Turning virality and cultural relevance into sustainable revenue is hard to do in Africa. But Jola Ayeye, Feyikemi Abudu, and the I Said What I Said (ISWIS) podcast team are some of the very few who seem to have figured it out.

On June 17, the team announced its 2026 live show tour, the biggest in its history yet: 12 cities across 6 countries and 3 continents. For a show that began with two friends having honest conversations online, and spent its first five years as a passion project with a loyal audience but no clearly defined revenue model, that is a remarkable leap. The successes ISWIS enjoys today did not happen by accident.

In this maiden episode of Creative Capital, we break down the decisions that Ayeye and Abudu made to turn ISWIS into one of Africa’s most-loved podcasts and a business with several revenue lines.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How ISWIS built an audience across Nigeria and the diaspora by closely observing audience behaviour and creating experiences that met real audience needs.

• Why the team’s willingness to experiment with different formats, events, and revenue models became one of its greatest competitive advantages.

• How a live show in London became a turning point for the business, and why a Spotify grant proved more valuable than many traditional brand partnerships.

• How seemingly small ideas like aso-ebi dress codes, raffle tickets, and audience participation games became reliable sources of revenue for the podcast.

Watch the full episode on YouTube here.

Today, we’re introducing something we’ve been ruminating on and developing for some time: Creative Capital, a video essay series about the people, companies, and forces shaping Africa’s media and creative landscape. The first episode premieres next week on our YouTube channel.

Each episode takes one theme — the economics of a successful podcast, the strategy behind a breakout film, the money behind a revolutionary art fair, what it actually takes to build a cinematic universe — and works through it carefully, using data, reporting, and the perspectives of people doing the work on the ground.

Creative Capital is an extension of what we’ve built over the past six years: longform, data-driven, narrative essays. Now you can watch them.

Here’s why we’re doing it this way.

For the past few years, video podcasts have become the default way to spotlight remarkable people and their stories. They lean heavily on the host and subject’s ability to connect. For instance, to understand why Mavin Records keeps thriving after two decades in an industry where most labels lose their lustre to internal conflict, you’d tune into an hour-long conversation with Don Jazzy or Tega Oghenejobo. To learn how The Black Book became a breakout film with massive returns, you’d likely put Editi Effiong on the mic. To understand what role investors and funders play in shaping the future of media in Africa, you’d have to sit one or two of them.

That format works, and there’s a reason it has become the norm. But there’s room for variety. That’s the gap Creative Capital fills — we tell the bigger stories and connect the dots through a single editorial lens.

The first episode drops next week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel now so you don’t miss it.

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