African creators push for recognition of digital work as full-time careers

Digital content makers from across Africa gathered on Thursday at the African Creators Summit, calling for content creation to be recognized as full-time work rather than a side hustle.

Under the 2026 theme, “Building a Sustainable Ecosystem: Where Africa Trades Its SWAG,” more than 2,500 digital creators from 15 countries came together to examine how Africa can turn its cultural capital into income.

Participants focused on monetizing what they described as “SWAG,” an acronym for Sound, Walk, Attire, and Grubs, which they said form the cultural pillars behind the continent’s growing global influence.

Speakers said the fast-growing creator economy now functions like a full business ecosystem, employing production crews and helping many creators pay bills and build long-term careers.

"I feel like it's not something that you can just say, let me be doing this and also be doing content creation also. It's not possible" said Ibikunle ‘Frosh’ Akorede, a content creator. "You have to put your whole mind, effort, you have to put everything into content creating. And if you look at it, anything that pays can be called a job."

Participants noted that while managing content across multiple platforms requires full commitment, some argue that the workload makes it difficult to combine creation with traditional 9-to-5 jobs.

David Adeleke, a media and intelligence executive, believes that the ecosystem is changing very fast.

“I believe within the next few years, you're going to see more people who are doing this thing full-time as their main job. They will quit their 9 to 5s and focus on this because, again, this is like building a small business,” he said.

Discussions at the summit also focused on sustainability within the industry, with speakers highlighting different levels of creators and the challenges of moving into top-earning brackets.

The African creator economy has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by social media, video streaming, and increased mobile phone use across the continent.