Shola Bamidele is the CEO and founder of Loom Rooms, a firm that manages a creative ecosystem in Nigeria. In this interview with FELIX OLOYEDE, he says that the Nigerian creative industry needs to build institutions to sustain its current success
Nigeria’s creative industries have become one of the country’s biggest cultural exports. What story do you think the headlines about Afrobeats and Nollywood are not telling?
Afrobeats and Nollywood didn’t conquer the world because Nigeria built the perfect creative system. They conquered the world because Nigerians became remarkably good at succeeding despite an imperfect one.
When people see sold-out arenas, Netflix premieres, Grammy wins, or global chart success, they’re seeing the result. They’re rarely seeing the years of uncertainty that came before it—the producer creating hits through power outages, the filmmaker stretching impossible budgets, or the young creative trying to understand contracts without legal guidance.
Those stories don’t make the headlines, but they are the reality for thousands of people across this industry.
