Africa’s creator economy is expanding fast, yet many talented people still struggle to turn their influence into reliable income. Most global platforms rely on payment systems that simply don’t function well across the continent, leaving creators dependent on clunky workarounds.
Andrew Kibe, a technology executive with more than twenty years building digital and financial systems in Africa, set out to close that gap. In May 2026 he launched Inner Circle, a platform that lets creators offer paid sessions, subscriptions, priority messages and group experiences. The company, based in Nairobi, already works with creators in eight African markets and processes real transactions.
Kibe’s background includes senior roles at 4G Capital, TopUp Mama and Lemonade, where he helped scale technology and raise significant funding. He noticed that musicians, coaches, doctors and other experts were sharing valuable knowledge on social media for free because tools like Patreon and Cameo often required payment methods that were unavailable or unreliable locally.
Inner Circle is currently bootstrapped. Creators keep 90 percent of every transaction, with the platform taking just 10 percent. There are no monthly fees or minimum payout thresholds, and earnings are sent the same day to mobile money or bank accounts. So far the platform has 109 vetted creators across Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Senegal and Benin, along with more than 2,000 registered fans and over 600 completed sessions.
Payments run through local rails including M-Pesa, MTN MoMo and bank transfers in each market. The platform combines booking, video calls and payouts in one place, removing the need to stitch together several tools. Every creator is manually approved, sessions are recorded with consent, and clear rules protect both sides against no-shows or disputes.
Over the next year the team plans to add South Africa and Egypt, form partnerships with talent agencies and creator networks, launch native mobile apps, introduce digital product sales, and expand group room capacity. The goal remains simple: build payments and monetisation infrastructure designed specifically for African creators from the ground up rather than adapting systems built elsewhere.
