Last week’s brouhaha around influencers, rates, and brand expectations was intriguing and revealing. Depending on which side of the internet you landed on, influencers were either “overpaid, entitled youth with ring lights” or brands were “exploitative corporations looking for cheap access to culture”.
Everybody had screenshots and their own hot take and suddenly became marketing experts overnight.
I found it fascinating. Beneath the sarcasm, bad belle, quote tweets, and passive-aggressive threads was a very real conversation about where Nigeria’s creator economy is heading.
First things first: influencers absolutely deserve to make money. Let’s kill that conversation immediately.
Some of the best creators have spent years building their audiences while traditional media executives watched them with folded arms. They posted consistently for free, burnt through data bundles, entertained millions, took social risks, survived endless algorithm changes, and built communities from their bedrooms, cars, kitchens, hostels, salons, and every corner of Lekki, Surulere, or Kafanchan.
