Inside the Fintech Betting That Africa’s Next Unicorns Will Be Creators, Not Startups

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I recently watched a riveting interview on one of my favorite African podcasts, Afropolitan. The guest was Yele Bademosi, founder of Onboard, and the conversation touched on something I believe could transform how we build businesses across the continent.

What started as a discussion about creators and money became a much deeper exploration of how Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs might rise.

The Founder’s Core Thesis: Creators as the Next Conglomerates

Yele Bademosi believes Africa’s next billion-dollar companies won’t come from banks or conglomerates — they’ll come from creators.

Not influencers chasing brand deals, but builder-creators: entrepreneurs turning their audiences into distribution engines and their income into leverage.

His company, Onboard, sits at the intersection of that vision. It’s a finance app designed to give creators and digital entrepreneurs the freedom to transact globally — to hold stablecoins, convert currencies seamlessly, and operate beyond the limits of local banking.

Phase 1 and 2: From Payments to Credit