Chude Jideonwo’s new fund for African creators + Silverbacks’ investment in Zimbabwe fashion exports
Chude Jideonwo’s $500,000 plan to back creators, and Silverbacks Holdings bets on African fashion.
Hello!
You know what’s better than money? More money! African startups are experiencing a resurgence in funding, with over $2 billion flowing into more than 500 deals across the continent in the first half of 2025. While the creative economy is not prominent on the list, it's getting its share. Today’s Digest shows how.
Communiqué IRL is coming to Johannesburg this October. Join us for an evening of insightful conversations on the creator economy in South Africa, with numerous opportunities to connect with inspiring individuals. Seats are limited, reserve yours now.
In today’s Digest, we discuss:
Chude Jidenowo’s $500,000 creator fund
Silverbacks Holdings and ImpactHER's investment in two Zimbabwean fashion brands.
Centre Spread 🗞️
Chude Jidenowo’s $500,000 creator fund
Nigerian media entrepreneur Chude Jideonwo has announced the launch of the Fourth Mainland Creator Fund, a $500,000 initiative that will provide direct capital injections to individual African creators. Jideonwo unveiled the fund during his keynote address at the Digital Creator Africa Summit in Lagos, stating that it will commence operations in January 2026 with nearly ₦1 billion of his personal funds.
Unlike traditional grant or mentorship programs, the Fourth Mainland Fund will provide direct investments to individual creators rather than companies or NGOs. Jideonwo said the goal is to back bold individuals who understand their audiences and have the potential to scale into global media brands.
“Grants don’t build empires. Mentorship doesn’t scale industries. Capital does,” Jideonwo told the audience. “Creators don’t need permission; they need people betting on them in a systemic pattern.”
Additionally, the fund is platform-agnostic. Programs like the StarNews Mobile Fund and the YouTube Black Voices Fund have previously invested in African creators, but they were tied to specific platforms. YouTube’s fund, for instance, included musicians and digital creators but was limited to the YouTube ecosystem. By contrast, Fourth Mainland will back creators wherever their audiences are, whether on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Substack, or beyond.
The fund will be managed by Jideonwo’s Joy Inc, under newly appointed CEO Jennifer Mairo, and will also launch a “record label for creators.” Africa’s creator economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors on the continent, projected to grow from $3.08 billion in 2023 to almost $30 billion by 2032. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have already produced multimillion-dollar African stars such as Mark Angel, Tayo Aina, and Ruth Kadiri. Jideonwo argues that institutional investment is the next step to accelerate these successes.
Zimbabwean fashion startups secure investment after CANEX pitch success
Two Zimbabwean fashion startups, Vanhu Vamwe and The Rad Black Kids, have secured investment from Mauritius-based private investment firm Silverbacks and Nigeria-based non-profit ImpactHER to scale their operations.
The deals were brokered through Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) platform. Both startups gained visibility during the 2024 CANEX WKND pitch sessions, where Vanhu Vamwe won first place and The Rad Black Kids placed third. Alongside Cameroonian brand Kibonen, they attracted part of a $100,000 pledge from a consortium of investors.
Silverbacks and ImpactHER were part of a wider group of angel investors that collectively committed $450,000 to early-stage creative ventures at the event. Separately, Moji Hunponu-Wusu of WoodHall Capital pledged $250,000 to Kibonen. Overall, Afreximbank reported that the 2024 edition facilitated $540 million in deals for Africa’s creative economy.
The 2025 CANEX activities were later held at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025), which concluded in Algiers on 10 September with a record $48.3 billion in trade and investment agreements.
Though rooted in Zimbabwe, both Vanhu Vamwe and The Rad Black Kids have a global retail footprint. Their collections are stocked by Amazon subsidiary BOP Inc, Net-a-Porter, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Selfridges, across the US, UK, and Asia. Silverbacks said this reach was decisive: “Both brands represent Africa’s growing influence in global fashion by blending cultural heritage with scalable, foreign-currency-earning business models.”
The investment comes amid a broader push by African fashion brands into global retail. Kenya’s Vivo Fashion recently opened its first US store in Atlanta, while Nigeria's Ashluxe opened its London store in June. Also, in the US teenagers are driving demand for Nigerian-designed dresses. UNESCO values Africa’s annual fashion exports at $15.5 billion, with demand projected to rise by 46% over the next decade.
For Silverbacks, the Zimbabwean investments expand a creative industry portfolio that includes Guinea Bissau footwear brand, Armando Cabral, South African sports-tech startup NERGii, and the African Warriors Fighting Championship.
Crunch Time 📈
African movie titles on global streamers
Catch Up 📬
Communiqué 87: Archiving wants to interrupt Nigeria’s historical patterns of repetition
Archiving first drew social media attention in 2023 by resurfacing old Nigerian newspaper stories that echoed today’s realities. But as co-founder Fu’ad Lawal noted at the maiden edition of the organisation's annual event, the project’s mission goes beyond nostalgia. This week’s Communiqué essay explores what Archiving is really building. Here's an excerpt for you.
“Archiving is in the fourth stage in the evolution of memory projects, where data becomes usable knowledge. Without this stage, archives risk becoming static museums: impressive, but inert. With it, they can transform into dynamic tools for sensemaking—helping societies understand their past, confront their present, and perhaps interrupt the cycles they seem destined to repeat.”
Read the full story here.
Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️
Tony Doe explains why African podcasters should take Spotify’s new terms of use seriously: “For podcasters, don’t confuse ownership of your files with control over their distribution.”
This week’s edition of Offscript by Communiqué goes behind the scenes of Lonwabo Mavuso’s remarkable journey in building Andani.Africa, one of the foremost pan-African research agencies focused on the creative and cultural industries.
Can Twitch and livestreaming become a thing in Nigeria? Some young Nigerians are braving the odds to make it a viable career path—and maybe even become the next Kai Cenat.
Over 500 business leaders and investors will be gathering at Counder Conference 2026 to discuss and connect on how to back the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.
Here is what is happening in Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:
19–27 September: Sotambe Zambia Film Festival, the country’s largest film festival, takes place in Lusaka.
19–21 September: Macondo Literary Festival is held in Nairobi, Kenya.
Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.
That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.
Love what you just read? Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage it deserves by making a donation here.