“In Africa, most people migrate out of the continent to seek better opportunities and optionality. But what if we could bring the opportunity and optionality to them through the internet?”
In this episode with Jérémy Goillot, I share my story about moving to the US at 15 and the opportunities that became available to me as a result vs. what existed for my peers back home.
At Afropolitan Nation, we believe that a new country built on the internet will serve as a bridge for Africans and allies to move from scarcity to abundance.
The Afropolitan nation is not a group of people born in a particular geographical location being forced to unite and identify as one. Being an Afropolitan citizen means the opposite - finding community and identity with people you have shared purpose with.
Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/dRkNiMur
We’ve had citizens by birth.
We’ve had citizens by naturalization.
Now, with Afropolitan, you can be a citizen by choice.
Apply to be one of the first 500 founding citizens of Afropolitan: www.afropolitan.io/citizen
Lagos doesn’t wait for permission to create.
A city where talent is everywhere — but so are the obstacles.
In this episode of the Afropolitan Podcast, @Echecrates and @ChikaUwazie sit down with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu jidesanwoolu to unpack the realities of building within Lagos’ creative ecosystem — from the struggles creators face navigating infrastructure, funding, visibility, and sustainability, to the undeniable energy and resilience that continue to push Lagos culture onto the global stage.
The conversation explores what makes Lagos a breeding ground for world-class artists, storytellers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and innovators — and what still needs to change for the city to fully realize its potential as a global creative capital.
They also discuss how young creatives can better position themselves within the ecosystem, collaborate, adapt, and create opportunities despite the challenges.
Because for many Lagosians, creativity is more than expression. It’s survival. It’s identity. And increasingly, it’s one of Nigeria’s strongest exports.
🎥 Filmed at the National Theater in collaboration with @lens4good
Watch the full episode now — link in bio.
#AfropolitanPodcast #Lagos #LagosCreatives #NigerianCreatives GovernorSanwoOlu CreativeEconomy AfricanCreatives Nollywood Afrobeats MadeInLagos LagosLife AfricanExcellence CreatorsOfAfrica LensForGood
“You purchase every lesson in your life with your life.”
My coach Haleik told me that. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
Becoming yourself costs something. Sometimes the career you built. Sometimes the approval you craved. Sometimes years you can’t get back.
Miles Davis put it another way: “Sometimes you have to play a long time before you get to play like yourself.”
Before you get to be yourself, you have to be what they need you to be. The good student. The reliable employee. The one who doesn’t make waves.
Eni Popoola felt this. Harvard. Columbia Law. Big Law. $200K salary.
Five months in, she asked herself: “How long are we going to wait until we get to do the things we actually want to do?”
She stopped waiting.
The question isn’t whether there’s a price.
There’s always a price.
The question is whether you’ll pay it—or spend your whole life performing for an audience that will never let you be yourself.
What have you sacrificed to become who you are?
🎧 Full conversation with Eni Popoola on the Afropolitan Podcast. Link in bio.
From podcasting in living rooms to sitting across from the Governor of Lagos State.
At the @lens4good Storytellers Conference at the National Theater, we got to chop it up with Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu about culture, heritage, and the weight creators carry when telling Africa’s stories.
Grateful doesn’t even cover it.
@chikauwazie@echecrates@nosasemota@ayo.ade.dayo
My grandmother passed last year.
I didn’t have time to grieve. She was one of the first people I’d ever lost. So I kept moving.
Months later, the weight hit me.
Not just that she was gone. But that so much left with her. No memoir. No archive. No documentation. Just memory — scattered and fading.
Then I realized: this isn’t just my story.
We are a people with collective amnesia. Not because we forgot on purpose. But because no one built the vessel to carry what mattered across time.
Our grandmothers held everything. The recipes. The rituals. The stories that explained who we were before the world told us who to become.
They were the archive before there were archives.
And when they leave — if we haven’t built the infrastructure — it leaves with them.
That’s why we made AUNTYs.
@anthonyazekwoh sculpted the aunty in bronze, marble dust, and fiberglass. Not as decoration. As correction.
200 sculptures. Application only.
Link in bio to apply for stewardship.
What did your grandmother carry that you wish had been preserved?
Auntys.
For almost a year we’ve been working on smaller sculptures, some that you can hold and feel. Some that are made in our home, Nigeria. I’m happy to announce that with @afropolitanpodcast@echecrates@chikauwazie , that dream is now a reality.
200 limited edition sculptures available now.
Apply to buy in bio 🤍
This isn’t just David’s story.
It’s the story so many of us quietly carry:
The parent who waited for you to come home “after you settle.”
The uncle who kept asking when you’d visit.
The grandma who never got to see the version of you she spent her whole life watering.
We all think we have time… until time answers back.
And I’m genuinely curious — not to perform, but to understand:
Whose dream are you trying to fulfill before you pick up the phone?
What’s the one call, one message, one visit you’ve been delaying, and why?
Be honest.
Drop it in the comments.
The rarest skill in leadership? Reading the unspoken.
Alexa didn’t hear “make me a global star.”
She heard “let me be the prophet of the streets.”
While everyone else was trying to translate Asake for the world, she made the world learn his language.
Sometimes the most valuable person in your corner isn’t the one with the biggest network. It’s the one who protects the dream you’re too afraid to voice.
Follow @theafropolitanpodcast for more stories of those who see what others miss.
@mrmoney@alexaraeperks
