In 2023, Canadian-based Nigerian, Abdullah Ayola Abubakre decided to quit his job as a head scientist, paused his decade-long career in pharmaceuticals, and returned to Nigeria after stints in the UK and Canada, all to build a tech product for an industry many still underestimate.
Although he had been making music on the side, he felt that he hadn’t truly explored his passion, which was music. As an artiste himself, he saw firsthand how challenging it could be to find collaborators, producers, stylists, or even a stage crew without being deeply embedded in industry circles.
While the spotlight shines on the continent’s stars, much of Africa’s creative system still relies on informal systems, such as personal networks, referrals, and connections.
That frustration gave birth to ConnectAfrobeats, a consolidated platform for talents and talent professionals in Africa.
“Too often, everything in the entertainment industry is commoditised, making creativity unnecessarily expensive,” Ayola Abubakre tells Techpoint Africa.
“From finding a cinematographer for your video to connecting with a video vixen, co-songwriter, talent manager, or even a publisher, these are all essential roles in the music-making process, and ConnectAfrobeats exists to bring them together.”
While its prototype launched in December 2023, the full version went live in April 2025, intending to become the LinkedIn for Africa’s Afrobeats ecosystem.
Why ConnectAfrobeats?
Afrobeats is one of the fastest-growing music genres globally. From 2017 to 2023, Afrobeats streams on platforms like Spotify increased by 550%.
This rise in Afrobeats has projected African music globally, with Nigerian music consumption soaring by 146% in the past year.
Despite Afrobeats’ immense popularity in Africa, many facets remain unexplored. The process of crafting a successful career goes beyond studio time. Behind the chart-topping tracks is a web of professionals: A&Rs, creative directors, stylists, digital marketers, backup singers, publishers, distributors, and more.
While international artistes can often tap into these professionals with a few clicks or referrals, African artistes often face a bottleneck. Many rely on word of mouth or serendipitous Instagram DMs to build their teams.
“For many indigenous artists, the process usually involves getting someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows another someone who can get the talent you need. It involves time and resource wastage mostly,” Abubakre explains.
With a consolidated platform like ConnectAfrobeats, artists can showcase their work, talent, portfolio, and promote their events and shows.
“The entire value chain of Afrobeats is a whole ecosystem on its own that has to be consolidated,“ he adds.
A flea market for talents
At the core of ConnectAfrobeats is the Market Square, an online marketplace where talents can sell their works, share their skills, and pitch for gigs. Songwriters, producers, and emerging artistes can showcase their melodies and collaborate with well-known performers. Additionally, users can connect with backup artistes, stage performers, and tour crews.
Currently, more than 1,500 users have signed up, and its Market Square features more than 100 song listings, including services, collaborations, and music gigs. It also has a community of 3,000 newsletter subscribers and hopes to reach 10,000 signups by the end of 2025.
However, ConnectAfrobeats wants to be more than a job board. At its core, the platform is trying to build a community-driven ecosystem that nurtures both established and emerging talents. One way it is doing that is through its Green Room Live sessions.
This recurring showcase gives up-and-coming artistes a performance platform where they can perform their original songs or covers, which are then promoted via ConnectAfrobeats digital channels.
The startup cost of a social network
Social platforms are notoriously difficult to scale, especially niche ones, and Abubakre knows this.
“The challenge in running a social networking platform is that your value is the network you have. Comparing them to platforms like Facebook and Instagram, many people want to see this for free, and it gets a bit hard to scale,” he says.
Still, he’s banking on the specificity of the platform to win long-term. Unlike general platforms like Instagram or Facebook, ConnectAfrobeats is laser-focused. It knows its audience and concentrates on them.
Monetisation so far is light, mostly through ad placements and brand partnerships, but the company is testing new models as engagement grows.
ConnectAfrobeats is currently free, but it plans to introduce premium services as it gains more recognition. Some features on the platform may be exclusive to paid users.
While the company has not publicly raised funding, ConnectAfrobeats has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Beyond monetary support, it has partnered with Make Music Lagos, Music Business Academy, Vendorstack, Kooha, Wetalksound, and 49th Street.
What’s more?
Just like with Fiverr, talents and talent professionals can indicate if they’re hiring, need hiring, or want a skill. Once signed up, users can start connecting via job searches.
Users can also pitch their skills on the market square and get people interested.
As the continent continues to prduce top top talents and chart exports, Abubakre hopes his platform might just be the backend engine that makes for Afrobeats more accessible, equitable and collaborative.
He hopes that Africa’s next big music talent won’t need to just “Know someone who knows someone”; they’ll just need a profile on ConnectAfrobeats.
“You can sort out your opportunities and tap into the ones you need,” Abubakre concludes.
