These three Nigerian creators Soliudeen Ogunsola, Gbadebo Bello, and Ajibola Akelebe have actively created digital content that people have used globally. Soliudeen Ogunsola is a product designer who writes down his design ideas, creates design templates, and publishes them online. Gbadebo Bello, a software engineer, expresses himself as well as the entire technical approach in his articles, which thousands of people have read. Finally, Ajibola Akelebe regards himself as a creative Visual and Brand Designer who has earned his stripes in the creation of digital content. These creators all had one thing in common – they all created content that reached global audiences in their respective niches. They also shared a stronger bond – the desire to monetize their creative works without their location being a restriction.

Fidia started because of the bond these three creators shared, which led to a research conducted and more creators being contacted to confirm the severity of the problem and gain a better understanding. This entire journey resulted in the creation of a long-term solution, which is now known as Fidia.

Existing Solutions

With the number of startups, tools and new creators churned out regularly, the creator economy’s exponential growth has never been in doubt. Due to the presence of startup giants building aggressively for some creators in this space, creator monetization isn’t completely alien. With “some” emphasised in the previous statement,  it begs the question of who are the creators not catered for in the creator economy, and why are these creators not catered for.

The sidelined emerging market of the creator economy

One thing to keep in mind is that this emerging market has not been intentionally isolated, and individuals building in this space have been generous enough to make their platform as accessible as possible. But the infrastructure on which these platforms are built is the major limitation. These structures unintentionally exclude a larger portion of creators in emerging markets from using these monetisation tools, and because Stripe and Paypal do not operate in most parts of Africa, platforms built on these payment infrastructure exclude creators from the region. With African creators based in Africa accounting for a sizable portion of the creator economy, the next best option is to build a platform that is more generic and does not have the limitations that other platforms do. Fortunately, several platforms have emerged, but Fidia is one that could have a long-lasting impact on creators and bring about the long-awaited revolution.

Fusion, Solution and Revolution

Recall the bond shared by Soliudeen Ogunsola, Gbadebo Bello, and Ajibola Akelebe – the desire to monetize their creative works without their location being a restriction. There was a fusion of interest amongst the three founders which led to the design of Fidia, Soliudeen Ogunsola, the Chief Executive Officer, described Fidia as “a one-stop shop for creators to make money from what they love doing”.

“Imagine a place where creators can monetize their passion” Soliudeen inferred, “That’s Fidia!”. Gbadebo Bello, the CTO and co-founder of Fidia, stated explicitly in an article, that “Fidia provides creators with a suite of toolkits aimed at empowering them.” and that “Fidia’s goal is to help creators make a living from their work.”

These statements bring us to the solutions provided by Fidia, which consist of unique offerings that address most of the challenges faced by creators.

• The possibility of creators receiving payment and financial support from anywhere in the world, irrespective of the creator’s geographic location, with the introduction of Fidia payment links.
• The ability of creators to create a one-page link-in bio website that allows them to quickly create an instant portfolio of their creative work. Fidia named this feature “The creator profile” which is designed to accommodate creators’ diverse interests and fan bases while also allowing them to showcase all of this in the most creative way possible.
• Allowing creators to support one another is another way to foster relationships among creators, Fidia successfully hacked this with the transfer feature, which is solely for cash transfers between Fidia creators.
• Selling digital products as a means of monetization on the platform provides creators with a way to not only showcase their work but also earn money while doing so.

Fidia intends not only to provide tools for creators, but also to investigate other avenues of support for creators and their creative businesses. With major plans in the works to financially support creators, these offerings are only the beginning of what this organisation has in store for the future. Though the founders’ hopes for the creator economy have not been realised because it is still a work in progress. We can still imagine what this revolution will look like in the coming years, with many new platforms aggressively building and Fidia taking a step further into not just building for creators to earn money but also for them to showcase their creative works and grow their creative businesses. This clearly demonstrates that no level of creator is left out, and that the platform is as inclusive as possible. It is safe to say that the creator economy’s future is bright, and that the long-awaited revolution may be just around the corner.

To find out more about Fidia, send an email at support@getfidia.com or visit https://getfidia.com/You can also follow @getfidia on Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook.