Nollywood is the new gold mine with investments paying off in leaps and bounds for film financiers. And if there’s anyone who has refused to sleep on it, it is the fellas of the tech industry.
Editi Effiong’s Black Book pulled about fifteen producers, 11 of which are hotshots of tech including Olumide Soyombo(Voltron Capital), Ezra Olubi of Paystack and Nadayer Enegesi of Eden Life. In 2021, Kola Aina had invested in Finding Hubby and Odun Eweniyi(Piggyvest) in Dare Olaitan’s 2022 horror thriller, Ile Owo.
According to Olumide Soyombo, founder of Voltron Cap and essential financier of Jade Osiberu’s Gangs of Lagos and Brotherhood, return of investments in Nollywood have been varying but they no doubt have beaten the traditional investment avenues, yielding up to triple the capital.
Wow. That’s some pretty awesome returns if you ask me.
With this type of testimonial, it appears Nollywood filmmakers are finally putting the days of insufficient days behind them. When we now factor in that with tech comes innovation, we know this alliance is about to be a powerful move.
Now, none of this is to suggest that industry has been resting on its oars and it’s only tech that could get it to finally see its own worth. No. Also, this is not to say the tech industry is just “taking interest” in Nollywood. Way before some of these came to light, I know that some people have been producing- there probably just wasn’t enough press about it.
As far back as 2021, Kola Aina on X(formerly Twitter) had said : “Nigeria is changing; I invest in films and startups and never have asked where the founder, actors, or producers are from. My last 3 Nigerian movies and companies are mainly from the northern and eastern parts of the country. It’s happening and I am glad for it.”
So yes, no be today (and I’d really prefer not to step on anyone’s toes on this matter🫠)
Moving on, it is worthy of note that it is the traditional “cooperative “ investment strategy that is being employed by these new investors- maybe more industries might want to borrow a leaf from it. For Black Book, it was ensured that investments were made in manageable amounts and complemented by significant contributions from institutional investors. And sure enough, the film’s success on Netflix has raked in dollars for its investors.
Not only does this provide filmmakers with more funds to explore their creativity, but it also encourages more people to venture into film financing being confident that there is a size for everyone. Maybe there’s a caveat to this; that filmmaking is as risky as they come with everything hinging on the audience reception of the movie but please be honest, what is life without risks?
Would investing in Nigerian film provide adequate dividends for investors?
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