Click to watchAt Moonshot 2025, the conversation turned to creativity, algorithms, and what Africa’s next generation of creators can learn from the platforms they rely on. On stage was Mark Kaigwa, founder of Nendo, in conversation with Chukwuyemisi Isichei, research lead at Communiqué. Together, they explored how changing platform behaviours are shaping the continent’s creative economy, and where the next wave of opportunity lies.
Kaigwa began with a statistic that sums it all up. ”In Kenya, content creation is now the second most desired career path,” he said. But as more Africans aspire to become creators, the challenge has moved beyond visibility. “The question is no longer how to make content,” Kaigwa said. “It’s how to make money from it.”
He credits TikTok with changing the game. “It democratised opinion in two ways,” he explained. “First, it lowered the bar for what counts as acceptable content. Low-effort content is now fine. Second, it shifted us from follower-based to interest-based social media.” That evolution has opened the door for niche creators who can now reach the right audiences rather than chase popularity.
Infrastructure is part of the story, too. In Kenya, Kaigwa noted, one gigabyte of TikTok data costs just seven cents. “People can afford to experiment, collaborate, and publish without worrying about cost,” he said. In Nigeria, however, creators enjoy a different advantage: cultural influence. “Nigeria has an unfair lead,” he added, “thanks to the global pull of its music and Nollywood industries.”
Kaigwa reminded the audience that not all opportunities live on TikTok or Instagram. “Don’t sleep on LinkedIn,” he said. “You can’t dance there, but it has one of the most generous algorithms. A single post can travel far and open serious career doors.”
Looking ahead, Kaigwa pointed to three forces shaping Africa’s creative economy: streaming, short-form video, and AI. Streaming platforms are expanding access but still struggle with piracy. Short-form video, however, has become the defining medium of the internet. “It’s now the language of the internet,” Kaigwa said. But it also shortens attention spans and rewards quantity over depth.
Then there’s AI, which Kaigwa believes will reshape creation itself. “We’ll soon see more AI-generated content than human-made content,” he said. That reality raises new questions about ownership, originality, and fairness. “Platforms must take responsibility for how their algorithms affect African creators,” he added. “The impact here could be much deeper than in other regions.”
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