By Omobolaji Ajibare
In 2025, I joined Mainstack as its first ambassador. At the time, there wasn’t actually an ambassador programme. Like many startups across Africa, Mainstack recognised that the creator economy was growing quickly and that creators could help drive awareness and adoption. So the company worked with creators on campaigns as opportunities came up.
The problem was that creators would post once and disappear. Some moved on to competing platforms. Others simply lost touch after a campaign ended. There was no long-term relationship, no community, and no clear way to measure whether those creator partnerships were creating lasting value. The more I looked around, the more I realised this wasn’t unique to Mainstack.
Across Africa, startups are launching ambassador programmes because everyone can see the creator economy booming. But many of these programmes are not actually programmes at all. They’re campaigns wearing ambassador programme clothing. And that’s creating a problem for both creators and the companies trying to work with them.
During my time working with Mainstack to build their ambassador programme, one thing became clear very quickly: the biggest challenge wasn’t finding creators. It was creating clarity. We started by building a structure. There were application systems, selection criteria, onboarding processes, community guidelines, performance tracking, and clear expectations around what success looked like.
