Startupinsight

   Lagos spent ₦129 billion on entertainment and nightlife in five weeks last December. The gap between that and what shows up in formal ticketing data is the market a new generation of platforms, including Gruve, is fighting over. In December 2025, 3.6 million people took part in Lagos's Detty December season and spent ₦396.5 billion in 55 days, ₦129.55 billion of it on entertainment and nightlife, according to figures reported by BusinessDay. Asake sold standing tickets for ₦300,000. Burna Boy's global tour grossed $30.46 million across 302,801 tickets. Yet PwC's Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook records Nigeria's live music ticket revenue at just $1 million for 2024, against $76 million for South Africa. Both are correct. PwC counts what flows through formal, reportable ticketing channels, and in Nigeria that is almost nothing. Tickets move through bank transfers, WhatsApp confirmations, forwarded PDFs and promoters' own websites. One of the continent's ...

 After selling more than 300 apartment units in five years, Smartease Properties CEO Lateef Aromire is taking the company into a new chapter of property development.  For Lateef Aromire, Chief Executive Officer of Smartease Properties, real estate has always been about more than selling apartments. It is about understanding people, understanding the market and helping buyers make decisions that make sense for their long-term goals. That approach has helped Smartease Properties sell more than 300 apartment units over the past five years, building a growing presence among homeowners and property investors. Now, the company is taking another significant step forward with the development of Luma Apartments in Yaba, its first outright developer project. The move represents a natural progression for a company that has spent years working closely with property buyers and investors. “After several years of working closely with buyers and investors, you begin to understand what the mar...

  Babatunde140 and Noku Dlamini share a powerful message of unity through ‘Ubuntu’, a soulful Afro-fusion collaboration inspired by community and human connection. Afro-fusion artiste Babatunde140 has teamed up with Noku Dlamini on “Ubuntu,” a soulful collaboration inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu — “I am because we are.” The song, which blends rich African rhythms with heartfelt vocals, delivers a message centred on unity, human connection and the importance of community. “Ubuntu” is scheduled for release on October 7, 2026, and will be available across major streaming platforms through Prime Music Partners. Speaking on the inspiration behind the track, Babatunde140 said, “Ubuntu is a reminder that none of us exists in isolation. Our strength comes from the people around us, the connections we create and the way we support one another.” He added, “With this song, we wanted to celebrate that sense of togetherness and remind listeners of the power that comes when people ...

     Juriska, led by Chijindu Umunnakwe, CEO, Juriska, is developing a business-facing platform designed to help companies organise contracts, corporate records and legal obligations before problems become emergencies. A supplier agreement is approaching renewal, but nobody is tracking the date. An investor requests corporate documents, and the team begins searching through email accounts. An employee dispute arises, and the business discovers that its records are incomplete. These situations illustrate a familiar weakness in business administration: legal work exists, but there is no consistent system for managing it. Entrepreneurs often give accounting, sales and operations regular attention. Legal matters can receive attention only when a transaction stalls or a disagreement becomes urgent. By then, missing documents and unclear responsibilities may make the problem harder to resolve. A virtual legal department offers a way to bring legal administration into the everyd...

  Kanyin Palmer, Founder and Product Owner of Excluvia, has called for African creators to retain more of the economic value generated by their content, knowledge and communities as the continent’s creator economy continues to expand. “African creators are already creating enormous value through the audiences and communities they build. The next step is making sure more of that value returns to the people creating it,” Kanyin said. His position reflects a growing concern around what happens after creators attract an audience. While views, followers and engagement can create visibility, they do not always give creators enough control over how that attention becomes income. For Kanyin, the next stage of Africa’s creator economy should focus less on audience size alone and more on giving creators the infrastructure to build sustainable businesses around the communities they have already created. “The talent was never the problem. The plumbing was. We built the plumbing,” Kanyin said. ...

   What began at his father’s dining table, alongside his co-founder, Emmanuel Obi, has grown into a bold journey of building a creative company in Nigeria. But building a business in Nigeria is rarely a straightforward path. It means navigating changing consumer behaviours, economic realities, rapidly evolving technology and an increasingly competitive industry.  For Tseyi Agharaye, CEO and Lead Director of Bloom Digital Media, these challenges have become part of the journey of building one of Nigeria's emerging multidisciplinary media and communication companies.  As Bloom celebrates five years, Tseyi is looking beyond the traditional agency model.  His ambition is to build a company that sits at the intersection of media, technology, creativity and communication.  Over the past several years, Tseyi has led Bloom's growth from a digital marketing-focused business into a broader organisation providing strategic communication, digital marketing, media and ...

  One of Nigeria's leading brand is offering competitive opportunities for African AI workers while helping businesses put automation to practical use. On the vanguard of this initiative is serial and activist Anthony Sule who is constantly adocvating and building an AI company in Nigeria  but it does come with obvious question focused both commercial and personal: how can skilled people gain access to international work and earn pay that reflects the quality of their contribution? That question sits at the centre of Trinity Intelligence Solutions, a human-in-the-loop AI training company registered in the United States and based in Nigeria. The business is working to connect African talent with international AI projects, while helping businesses understand how automation can make their everyday operations less demanding. Human-in-the-loop AI training keeps people involved in developing and improving artificial intelligence. It can include preparing and labelling data, assessin...