Moonshot 2024: Founders Highlight Payment Infrastructure Problems Facing African Creators

By Trending9ja Staff • November 2, 2026 • 1 min read

African content creators can easily attract global followers from their very first post, but cross-border payment infrastructure remains broken, according to tech founders speaking at the Moonshot by TechCabal event.

The panel featured Ayobami Oyaleke, chief executive of Mainstack; Douglas Kendyson, founder of Selar; and Sodruldeen Mustapha, chief technology officer at Raenest. They discussed the financial hurdles confronting everyday digital creators who operate outside the top celebrity bracket.

Data from the Nigerian Creator Economy Report 2025 shows that 56.45 percent of creators in Nigeria make below $100 monthly from their online efforts. Oyaleke stated that an audience represents potential revenue, but creators often struggle to turn views into earnings due to technical hurdles and payment failures.

Kendyson recounted building Selar in 2016 after seeing individuals quoted up to ₦150,000 for e-commerce websites. He disclosed that the bootstrapped enterprise is now profitable, having distributed over ₦18 billion ($12.9 million) to almost 400,000 creators, with its affiliate feature generating more income than user subscriptions.

Mustapha stressed that freelancers and creators require complete control over their earnings across different global currencies. Kendyson concluded that while new financial gateways emerge frequently, what creators urgently require is simply a cross-border system that works reliably every time.

Sources: TechCabal