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The Nehemiah Project has launched a 12-week mentorship programme aimed at developing ethically grounded creatives capable of building sustainable careers and enterprises while contributing to Nigeria’s cultural identity and creative economy.
The sector-focused initiative will pair emerging creatives in Nigeria’s entertainment industry with experienced professionals based on their areas of interest, career aspirations, experience, and development needs.
Speaking on the initiative, Eniola Akinbo, a singer and an actress, said the project was designed in response to direct conversations with young creatives seeking guidance, access, and professional support.
She said: “We are not simply creating a programme and asking people to fit into it; we are responding to needs that already exist within the creative community.”
She said the programme is also community-driven, providing a stronger structure for safeguarding, accountability, and professional development as mentors and mentees operate within a wider network.
Eniola, who is also a filmmaker, said human capital development was a shared responsibility, adding that stakeholders must be willing to contribute to building the next generation of creative talent.
Eniola noted that art, film, music, and storytelling go beyond entertainment, as they shape culture, influence how a nation sees itself, and contribute to Nigeria’s economic and cultural influence.
“Nigeria has the talent. What we need is to develop that talent intentionally. The Nehemiah Project is our response,” she said.
She explained that the initiative would help young creatives develop not only their artistic abilities but, also, the professionalism, discipline, and industry knowledge required to build sustainable careers.
“By 2050, one in every four people on the planet is projected to be African. We have a responsibility to prepare the people who will shape that future,” she said, while calling on senior industry professionals, institutions, and potential partners to support the initiative.
A Global Communication and Partnerships Strategist, Maliz Mahop, said storytelling was a powerful tool for shaping culture, influencing generations, and determining how nations see themselves and are perceived globally.
She said the Nehemiah Project grew out of discussions around how Nigeria could intentionally develop its creative talent and equip emerging professionals to use their influence with excellence, purpose and integrity.
At the centre of the programme, Mahop said, is a structured 12-week mentorship journey in which emerging creatives would be paired with experienced professionals.
Participants, she said, would learn how to navigate the industry, build professional relationships, understand the business side of their craft, develop discipline, protect their work, manage opportunities, and create sustainable value from their creativity.
“Our mentorship pipeline model is for 12 weeks where we’ll take the creatives from talent to professionalism and from professionalism to national assets,” she said.
Mahop disclosed that the longer-term vision included an academy, accommodation, and learning infrastructure where creatives from across Nigeria and, eventually, Africa could live, learn, collaborate, and develop their craft in a structured environment.
She said achieving the vision would require the involvement of mentors, institutions, investors, industry, professionals, technology partners and other organisations.
Also speaking, Shawn Faqua, an actor and filmmaker, said many of the achievements in Nigeria’s creative industry were built at a time when adequate systems and infrastructure were lacking.
He said the pioneers of the industry created platforms, took risks, and continued working despite limited resources and uncertainty about the industry’s future.
“We recognise their excellence, their resilience, and the price they had to pay to build something that did not yet exist. We say thank you,” he said.
He said the next generation should inherit the wisdom of those who built the industry without necessarily inheriting the hardships they experienced. He said the Nehemiah Project would leverage artificial intelligence and data to strengthen the creative ecosystem, noting that a major challenge in the industry was the lack of structured experiential and numerical data.
“This makes it harder to understand the sector, measure growth, identify gaps, and design effective interventions. It also makes it more difficult for investors and institutions to properly understand where opportunities exist,” he said.
Shawn explained that the project was developing a technology-enabled system that would use AI-assisted matching to identify areas of compatibility between mentors and mentees, while retaining human oversight in the final matching process.
He stressed that technology would support, rather than replace, the human relationship at the heart of mentorship.
Head of Business, Lifestyle and Entertainment, T2 Mobile, Eliora Ebere, who works at the intersection of content distribution, monetisation, business, and the creative sector, said Nigeria has exceptional creative talent, but needed stronger structures around that talent.
She urged mentors and industry leaders to bring their experience, networks, and access to the next generation, while encouraging emerging creatives to approach the programme with a willingness to learn and grow.
She also called on institutions, brands, government agencies, funders and investors to support the development of systems, opportunities, technology, and infrastructure required for African creative talent to thrive.
Ebere described the Nehemiah Project as more than a 12-week mentorship programme, saying it was intended to become a sustainable pipeline for African creative talent by bringing together mentorship, technology, institutional support, and marketplace opportunities.
On the wider economic significance of the initiative, Eniola said Nigeria’s creative sector was not only a cultural force but, also, an economic and export asset.
She noted that government figures put the creative economy’s contribution at about 2.3 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and said it supports more than four million people.
She also cited UN Trade and Development estimates that creative services exports reached $1.7 trillion globally in 2024, accounting for about 20 percent of global services trade.
She said the challenge was, therefore, no longer simply identifying Nigeria’s creative talent but developing the skills, professional systems and businesses needed to turn that talent into sustainable careers and globally competitive enterprises.
She said the project aims to mentor and upskill at least 100 career creatives by the end of the year, creating pathways for improved employability, career progression, and sustainable creative enterprises.
The programme also seeks to promote higher standards of creative output, with emphasis on excellence, responsibility, values, national identity, and cultural contribution.
Eniola said success would not be measured only by the number of participants who complete the programme but, also, by their ability to progress professionally, build businesses, connect with experienced mentors, and contribute to solving challenges within the creative industry.
She disclosed that the initiative was initially funded through personal and community-generated resources, but is now seeking grants, investments, sponsorships, and institutional partnerships across technology, education, media, finance, and the creative industries.
The organisers also plan to maintain engagement with participants beyond the initial 12 weeks through networks, opportunities, follow-up support, and an alumni community.
Participants will further be encouraged to “pay it forward” by supporting or mentoring another person for at least three months after completing the programme.
The organisers said the ultimate objective was to move creatives from individual talent to sustainable professional practices, businesses, production companies, and other creative enterprises capable of creating lasting economic and cultural value.
