How One Nigerian Startup Is Building the Missing Infrastructure for African Storytellers
When conversations turn to the future of Nollywood, they usually revolve around bigger budgets, international streaming platforms, or blockbuster box office numbers. Less frequently discussed are the systems that exist before a single frame is shot — the nfrastructure that helps stories move from a writer’s laptop to a producer’s desk. For many screenwriters, that journey remains one of the industry’s least structured processes.
A writer may spend months developing a screenplay, polishing dialogue, refining character arcs, and rewriting entire acts, only to discover that selling the script is more challenging than writing it. Producers, on the other hand, often depend on personal networks, referrals, or trusted collaborators to source material, leaving countless scripts unseen despite their quality. This disconnect is one of the quieter inefficiencies within Africa’s creative economy. It is also the problem Nigerian startup Write Worth hopes to address.
Looking Beyond the Finished Film Most technology serving the entertainment industry focuses on distribution, streaming, ticketing, or audience engagement. Comparatively few startups have concentrated on the earliest stage of filmmaking: connecting writers with the people looking for stories. Write Worth enters the market with a simple premise — that discovering a screenplay should not depend solely on who a writer knows. The platform provides a digital marketplace where writers can showcase their screenplays while enabling producers, studios, investors, and buyers to discover projects based on their interests. Beyond listings, the platform incorporates features intended to support more professional transactions, including secure communication, legal documentation, workflow management, and tools designed specifically for screenplay commerce. Rather than attempting to become another streaming company or production studio, Write Worth focuses on strengthening one of the industry’s foundational layers.
Building for a Growing Creative Economy Africa’s creative industries are expanding rapidly. Nollywood continues to attract international attention, streaming services have increased investment in African productions, and audiences are demonstrating growing demand for original local stories. Yet despite these advances, much of the industry’s commercial infrastructure remains fragmented. In many sectors, infrastructure evolves quietly before industries experience significant growth. Financial technology simplified payments. E-commerce standardized online shopping. Logistics platforms improved product delivery. Creative industries are beginning a similar transition. “The conversation around African storytelling has matured,” says Ariko Fuludu Onome, founder of Write Worth. “The question is no longer whether Africa has stories worth telling. The question is whether we have built the systems that allow great stories to be discovered, protected, and commercialized.” His observation reflects a broader shift in entrepreneurial thinking — one that views technology not as a replacement for creativity, but as an enabler of creative business. Solving Business Problems for Creative People Screenwriting has traditionally been treated as a creative pursuit first and a commercial activity second. That perspective has often left writers navigating negotiations, intellectual property concerns, pricing, and buyer discovery with limited institutional support. Write Worth’s approach suggests that these challenges deserve dedicated solutions rather than informal workarounds.
The platform is being developed with features aimed at supporting every stage of a screenplay transaction — from discovery and bidding to agreements, communication, and digital workflow tools. It also incorporates artificial intelligence to assist writers with screenplay analysis and development, reflecting a growing interest in using AI to improve creative processes rather than replace them. For producers, the goal is efficiency. For writers, the objective is visibility and greater confidence that their work can reach legitimate buyers through a structured environment. Building with Writers in Mind Behind the platform are co-founders Ariko Fuludu Onome and Bester Waribo, whose backgrounds combine creative ambition with technical execution. Rather than approaching the market from the perspective of investors seeking another software opportunity, the founders describe their work as an attempt to solve problems they observed within the creative community itself. Co-founder Waribo has focused on translating those observations into scalable technology, while Onome has emphasized the broader vision of creating an ecosystem where writers receive the same level of professional infrastructure that entrepreneurs in other industries increasingly expect. Together, they argue that strengthening the earliest stages of film development ultimately benefits everyone involved in the production process. A Long-Term Vision
The founders are realistic about the scale of the challenge. No single platform can transform an industry overnight. Issues such as financing, copyright enforcement, professional training, and market adoption require collaboration across government, private enterprise, industry associations, and creative professionals. Yet every mature industry begins by addressing individual bottlenecks. For Write Worth, screenplay discovery represents one of those bottlenecks. If writers can present their work professionally, buyers can evaluate projects more efficiently, and transactions can occur within clearer commercial frameworks, the industry benefits regardless of which individual stories are ultimately produced. Infrastructure Often Goes Unnoticed The most important technologies are often the least visible.
Consumers rarely think about payment gateways while making purchases or logistics software while receiving deliveries. Those systems become valuable precisely because they remove friction from everyday transactions. Creative infrastructure follows the same principle. When writers spend less time searching for opportunities and more time creating, and when producers spend less time searching for scripts and more time developing films, the entire ecosystem becomes more productive. Whether platforms like Write Worth become central to Nollywood’s future remains to be seen. What is increasingly clear, however, is that Africa’s creative economy will require more than talent alone. It will require the infrastructure capable of turning creative potential into sustainable opportunity.