve been thinking about how to refresh my writing, in order to keep delivering value to the ecosystem, while keeping me motivated enough to continue to spend my free time on it 😅
With the recent proliferation of African Creative and Sports industries coverage in the media and through specialized newsletters, there is less of a need for me to highlight news or showcase achievements from key players - others are now doing this very well.
Last month, HUSTLE & FLOW turned 5 years old 🤯, and I’d like to find new ways to have impact. I have some ideas, but I’d love to hear yours:
What would you like me to write or talk about?
What would you like this content to look like?
How would you like to consume it?
Tell me. I’m taking notes ✍️
In the meantime, you’ll find my thoughts about the past couple of months’ key topics below.
And if you don’t already, don’t forget to subscribe, so that you don’t get left out of what comes next.
BROADCASTING
📆 Canal+ has extended its MultiChoice takeover deadline by six months.
The merger timeline stretching to October 2025 isn't just regulatory red tape. It's six more months of uncertainty for an industry already navigating treacherous waters.
Here's what this delay actually means for African creators:
🤷🏽 Content commissioning decisions are likely stalled until the merger's fate is clear. That's potentially six more months of "we'll get back to you" for producers pitching new shows.
For context, Canal+ (with 9.69M subscribers in Africa/Asia but 26.93M worldwide) is attempting to swallow MultiChoice (with roughly 16M subscribers) to create the continent's undisputed pay-TV behemoth.
🕸️In the long run, with Canal+ aiming to quintuple subscribers to 100M globally, the merged entity would control an unprecedented share of Africa's limited distribution channels.
Less competition has rarely meant better deals for creators. Which takes us to…
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
We have a distribution problem on the continent.
📤 In fact, distribution - not financing, not the skills gap - is the most pressing challenge stifling the growth of the African creative sector right now.
Because no distribution = no chance at monetization.
Film might be the clearest illustration of this issue:
With Amazon Prime and Netflix retreating from the African market, and the Canal+Multichoice merger further narrowing opportunities, who is going to buy premium African films?
Instead of investing your cash, sweat and tears into content that has nowhere to go, consider this:
1️⃣ Physical exhibition spaces matter: Nigeria's cinema growth shows the impact of theatrical releases on industry development. We need strategic investments in both traditional cinemas AND innovative community cinema projects that can reach underserved areas.
2️⃣ Mobile distribution remains unsolved: Previous attempts by telcos at video distribution have failed, but the opportunity remains massive. We need to try again.
3️⃣ YouTube remains king by default: Omoni Oboli’s latest film “Love in Every Word” was viewed by 12 million people in 7 days on the free platform. When premium filmmakers retreat to YouTube, it signals a market failure. But while we develop alternatives, there are also opportunities to better monetize this channel, starting by advocating for better CPMs.
4️⃣ Other global free platforms are untapped in Africa: Roku, Pluto TV, and Tubi have revolutionized ad-supported streaming elsewhere - their expansion to Africa could be transformative with the right partnerships.
5️⃣ Short-form isn't just for dance videos: Apps like ReelShort are gaining massive traction in Africa but are not priced for the local market and don’t yet showcase African stories. There is much to learn from this model.
6️⃣ Broadcasters remain powerful but underutilized: Major private broadcasters across Africa could be incentivized to increase local content investment through support programs such as tax rebates.
7️⃣ Too many local payment solutions: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and others cite payment integration as a major growth bottleneck. We need to build products that consolidate the myriad of African payment options. Global platforms could make more of an effort too.
Distribution should be a priority for investors and operators - not an afterthought.
CREATOR ECONOMY
📜 Nigeria is moving forward with a bill requiring social media platforms to establish physical offices within the country, and this is a good thing.
Global platforms like Meta, TikTok, and the social network formerly known as Twitter are masters at avoiding local responsibility and taxes in-country by pretending they’re not even there.
Forcing them to establish offices locally is how governments can make sure their economies and citizens benefit from the business they help create.
💰Senator Ned Nwoko, who sponsored the bill, framed it this way: "This is not an attack on platforms, but a way of increasing revenue through the digital space."
The passed its second reading in the senate. If adopted, it would also require these platforms to maintain verifiable offices and employee records - bringing structure to a largely unregulated space, but also facilitating job creation, tech transfer, tax collection, and better content moderation aligned with local contexts.
😈 Of course, the devil is in the details. If this bill (which I haven’t read) is not well written, it could also end up making things worse.
MUSIC
Warner Music completed its acquisition of Africori, the independent powerhouse representing over 7,000 African artists, including Master KG of "Jerusalema" fame.
This follows a strategic investment journey that began in 2020, progressed to a majority stake in 2022, and now culminates in complete ownership.
🏆 Founded in 2009, Africori’s growth picked up with WM’s investment. Africori artists have dominated South African radio charts for 11 consecutive weeks and currently occupy 6 of the top 10 spots on Apple Music South Africa.
⬆️ The two companies have already aligned systems to allow for "upstreaming" of African talent into Warner's global network - essentially creating a highway for continental stars to reach worldwide audiences. However, Africori will maintain its operational independence with Yoel Kenan continuing as CEO, reporting to Temi Adeniji of Warner Music Africa.
The news lands about a year after Universal Music Group's headline-making acquisition of Nigeria's Mavin Records. Who’s next?
🎵 IFPI released its 2025 Global Music Report, based on wholesale recorded music revenues (i.e. the money paid through to labels, distributors, and artists).
The worldwide numbers contain some good news for rights holders: subscription streaming revenues are up nearly 10% YoY, for example. But there are also some worrying elements. Ad-supported streaming is not pulling its weight, and the US market is recording a slump in performance.
🌍🚀 Meanwhile, Sub-Saharan Africa saw revenues surpass $100 million for the first time, and recorded a growth of +22.6% YoY - making it the second fastest growing region after MENA.
However, it still represents less than 2% of global music revenue.
💸 Although Afrobeats has propelled African music on the global stage, African artists and music operators on the continent are struggling to capture the value of their own creations.
In fact, Africa’s top artists like Burna Boy, Tems or Tyla make most of their revenue abroad - not at home.
Africa’s music industry’s challenges are well known. Instead of debating them one more time, let’s see how we can turn them into investment opportunities.
🌐 Fragmentation: The proliferation of small players in the market make it almost impossible for these businesses to achieve scale or attract structured investment.
Opportunity: Consolidate by merging players solving the same problem in a different country or region or players targeting a different segment of the value chain - or even both!
🎓 Skills Gap: The lack of formal education and training leads to technical but also business knowledge gaps that are holding the sector back.
Opportunity to develop specialized programs tackling topics like data analytics, digital marketing, distribution and AI integration applied to the music industry.
©️ Copyright Enforcement: The informal nature of many African economies makes the enforcement of copyright laws and the collection of royalties ineffective or even non-existent, impacting revenue streams for artists, and the attractiveness of the sector for investors.
Opportunity to leverage new technologies such as blockchain to modernize or even reinvent collective management organisations (CMOs) and processes.
🏗 Lack of venues: The lack of concert venues limits the potential for large-scale tours by established African and international stars, but also for emerging artists’ discovery and development.
Opportunity to invest in large-scale developments but also in small-to-medium multipurpose venues across the continent.
🎫 Weak support ecosystem: The lack of entertainment infrastructure also means that the rest of the live performance ecosystem is severely under-developed.
Opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop ancillary services such as event management solutions, ticketing platforms, or equipment rental companies.
FUNDRAISING STRATEGY
⚠️ If you run a Creative business, VC money is probably not right for you.
Here’s what many investors themselves won’t tell you:
When we think Creative Industries, we often think emerging businesses, and, in consequence, Venture Capital.
⛔️ But that's wrong.
The VC model is based on an expectation of exponential growth and oversize returns, that can only be achieved through the kind of rapid, massive scaling made possible by new technologies.
📈 When I say “model”, it is literally a business model - an excel spreadsheet that shows expected returns and that VC firms use to raise money from investors (VCs have investors too! They’re called LPs or Limited Partners).
VCs typically look for a return of at least 10x their initial investment over a period of about 5-10 years. If they bet on the wrong companies (including companies that grow, but too slowly), they won’t make money for their own investors, and they won’t be able to raise another fund - so eventually, they’ll be out of a job.
🏭 Meanwhile, more than 90% of Creative companies are not tech-centric. Rather, they are traditional SMEs - think of a music label, a production company or a fashion brand.
At best, they can be “tech-enabled”, but even that might not be enough to achieve the kind of fast and furious growth that works for VC.
💵 However, these businesses are usually profitable from the get-go and can thrive when given access to working capital or other kinds of debt.
They can also massively benefit from the hands-on operational expertise of business angels, and many are also well suited to a Private Equity approach, which can involve restructuring, streamlining costs and processes, and improving management.
Each business and each situation is specific. The key is understanding the true nature of the company and its best case scenario for success.
When I speak to an audience of Creative entrepreneurs, I like to use this slide to guide them through the process of self-assessment.
Once we start properly matching Creative sector companies with the type of investors that is right for them, we'll start seeing a lot more success.