By Jacob Winiecki

Africa’s film and television industry is exploding. Beyond the usual suspect, Nigeria’s Nollywood, the world’s second-largest film producer, creative hubs in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa are gaining international attention. With global demand for African content on the rise, the continent’s creative sector has the potential to be a major engine of job creation.

A fragmented industry that shuts out emerging talent

But behind the buzz and flurry of activity is a fragmented industry that struggles with infrastructure gaps, high production costs, and limited access to earning opportunities for most young African talent. Creatives face a maze of disconnected service providers (scouts, caterers, crew members, light technicians, etc), and struggle to break through into larger formal films. Meanwhile, production companies spend weeks coordinating logistics like locations, crew, and compliance. These frictions slow down projects, inflate costs, and shut out emerging talent—especially women and creatives based outside of major cities.

At Jobtech Alliance, we believe Africa’s creative sector holds immense potential not just for global storytelling but for unlocking meaningful work across the continent. If we want the continent’s creative economy to truly thrive, it needs platforms that connect talent, reduce the aforementioned frictions, and unlock new income-generating pathways. That’s why we backed Filmmakers Mart.

Providing a full-stack solution for Africa’s film industry

Filmmakers Mart (FMM) is building the connective tissue the industry has long needed. It began as a service-matching platform, helping production companies book everything from filming locations and logistics to catering and permits. But it’s quickly growing into a critical infrastructure layer for Africa’s film industry. FMM is building for the semi-formal, project-based, cash-sensitive, mobile-first realities of the African context.

FMM facilitated over $4.8 million in gross services in 2024 and enabled over 200 creatives to earn through its platform. It is currently on the path to $12 million by the end of 2025. Nearly 75% of clients come back for repeat services, and household names like Netflix, Apple TV, and ShowMax are now using the platform for African shoots. 

What drew us to FMM was the ambition to build a full-stack solution for Africa’s entertainment ecosystem. The company is now expanding into areas that go beyond matchmaking. It is developing a payroll and royalty management tool built specifically for project-based entertainment work. From instant payments to industry-compliant tax deductions, it’s solving a problem traditional payroll systems can’t handle. It is also launching a network of purpose-built film sets and post-production facilities designed to slash production costs and keep more creative work on the continent.

Of relevance is also the fact that while AI tools may augment post-production, the core of filmmaking remains fundamentally human. It requires physical presence, on-the-ground problem-solving, and interpersonal skills that won’t be easily automated. The jobs FMM facilitates from location scouting to catering and directing deeply depend on artistry, human interaction and contextual understanding. By strengthening the infrastructure for the on-the-ground, collaborative elements of production, FMM reinforces an ecosystem where human creativity and physical execution remain critical assets.

And on the digital side, FMM is  building a new creative talent marketplace a many-to-many hiring platform for video editors, cinematographers, directors, and other professionals. This will make it possible for any production company to hire across borders, and for freelance creatives to get discovered far beyond their city or country. Together, these tools are setting the stage for something much bigger: a connected, affordable, Africa-first production infrastructure.

Why we invested

Our investment in FMM aligns closely with Jobtech Alliance’s broader vision of job creation through technology. The company is solving a real, well-defined problem: how to reduce the friction that slows down African film production and limits access to work within the growing film industry. It’s also doing something that global platforms have failed to do: designing for the realities of African markets. 

FMM is a jobtech company at its core. Every project creates work for location scouts, set designers, equipment providers, and other freelance creatives. As it grows, we believe FMM will catalyze thousands of new jobs across the creative sector, especially in underrepresented areas like post-production and technical services.

FMM is positioned to become the operating system for creative production across Africa. This vision has attracted global funding interest, with IFC and Sony Ventures recently investing in the platform to help scale its impact across Africa’s creative economy. The company is expanding into Ghana and Kenya right now, with South Africa next. There are plans to build out post-production hubs that keep more creative work local, while growing the continent’s technical capacity.