Afrobeats headlines stadiums, Nollywood streams in a hundred countries and African designers close out international fashion weeks. What began as cultural curiosity is now an industry with balance sheets.
Streaming platforms changed distribution overnight, but the deeper shift is ownership: artists and studios are keeping more of their rights, and building the infrastructure around them.
From talent to industry
Studios, rehearsal spaces, post-production houses and specialist lawyers are the unglamorous backbone of a creative economy. They are finally being funded.
Governments have noticed too, treating creative exports with the seriousness once reserved for commodities.
“Culture was always the strongest thing we exported. Now we're getting paid for it.”
