Moonshot 2026: ‘Africa must move from content creation to value capture’ — Tech leader Juliet Ehimuan

By Efosa Taiwo Juliet Ehimuan, founder of Beyond Limits and former Director of Google West Africa, has urged African creatives and technology entrepreneurs to move beyond content creation to building sustainable businesses that own intellectual property and capture value from their work. Ehimuan made the call while speaking on artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of African creativity at Moonshot 2026 during a keynote speech on Thursday.

She said Africa’s creative economy remained underdeveloped, stressing the need to turn the continent’s creative talent into commercially viable enterprises capable of generating greater economic value. “Our creative economy is still less than 2% of GDP,” she said, highlighting the need for a shift from producing content to building businesses around it.

According to her, African creators must focus on owning the intellectual property behind their work and exploring different ways to commercialise it. “We need to move from content creation to value capture. We need to move from having creative talents to building enterprises. We should move from content creation to IP,” Ehimuan said. She explained that intellectual property ownership could open up multiple revenue streams, noting that a book could be adapted into a series, while a podcast could generate additional commercial opportunities.

“There are so many ways to monetise content if you have the IP for that,” she said, emphasising the importance of owning intellectual property and the infrastructure needed to distribute and commercialise creative products. Ehimuan outlined three priorities for Africa’s creative and technology sectors: adopting and developing AI capabilities, building and owning valuable assets, and establishing businesses capable of reaching wider markets.

On AI adoption, she encouraged African businesses to develop their capabilities and stay ahead of technological changes, noting that the technology could improve productivity and create new opportunities across industries. She also urged creators and businesses to protect their rights and permissions while developing distinctive intellectual property that could be commercialised over time.