The Business of Passion: Tech, Equity, and the Next Era of African Sports & Entertainment

The Business of Passion: Tech, Equity, and the Next Era of African Sports & Entertainment panel session with Muthoni Drummer Queen, Artist and Culture Entrepreneur at Goodtimes Africa, Ojoma Ochai, Managing Director at CcHUB, Marcel Awori, Chief of Staff at Twende Sports and Nairobi City Thunder, Peng Chen,Co-Founder and CEO of Hustle Sasa and Delvin “Savara” Mudigi, Grammy Certified Artist & Cultural Entrepreneur at. Sol Group.

Panelists from across music, sports, and tech unpack what it actually takes to scale Africa’s creative economy beyond passion alone – pointing to gaps in payment systems, logistics, and travel infrastructure that still limit artists and entrepreneurs from meeting fan demand across the continent. The conversation moves from Nairobi City Thunder’s growth from 2,000 to over 250,000 fans through data-driven engagement, to how AI tools are cutting production time and giving African creatives sharper strategic insight – while also warning that African IP is routinely undervalued in global deals, making timing and control critical when partnering or selling.

The panel lands on a broader point about how creative businesses actually scale: real governance, professional systems, and market-specific regulatory knowledge matter as much as creativity itself, and expansion across African markets rarely follows a single playbook. Threaded through it all is a call to protect mental health and take a long-term view, since burnout is as much a threat to sustainable creative businesses as any infrastructure gap.

Highlights include
🎵 Gaps in payment systems, logistics, and travel infrastructure limit African creators’ ability to scale despite strong demand.
🏀 Nairobi City Thunder shows how sport can be a platform for youth development, merchandising, and broader social impact — not just the game itself.
📊 Moving from transactional CRMs to full data intelligence platforms helps live events and festivals manage volatile cash flow and grow sustainably.
🤖 AI tools are cutting production time and giving African creatives sharper strategic insight — and the panel urges building AI tools, not just using them.
📈 Nairobi City Thunder grew its fan base from 2,000 to over 250,000 through data-driven fan engagement.
💡 African IP is routinely undervalued in global deals — knowing when to hold or partner is key to preserving long-term value.
🌍 Scaling across African markets takes country-specific regulatory and economic knowledge, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
🧠 Protecting mental health — through rest, hobbies, and community — is treated as essential to sustaining long-term entrepreneurial ambition.

Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2026 celebrated its 8th edition on February 11th and 12th at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi. Bringing together leading industry players the summit explored the latest trends and insights in technology and business across Africa and beyond.

From keynotes to dynamic panel discussions, the summit explored groundbreaking topics across four flagship tracks: the Africa Money & DeFi Summit, Africa Climate Tech & Investment Summit, Africa Startup Summit, and Africa AI & Digital Summit. Attendees immersed themselves in the latest trends, shared ideas, and discovered cutting-edge innovations that are redefining Africa’s tech landscape.