TECHNOLOGY
Google AI summaries are ruining the livelihoods of recipe writers: ‘It’s an extinction event’ | Technology
This past March, when Google began rolling out its AI Mode search capability, it began offering AI-generated recipes. The recipes were not all that intelligent. The AI had taken elements of similar recipes from multiple creators and Frankensteined them into something barely recognizable. In one memorable case, the Google AI failed to distinguish the satirical website the Onion from legitimate recipe sites and advised users to cook with non-toxic glue.
Over the past few years, bloggers who have not secured their sites behind a paywall have seen their carefully developed and tested recipes show up, often without attribution and in a bastardized form, in ChatGPT replies. They have seen dumbed-down versions of their recipes in AI-assembled cookbooks available for digital downloads on Etsy or on AI-built websites that bear a superficial resemblance to an old-school human-written blog. Their photos and videos, meanwhile, are repurposed in Facebook posts and Pinterest pins that link back to this digital slop.
Recipe writers have no legal recourse because recipes generally are not copyrightable. Although copyright protects published or recorded work, they do not cover sets of instructions (although it can apply to the particular wording of those instructions).
Without this essential IP, many food bloggers earn their living by offering their work for free while using ads to make money. But now they fear that casual users who rely on search engines or social media to find a recipe for dinner will conflate their work with AI slop and stop trusting online recipe sites altogether.
“There are a lot of people that are scared to even talk about what’s going on because it is their livelihood,” says Jim Delmage who, with his wife, Tara, runs the blog and YouTube channel Sip and Feast.
Matt Rodbard, the founder and editor-in-chief of the website Taste, is even more pessimistic. Taste used to publish recipes more frequently, but now it mostly focuses on journalism and a podcast (which Rodbard hosts). “For websites that depend on the advertising model,” he says, “I think this is an extinction event in many ways.”
The holiday season is traditionally when food bloggers earn most of their ad revenue. For many, this year has been slower than usual. One blogger, Carrie Forrest of Clean Eating Kitchen, told Bloomberg that in the past two years, she has lost 80% of her traffic.
[People are] absolutely trusting in the [search] results that are getting thrown in their facesKaren Tedesco
Others, like Delmage and Karen Tedesco, the author of the blog Familystyle Food, say their numbers, and ad revenue, have remained steady – so far. They attribute this to focusing their energies less on trying to game the search engines than on the long-term goal of attracting regular followers – and, in Delmage’s case, viewers.
Tedesco’s strategy has been to create recipes that rely on her experience and technical knowhow honed by years in restaurant kitchens and as a personal chef. Her Italian meatball recipe, for example, based on her mother’s, includes advice about which meat to use, an explanation of why milk-soaked breadcrumbs are essential for texture, and a dozen process photos and a video.
But she is still worried about the potential impact of AI. When she recently did a Google search for “Italian meatballs”, Familystyle Food appeared as the top result. Then she switched to AI Mode. There, she found the recipe had been Frankensteined – or “synthesized” as Gemini put it – into a new recipe with nine other sources (including Sip and Feast and a Washington Post recipe for Greek meatballs). The AI-generated recipe was little more than a list of ingredients and six basic steps with none of the details that make Tedesco’s recipe unique.
AI Mode linked to all 10 recipes, including Tedesco’s, but, she says, “I don’t think many people are actually clicking on the source links. At this point, they’re absolutely trusting in the results that are getting thrown in their faces.”
Other bloggers have seen a more definite impact on their viewership. Adam Gallagher, who runs Inspired Taste with his wife, Joanne, and who has become an outspoken critic of AI on social media, told the podcast Marketing O’Clock that since spring, he has noticed that while the number of times viewers saw links to the site on Google has increased, the number of actual site visitors has decreased. This indicates, to him, that users are satisfied with the search engine’s AI interpretation of Inspired Taste’s recipes.
[With] so many pop-up windows and so much crashing, we kind of lost as publishersMatt Rodbard
After the Gallaghers posted about the discrepancy on X and Instagram, a number of readers replied to say they had not realized there was a difference between the recipes on the blog and the version that showed up in Google searches. They had just appreciated the convenience of not having to click on another website, especially when Google’s page design was so clean and uncluttered.
Rodbard acknowledges that many food blogs have gotten ugly and overloaded with ads, which has exacerbated the problem. “Ad tech on these recipe blogs has gotten so bad, so many pop-up windows and so much crashing, we kind of lost as publishers,” he says.
According to Tom Critchlow, the EVP of audience growth at Raptive, a media company that works with many food bloggers to find advertisers, it isn’t ads that are driving viewers away. It’s Google itself, with its changes to the algorithm and now with AI Mode, that’s making the sites harder to find.
There is some hope though: a survey of 3,000 US adults commissioned by Raptive showed that the more interaction people had with AI, the less they wanted to engage with it, and nearly half the respondents rated AI content less trustworthy than content made by a human.
Food bloggers are now feeling the pressure to move to a subscription model to stay afloat; ‘If I were to give up my website or even try to go over to Substack, I would be broke,’ says Lauren Tedesco. Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images
But unless the public rebels against AI Mode, there is only so much bloggers can do. They can block OpenAI’s training crawler, which gathers information that ChatGPT uses to create content, including its own recipe generator, but theyare not necessarily willing to make themselves invisible to web searches; as Delmage puts it: “You can’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
There is also the option of moving over to a subscription model, such as Substack or Patreon, and keeping the recipes behind a paywall, but both Tedesco and Delmage point out that the most successful Substackers, like Caroline Chambers or David Lebovitz, came to the platform with much more substantial followings than they have. “If I were to give up my website or even try to go over to Substack, I would be broke,” Tedesco says.
Rodbard suggests that the analog version of the recipe blog, the cookbook, might be due for a comeback. Cookbooks, after all, offer the same experience of spending time and learning from a trusted source, and it’s likely the recipes have been tested. As a bonus, unlike phones or laptops, they don’t go dark when you neglect them for too long and you can splash tomato sauce on them without inflicting permanent damage. According to the market research firm Circana (formerly BookScan), sales of baking cookbooks are up 80% this year, but other areas have been relatively flat.
But AI bots are stealing from published cookbooks, too. When Meta was training its own AI, it compiled thousands of books into a dataset called Library Genesis (LibGen). Now unscrupulous publishers have raided LibGen and repackaged some of the books into dupes, which they are selling on Amazon.
As more people become aware of the amount of AI slop on the internet and how to identify it, Critchlow believes they will develop a greater appreciation for content produced by humans. “People will ultimately place a higher premium on being able to know that these recipes have been tested and made by somebody that I follow or somebody I respect or somebody that I like,” he says.
The recipe creators themselves are not so sure. “I’m putting my faith in that there’s always going to be a segment of people who really want to learn something,” Tedesco says. But as for the business of blogging itself, “it’s like a rolling tide. It’s always up and down and you have to roll with it and adapt.”
Even three years after the generative AI boom started, most AI startups are still making money by selling to businesses, not individual consumers.
Although consumers quickly adopted general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, most specialized consumer GenAI applications have yet to resonate.
“A lot of early AI applications around video, audio, and photo were super cool,” said Chi-Hua Chien, co-founder and managing partner at Goodwater Capital, on stage at a TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in early December. “But then Sora and Nano Banana came out, and the Chinese open-sourced their video models. And so, a lot of those opportunities disappeared.”
Chien compares some of those applications to the simple flashlight, which was initially a popular third-party download after the iPhone launched in 2008 but was quickly integrated into iOS itself.
He argued that, just as it took a few years for the smartphone platform to solidify before game-changing consumer apps emerged, AI platforms need a similar period of “stabilization” for lasting AI consumer products to flourish.
“I think we’re right on the cusp of the equivalent to mobile of the 2009 -2010 era,” Chien said. That period was the birth of massive mobile-first consumer businesses like Uber and Airbnb.
We could be seeing inklings of that stabilization with Google’s Gemini reaching technological parity with ChatGPT, Chien said.
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Elizabeth Weil, founder and partner at Scribble Ventures, echoed Chien’s sentiment about the early days of GenAI, describing the current state of consumer AI applications as being in an “awkward teenage middle ground.”
What will it take for consumer AI startups to grow up? Possibly a new device beyond the smartphone.
“It’s unlikely that a device that you pick up 500 times a day but only sees 3% to 5% of what you see is going to be what ultimately introduces the use cases that take full advantage of AI’s capabilities,” Chien said.
Weil agreed that a smartphone may be too limiting for reimagining consumer AI products in large part because it is not ambient. “I don’t think we’re going to be building for this in five years,” she said, indicating her iPhone as she showed it to the audience.
Startups and incumbent tech companies have been racing to build a new personal device that can supplant smartphones.
OpenAI and Apple’s former design chief, Jonny Ive, are working on what’s rumored to be a “screenless,” pocket-sized device. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are controlled by a wristband that detects subtle gestures. Meanwhile, a number of startups are trying, with often disappointing results, to introduce a pin, pendant, or ring that uses AI in a way different from how smartphones do.
However, not every AI consumer product will be dependent on a new device. Chien suggested that one such offering could be a personal AI financial adviser customized to the user’s specific needs. Similarly, Weil anticipates that a personalized, “always-on” tutor will become ubiquitous, with its specialized tutelage delivered directly from a smartphone.
Though excited by AI’s potential, Weil and Chien expressed skepticism about the emergence of several, still-stealthy AI-powered social network startups. Chien said these companies are building networks where thousands of AI bots are interacting with the user’s content.
“It turns social into a single-player game. I’m not sure that it works,” he said. “The reason that people enjoy social networking is the understanding that there are real humans on the other side.”
Disney’s three-year licensing partnership with OpenAI includes just one of exclusivity, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC. The company signed the partnership with OpenAI last week that will bring its iconic characters to the AI firm’s Sora video generator. Once that exclusive year is up, Disney is free to sign similar deals with other AI companies.
The deal gives OpenAI a high-profile content partner, allowing users to draw on more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars to create content on Sora. For now, it’s the only AI platform that’s legally permitted to do so.
For Disney, the deal offers a way to test the waters with generative AI and its intellectual property, letting the company assess how its partnership with OpenAI goes before pursuing additional agreements.
“No human generation has ever stood in the way of technological advance, and we don’t intend to try,” Iger told CNBC. “We’ve always felt that if it’s going to happen, including disruption of our current business models, then we should get on board.”
Tellingly, the same day that Disney announced its deal with OpenAI, the company sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google, alleging that the tech giant has infringed on its copyrights. Google didn’t confirm or deny Disney’s allegations but did say it will “engage” with the company.
Thousands of Americans are under a life-threatening flash flood warning after a dam failed in Washington on Monday.
County dispatch reported the breach of the Green River Levee, south of Seattle, prompting the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue an alert at 11.51am PT.
A dozen counties, including Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom, should brace for flooding over the next several days.
These counties cover much of the Puget Sound region and the Olympic Peninsula, placing thousands of residents on high alert.
The NWS urged locals to move to higher ground immediately, warning: ‘Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.’
Residents and businesses east of the Green River in the Orillia area in Tukwila, Renton and Kent are under a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation notice. People in that area should go north or south, officials said.
The NWS said over 46,000 people could be impacted, along with two schools and one hospital.
Officials believe the levee failure is tied to days of intense rainfall, with another round of heavy rain expected Monday that could bring up to 12 inches in some areas.
County dispatch reported the failure of the Green River Levee. Pictured is flooding in the area on December 15
A drone view shows an area flooded by the Green River, after multiple atmospheric rivers brought rain and flooding to the Pacific Northwest, in Kent, WA
The NWS said flash flooding is already underway and described the damage threat as ‘considerable.’
‘In coordination with King County, we have issued a FLASH FLOOD WARNING for a levee breach in Tukwila, WA, near Todd Blvd. Water is likely moving north toward I-405,’ the agency said in a post on X.
According to KIRO 7, about 1,100 residents received emergency notifications urging them to move to higher ground.
The region is also being impacted by a Pineapple Express, a storm system carrying warm, moisture-laden air from near Hawaii.
AccuWeather meteorologists said steady rain will focus on higher terrain, particularly the Olympic Mountains, Coastal Range and Cascades, with two to four inches expected and a Local StormMax™ of 12 inches on windward slopes.
Additional rainfall on already saturated ground raises the risk of mudslides and worsening runoff through midweek.
Multiple rivers in western Washington are already experiencing minor to moderate flooding, with forecasts calling for further rises.
‘Several inches of additional rain this week, on top of last week’s totals, can lead to renewed major flooding,’ AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Duffus said, ‘including on rivers that recently crested at record levels.’
The dam failure was likely caused by the intense rainfall Washington has received over the last few days, as the state is experiencing another round on Monday that could see up to 12 inches
A drone view shows an area flooded by the Green River, after multiple atmospheric rivers brought rain and flooding
He added that rivers may take several days to crest even after the rain tapers off.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said: ‘Expect multiple, rapid rounds of moderate to major flooding of the short-run rivers in the higher and intermediate elevations of the Cascades this week.
‘Flooding in the higher elevations can occur in a matter of a few hours. However, where these rivers reach lower, flatter terrain just above sea level, moderate to major flooding can be delayed and longer-lasting and perhaps up to a few days. Multiple crests are likely.’
An atmospheric river is a long, narrow tract of the atmosphere that gathers moisture from the tropics and sweeps it toward the poles.
The Pineapple Express is a well-known example, originating in the tropical Pacific near Hawaii.
Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli of WFLA-TV (Tampa Bay) warned on X that the storm could deliver ‘pockets of 12–18 inches of rain and flash flooding’ across the West Coast over the next two weeks.
Residents should remain vigilant through the week, as saturated ground and rising rivers will prolong the risk of floods and landslides even after the storm moves on.
AI’s impact on our social media feeds has not gone unnoticed by one of America’s top dictionaries. Amidst the onslaught of content that has swept the web over the past twelve months, Merriam-Webster announced Sunday that its word of the year for 2025 is “slop.”
The dictionary defines the term as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
“Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything,” the dictionary writes, adding that, in an age of AI anxiety, it is a term designed to communicate “a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking” of the technology.
“It’s such an illustrative word,” Merriam-Webster’s president, Greg Barlow, told The Associated Press. “It’s part of a transformative technology, AI, and it’s something that people have found fascinating, annoying, and a little bit ridiculous.”
The word “slop” has certainly been everywhere this year, as journalists and commentators have sought to describe the ways in which platforms like OpenAI’s Sora and Google Gemini’s Veo are transforming the internet. Thanks to this new breed of media generator, there are now AI-generated books, podcasts, pop songs, TV commercials—even entire movies. One study in May claimed that nearly 75 percent of all new web content from the previous month had involved some kind of AI.
These new tools have even led to what has been dubbed a “slop economy,” in which gluts of AI-generated content can be milked for advertising money. Critics worry that this trend is further polarizing digital communities, dividing them up into those who can afford paywalled, higher-quality content, and those who can only afford a digital diet of slop, which—as you might imagine—can be quite light on informational value.
But “slop” has also been used to describe AI’s impact on a large variety of fields that don’t have much to do with traditional media consumption, including cybersecurity reports, legal briefings, and the college essay, among other things. Its impact is broad, to say the least.
Relatedly, tech words have been big winners in the WOTY (word of the year) category this year. Macquarie Dictionary already beat out Merriam-Webster to make “AI slop” its annual term, while Oxford Dictionary chose “ragebait.” Collins Dictionary went with “vibe coding.”
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki / Unsplash
AI tools entered the market with an almost irresistible promise. They would save time, reduce effort, and amplify human capability.
For a while, that promise seemed real. Teams rushed to adopt writing assistants, chatbots, image generators, and coding copilots. Productivity demos looked impressive. Adoption numbers climbed.
Then something unexpected happened.
A quiet but decisive shift is now underway. The market is moving away from standalone AI tools and toward workflow-first products. The companies that recognize this shift early will define the next phase of AI adoption.
The Move From Standalone AI Tools to Workflow-First Products
The limitation of most AI tools is not intelligence. It is isolation. They solve a task, then stop. Real work, however, does not stop at task completion. It moves forward through a sequence of steps, decisions, and handoffs.
This is where workflow-first products enter the picture.
What a workflow-first AI product actually looks like
Workflow-first products share a few defining traits. They are deeply integrated into existing tools and processes. They understand context across multiple steps. They reduce manual handoffs instead of creating new ones.
In each case, AI operates across stages, not just at the beginning.
Automation versus orchestration in AI products
Many AI tools focus on automation. They replace a specific action with a faster one. This is useful, but limited.
Workflow-first products focus on orchestration. They coordinate how multiple actions fit together. Orchestration reduces friction between steps, ensures continuity, and preserves context as work moves forward.
Why Workflow-First Products Are Winning Long Term
Workflow-first products outperform standalone tools not because they are smarter, but because they are harder to abandon. Once embedded into daily operations, they become part of how work gets done.
This creates structural advantages that go far beyond feature sets.
Stronger retention through habitual usage
Products tied to workflows are used every day by default. Users do not need reminders to open them. They appear naturally at the moment work needs to happen.
Daily usage leads to:
- Higher retention rates
- Lower churn
- Deeper user dependency
Standalone tools, by contrast, rely on conscious effort to be used. When pressure rises, they are the first to be dropped.
Compounding value over time
Workflow-first systems improve as they are used. They accumulate context, learn patterns, and adapt to real-world behavior. Each interaction strengthens the system rather than starting from scratch.
Defensibility in crowded AI markets
Features are easy to replicate. Workflows are not.
A workflow-first product touches multiple systems, teams, and decision points. Replacing it means rethinking processes, retraining users, and reconfiguring integrations. That friction becomes a natural moat.
What This Shift Means for Founders and Product Builders
Workflow-first thinking flips the priorities.
Instead of asking what a new feature can do, teams must ask where it fits in the user’s day. What triggers its use. What happens before it activates. What happens after it produces an output. These questions sound simple, but they are often ignored.
Rethinking AI product roadmaps
Feature-driven roadmaps reward speed. Workflow-driven roadmaps reward coherence.
Builders who adopt a workflow-first mindset tend to:
- Ship fewer features with clearer purpose
- Invest more in integrations and continuity
- Prioritize reliability over experimentation
This often feels slower in the short term, but it produces products users trust enough to depend on.
Designing systems instead of features
System design requires restraint. It means resisting the urge to solve every problem with a new capability. Instead, it focuses on connecting existing ones more intelligently.
Well-designed systems:
- Preserve context across steps
- Reduce manual coordination
- Anticipate what users need next
When AI products behave like systems, users stop thinking about the tool and start focusing on outcomes.
Avoiding hype-driven development cycles
AI markets reward visibility, but visibility does not equal adoption. Products built around hype often optimize for novelty, not longevity.
Workflow-first teams avoid this trap by grounding decisions in usage patterns. They watch how work actually happens, where friction persists, and where AI can remove it quietly. This discipline is increasingly separating durable products from disposable ones.
Where AI Product Strategy Is Heading Next
As workflow-first thinking becomes more common, AI product strategy is evolving in predictable ways. The next generation of successful products will not be louder or flashier. They will be more specific, more embedded, and less visible.
Vertical-specific AI workflows
Generic AI tools are reaching their limits. The future lies in products designed for specific industries and functions.
Vertical workflows allow AI chat systems to:
- Understand domain-specific rules
- Integrate with specialized tools
- Deliver clearer, more measurable value
This is why AI products tailored for healthcare, legal work, finance, and operations are gaining traction faster than broad-purpose alternatives.
Invisible AI embedded into everyday processes
The most effective AI will eventually disappear into the background. Users will not interact with it directly or label it as AI. It will simply be part of how work flows.
When AI is invisible:
- Adoption increases
- Resistance drops
- Trust improves
This is the opposite of early AI marketing, but it aligns with how mature software succeeds.
Integration as the real competitive advantage
As model quality becomes more accessible, integration becomes the differentiator. Products that connect deeply with existing systems gain a lasting edge.
APIs, connectors, and interoperability are no longer technical details. They are strategic assets. In a workflow-first world, integration depth matters more than raw intelligence.
Final Thoughts
AI tools did not fail because they lacked capability. They failed because they were built as isolated solutions in a world that runs on connected processes.
The next phase of AI adoption will not be defined by smarter models alone. It will be defined by products that understand how work actually moves from one step to the next.
In 2025, workflows are no longer a feature consideration. They are the product.
Nigeria’s inflation rate has fallen from 22.22% in June to 14.45% in November 2025, representing a 7.77 percentage point drop in just six months. It’s the steepest sustained decline the country has seen in years, and it’s quietly transforming the ₦2.1 trillion digital lending industry.
For most of 2024 and early 2025, Nigeria’s digital lenders were in survival mode. Inflation was so high that Nigerians weren’t borrowing to buy appliances or expand businesses; they were borrowing just to eat.
Food inflation had soared above 40% in late 2024, forcing millions to take loans for rice, rent, and transport. By January 2025, retail loans had surged 92.2% to ₦1.73 trillion, reflecting desperate survival borrowing rather than productive economic activity.
The problem for lenders was predictable. When people borrow out of desperation, they struggle to repay. Default rates climbed throughout the first half of 2025, with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Q2 Credit Condition Survey reporting higher default rates for both secured and unsecured lending.
The IMF warned that rising non-performing loans in Nigeria’s fast-growing fintech sector posed potential risks to financial stability.
Then something shifted. In July, inflation dropped to 21.88%, a modest 0.34 percentage point decline, but the first sign that the worst might be over. By August, the drop accelerated to 20.12%, down 1.76 points. September brought 18.02%, another 2.10-point plunge. October delivered 16.05%, the lowest rate since March 2022. And now November’s 14.45% confirms this isn’t a blip. It’s a trend.
The most significant change has been in food inflation. From a peak above 40% in late 2024, food inflation has crashed to just 11.08% in November. This matters enormously for digital lenders because food was the primary driver of survival borrowing.
Read also: From 18.02% to 16.05%: Can fintech companies ride Nigeria’s inflation wave?
When Nigerians were spending 60-70% of their income on food alone, loan repayment became nearly impossible. Now, with food prices stabilising during harvest season and a stronger naira reducing import costs, households have more breathing room.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports that staple items like beans, garri, tomatoes, beef, and rice have shown month-on-month price decreases. This isn’t just statistical noise, it’s real relief felt in markets across Lagos, Abuja, and beyond.
How inflation is changing digital lending
The implications for digital lending are profound.
First, the nature of borrowing is shifting. When inflation was above 20%, loans were a last resort for survival. At 14.45%, borrowing can return to its more productive purpose: financing business expansion, purchasing inventory, or investing in education.
Second, repayment capacity is improving. With prices stabilising, borrowers have more disposable income left after covering essentials. The difference between 22% and 14% inflation might sound abstract, but for a household earning ₦150,000 monthly, it’s the difference between having ₦10,000 or ₦30,000 left after basic expenses. This is money that can go toward loan repayment.
Third, risk models are becoming more reliable. During periods of hyperinflation, credit scoring breaks down because everyone becomes a high-risk borrower regardless of their actual financial behaviour. As inflation stabilises, lenders can better distinguish between creditworthy and risky customers.
But the digital lending industry isn’t out of the woods yet. The Central Bank of Nigeria has held its monetary policy rate at 27%, making borrowing still expensive for most Nigerians. Until the CBN begins cutting rates, which likely won’t happen until inflation shows sustained stability below 15%, the cost of loans remains prohibitive for many potential borrowers.
FILE PHOTO: A man counts Nigerian naira notes in a marketplace as people struggle with the economic hardship and cashflow problems ahead of Nigeria’s Presidential elections, in Yola, Nigeria, February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo
Additionally, new regulations are squeezing margins. The Digital and Electronic Lending Operations Network (DEON) Consumer Lending Regulations, which took effect in July 2025, have imposed strict compliance requirements. Industry estimates suggest compliance and legal spending now consume close to 7% of operating costs for digital lenders, more than double the 2022 level.
The sector has also grown crowded. The number of approved digital lenders surged 166% to 461 by August 2025, up from 173 in April 2023. With improving conditions, consolidation seems inevitable as stronger players acquire struggling competitors.
Looking ahead to 2026
If inflation continues its downward trajectory and the CBN begins cutting rates in early 2026, Nigeria’s digital lending industry could finally transition from crisis management to sustainable growth.
The six-month drop from 22% to 14% has created the foundation. Now, lenders are waiting to see if the structure they built on it can actually hold.
Since 2020, the British International Investment (BII) has significantly expanded its Africa portfolio. In 2021, the development finance institution (DFI) invested about £2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in African businesses, exceeding a pledge made at the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit. Going forward, BII set a strategy to commit £1.5–2 billion ($2–2.6 billion) annually from 2022 to 2026, with Africa as a core focus.
That focus has allowed BII’s annual commitments to Africa to explode, despite global headwinds. In 2023, £725 million ($970 million) was invested in Africa (about 55% of BII’s total that year) before surging to £1.09 billion ($1.45 billion) in 2024, nearly a 40% increase year-on-year.
This period coincides with Chris Chijiutomi, a British-Nigerian with two decades of experience in investing across Europe, Asia, and Africa, becoming the managing director and head of Africa for BII. Now, Africa comprises roughly 60% of BII’s new investments by value in recent years, showing the continent’s priority in BII’s portfolio.
BII has also steadily expanded its exposure to early-stage ventures and technology startups in Africa, positioning venture capital as a core instrument of its development mandate. As a limited partner, it has anchored several Africa-focused funds, including TLcom Capital’s TIDE Africa Funds I and II, Sawari Ventures in North Africa, and Novastar Ventures in East and West Africa.
Alongside fund investments, BII has selectively deployed capital directly into startups like mPharma, to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains; Moove, via structured credit to expand mobility financing for ride-hailing drivers; and equity investments in TradeDepot, Moniepoint, and Egypt’s Paymob. It has also backed off-grid energy companies such as M-KOPA and Lumos.
For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke with Chijiutomi to understand the firm’s increased focus on Africa, the sectors that he’s willing to invest in, BII’s sudden profitability jump, how the firm picks its startups and funds, and the sector that has provided the most returns.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Is there any sector where you think your views have changed the most since you became BII’s Head of Africa?
When I started this role, I would say renewable energy—especially decentralised renewable energy—was fairly nascent. The solar panels were relatively quite expensive, including the battery, and the uptake was also quite limited. Therefore, the technical and commercial viability was still quite nascent.
But if I look at where I am now, and I remember driving from the airport to our office here, I could see a lot of solar panels on people’s rooftops. I could see solar panels on the streetlights. So I think, for me, what we call decentralised renewable energy—DRE—has been one area that has seen an absolute increase in uptake.
That’s obviously also a function of the gap that exists in a country like Nigeria in terms of electricity access. That’s one key area. And what have we been doing in this space? We invested this year in a $7.5 million facility for a company called Odyssey Energy Solutions, which is a company that’s specifically focused on energy access with renewables. We provided a facility last year—$30 million—to InfraCredit, and InfraCredit is supporting a lot of renewable energy developers in Nigeria. That’s one area that jumps out at me in terms of a key sector that has evolved.
The other one—probably more broad—is the whole venture capital space, the VC space, where people are using technology to develop solutions for their day-to-day problems in markets like Nigeria and broader West Africa. So those two areas, I would probably say, were areas where I’ve seen the most change since I took on the Head of Africa role.
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What do you think is spurring this change?
On DRE, it’s just the fact that no country can develop without energy infrastructure. The challenge we have in Africa—and especially Sub-Saharan Africa—is the lack of energy access.
A country like Nigeria, with over 200 million people—at least that’s the last count—has less than 6,000 megawatts of electricity on the grid. Then, when you think about the rural and the peri-urban areas, a lot of them lack access to electricity. Just that failure is what’s led people to think about alternative solutions, and I think that’s where the DRE solutions come into play.
I think on the VC side, with the uptake of the internet and the uptake of telecoms, that has really driven a lot of smart young Africans to think about how to use technology to solve their day-to-day problems—be it things related to payment systems, things related to logistics, or even things related to farming and climate-related data. I think all of this is all about problems that are preventing the continent from developing and growing. Those are the reasons why I think the uptake really has kind of moved onto that next level.
Since you became Head of BII for Africa, what has been your Africa tech strategy? Has it evolved from before you took on the role, or have you maintained the same strategy at BII?
I would say it’s evolved. Prior to me taking on the Head of Africa role, we’ve been investing in the venture capital space and also the private equity space, and the two kinds of interlink. I think since I’ve taken on the role, a big focus of mine has been: How can we find local African entrepreneurs to back? How can we make sure we go deeper in this area and we look for the right type of managers to basically give them our capital and the responsibility to manage it for us?
If I look at some of the things we’ve done in this market, we’ve invested in Ventures Platform, and they’ve been investing in some really smart companies. I had a breakfast meeting this week with Aruwa Capital, a female-led VC business that’s looking to invest in a range of sectors. We have companies like CardinalStone. We have companies like Verod Capital, which are also in some of these spaces.
The other big excitement for me, in terms of companies that we’ve backed here that we continue to see as growth, is companies like Moniepoint, which is now a unicorn in terms of valuation. And also, in Southern Africa, we backed a company called TymeBank. Again, these are two fast-growing companies that are employing a lot of young, smart, diverse people.
How do you pick the fund managers that you invest in, and how do you pick companies?
The first thing for us is alignment. Alignment in understanding their strategy—what exactly are they aiming to do? How have they thought through that strategy? How have they thought through even just the execution of that strategy?
That’s important because I need to match that against our own priorities and how we think about the sectors or the subsectors we invest in. That’s the first thing that enables a deep conversation: Does the strategy align?
I think the second one is about the promoter—in terms of the sponsor or founder—and the team that they have with them. Is this a team that you can back? Do they have the track record? What’s their reputation in the market? What’s their understanding of working with a development finance institution like ourselves? What is their long-term aspiration?
It’s a lot about understanding and getting very close to the founders. But also, do they have a deep bench of a team? Because, you know, if something does happen to a founder—we call it typically a key-man event—what’s the bench of people within the organisation to actually carry on and continue to execute that?
I think the other one is really around the market that they operate in—either the country or the region. Again, is there an alignment with us? Do they really understand this, or are they just putting it there because they think that makes sense for us? Why are they focusing on a particular area? We dig deep into understanding some of that. Um, I think trust is a massive word. You are giving responsibility to these promoters with your capital. My capital is UK taxpayers’ capital. So we have a financial responsibility, and we want to make sure they too understand that.
We also look at the other partners that they might already have. Some of these founders have raised their own first money to start up. Who have they raised the money from? Are these partners that align with our values? Are there other shareholders that we believe are creating alignments—that are also looking to invest in either the direct VC companies or actually the funds?
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How do you think about tech here in Africa, and what are the things that excite you, tech-wise?
Let me maybe go through the bits that excite me. I think the fintech space—we talked about Moniepoint and TymeBank. There are other fintech businesses that we’re looking at, which are basically really opening the inclusion story for people that are underserved—people that ordinarily would not have been able to open a bank account, or even had the time to go into a branch to try and withdraw money or move money.
The second one is the commerce space. So basically: How can you combine tech with logistics—the ability to purchase, buy, and deliver goods? We’ve seen businesses where you have—you know, let me call them market women, largely because a lot of these businesses are dominated by women—who have been able to use their app and their phone to basically order inventory that then gets delivered to them. They then use that same app to pay or get credit from suppliers that are giving them [inventory]. And I remember visiting a business in Nigeria a year ago, where we were able to talk to the store owner, and what she explained was that she now doesn’t need to shut her shop to go to Lagos Island market to buy all these goods, because everything can be done from her phone. Just the utilisation of tech to support the MSME—micro, small, medium enterprise—I think is a game changer, because the majority of businesses in Africa fall within that category.
Agritech, too, because of the size of arable land in Africa. I still say that the largest employer of people on the continent remains in the agri sector. How can we use technology to help get inputs, such as fertilisers and seeds, to farmers? How can we utilise technology to provide farmers with real-time information on the cost of their crops and how they can sell them, ensuring they are not being cheated by shifts in economics that favour those who buy them? How can you use technology to help farmers understand climate change—predicting the weather patterns, when they should plant, when they should harvest—all of this?
Agritech—and where I have seen agritech investment the most from us is in East Africa, because the farming sector there is a lot more advanced.
Climate tech is becoming an area of interest. So all things like electric vehicles—two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and at some point four-wheelers. I’ve just come back from Ghana, and I’ve started seeing people driving four-wheelers because of the challenges of fuel. In Nigeria, I was at Marina the other day, where I saw a bank that has an EV fleet (electric vehicle fleet), and they had solar panels on the top of their car parking port, and they’re using technology to determine when they now need to inject electricity for charging. I was very impressed.
I was going through your report from last year, and something that jumped out to me was a focus on profitability in the reports. I found that really interesting because I haven’t really seen that with other DFIs—talking about profitability and putting it on the front foot. What’s inspiring that focus? Because—from 2023—it was a £44 million loss, then you quickly jumped the next year to like £213 million pounds in profit. How do you guys think about profitability? How was that jump achieved?
There are different dimensions to it. When we invest, we invest with two things in mind, and all of this is really around understanding risk.
First thing is: what impact is our investment going to create, and is our money needed? Then the second thing is sustainability—what’s the return expectation? So we’re always matching the impact you create versus the return. So that’s always a balance: anytime the teams are bringing opportunities, we always have to consider the two.
Profit matters in the sense that we have to ensure that we are building businesses that can stand alone, that can grow in time without DFI capital. For that to occur, these companies, at some point, need to start returning dividends or making a profit so that they become self-sustaining.
So for me, profitability is something that’s inbuilt if you really want these businesses to grow without our capital. If we want to mobilise commercial money into these businesses—for example, a big objective for BII in the upcoming strategy is what we call capital mobilisation. How can we mobilise, in an African context, local pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and high-net-worth individuals to invest in some of our assets? A lot of them will not invest unless these assets are making a profit. Therefore, that consideration.
Impact—which we define around inclusivity, productivity, and sustainability—is embedded in what we do, and then the commercial side is also linked. Why have we shown a result, as you’ve just indicated? A number of things.
I think one is timing. You know, there are some bets we’ve made in terms of companies we’ve invested in that are now starting to yield dividends or yield returns back to us. You know, we’re a long-term investor, so sometimes there’s an element of the cycle.
There are companies like Moniepoint—just using that as an example—when we invested, Moniepoint was nowhere near a unicorn. It’s become a unicorn. So that means some of our capital has now increased in value. Again, that flows through to our annual accounts.
We have a number of funds that we’ve invested in, which are longer-term. Some of the businesses have now matured, and then they’re starting to deliver returns. I think because our portfolio—which is just under $9 billion—there is variability in terms of when some of these investments start to return commercial value, and really that’s what’s translated into our accounts that you’ve just indicated.
You have mentioned Moniepoint a lot; how did the exit from the company happen?
There was a capital raise by Moniepoint where they wanted to bring in a number of different investors. So you had other investors coming into the company, and we realised some of our gains from that. But we still remain an investor in Moniepoint today.
So it was a partial exit?
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Yes. When we invest equity, we sometimes have board seats. We typically invest, and we are typically a significant minority. By exception, we’ve done the majority. But what we do is we enable these companies to have the right governance structure and to have the right board composition, and with management and the board, they make the decisions. At some point in its journey, the board and the management of Moniepoint indicated that for them to continue to grow, they needed capital. The way to do that was to raise capital.
One of the kind of strong investors in Moneypoint is DPI—which is a fund manager that BII is also invested in—and they’ve worked with the company to get the company kind of ready in terms of the delivery of its business plan, in terms of the right governance structure, and in terms of the team build-out. Through that, they’ve then helped and worked with the company management and board to decide when to go out and raise capital.
It’s not something that BII exclusively drives or influences. It’s something that is driven by the management and the board of the companies we invest in. And of course, we then can vote or have a view, but ultimately it’s really a majority-led decision, driven by the governance of these companies.
Where have you seen the most returns in all your investments since you became Head of BII for Africa two years ago?
In terms of where I see returns, not in the sense of monetary, but in terms of impact, for every dollar we’ve invested, I will probably say digital infrastructure. The reason is that it includes telecom, so our telecom and technology division is because I have seen and witnessed the direct impact of technology on the continent.
From being able to video call my uncle in the village and physically see him, and the kind of impact I feel from that, to being able to transfer money to him without having to leave my base. And you can also then think about the multiple people who are able to support their direct or extended families. All of this is possible because of the technology that now exists—because of the digital infrastructure—from data centres to cables to mobile phones to towers.
So I think that is one subsector that I feel has been able to create a big impact, in terms of my vantage point, and this is across the continent.
In 2024, BII invested over £1 billion on the African continent. If you were allocating the next billion into Africa, what three themes or sectors would you bet on—and which one would you totally not touch at all?
I think about: how can we create quality jobs for Africans? How can we empower more women or those who are excluded from society? How can we develop solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change? There are quite a few various things in there, but some of our conversations so far have centred around technology. Digital infrastructure, for me, is driving a lot of growth in a lot of countries in Africa.
All things digital—be it from digital telecom infrastructure, data centres, cables, towers—anything that enables humans and businesses to ultimately communicate, store data, exchange data, and use that platform for growth.
We are a big investor in the telecom space, and I hope we will continue to find the right business opportunities to invest in.
The other one—and I think if I look at what Africa went through during COVID, during the Russia-Ukraine war, and more recently with what’s happened across the Atlantic in terms of the US pulling out USAID in a lot of countries in Africa—I think this is the right time for Africans to try and take more control of their destiny.
Africans need to think about local production. Local production enables jobs. It also prevents African companies from relying on imports, which people found during the Russia-Ukraine war, where Africa realised a lot of its wheat was coming from Ukraine and Russia.
All things local manufacturing and value addition in terms of food processing—these are big areas for us, and big areas where I would love to invest. Cobalt, copper—all of these things are raw materials in the continent, but how do we add value in processing such that we’re not just exporting raw and then paying a lot more for processed goods?
Anything to do with energy—climate-related: from energy to water, in terms of adaptation and resilience, to food systems. Africa suffers the most from the impact of climate change, either through drought or through flooding and excessive rainfall.
Those are the three categories that I would focus on: digital infra, manufacturing, and then all things related to climate/energy.
I would avoid sectors that are solely reliant on things like subsidies—100% dependent on government actions—because I think we understand that when you have a change of government, a single policy can totally unbundle some of these types of businesses. So businesses—or sectors—where subsidy is playing too much of a role are probably sectors that I would personally avoid investing in for now.
When you look at your exposure on the continent—you’re heavily invested in Nigeria, Kenya, a bit of Egypt, and several other African countries—where do you feel you are underinvested and can probably do more in this country because of what you’re seeing on the ground?
Not that I’m biased, but just if I look at the demographics, and just driving around, or when you fly over Nigeria, you see just the sheer lack of sustainable infrastructure. Nigeria, just for its size and its importance in the region, continues to be a country where I think we can invest more. I think today we’re already very heavily invested in Nigeria, but the opportunity here is huge.
As a countercyclical investor, I do believe we will continue to see the right type of opportunities to increase our exposure here, but also to diversify our portfolio. I have a great team based in Lagos—a team that has really grown our footprint and exposure here.
Another place where I want us to actually ramp up more is the French-speaking West and Central Africa. This year, we recruited a director of West African origin—French-speaking— and she’s also come from a development finance institution. She’s based in the region, and that’s one region I do believe we have the opportunity to grow. It’s not been a traditional region for BII, but in the last 12 months, we’ve invested—and I’ve been investing—in the financial services area.
We’ve just done a co-investment with an influential bank in West Africa. We are invested in another microfinance-type bank. I have just literally come back from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we’re building a port with Dubai Ports World—that’s in DRC, a French-speaking country. We have an agro-processing business, but that’s not enough. We can absolutely do more, and the opportunities there are huge.
Another thing I noticed from the report was: Africa now takes 60% of BII’s new commitments. That’s a 40% jump from 2023. What changed—internally, or maybe it’s external conditions—that justifies that acceleration?
We are a countercyclical investor. We should be investing when things are going badly, because that’s when other capital is moving out. In the last three or so years, the continent has faced some significant challenges: the effect of COVID, Russia-Ukraine—um—all of this has had a knock-on impact. And, you know, we’re still feeling it. We increased our investment appetite during that period.
Particularly, we’ve seen a lot in climate investing. You know, a minimum of 30% of our capital has to go into climate finance transactions, and we’ve beaten that. And again, that’s been something where it’s been more targeted and very focused.
I think we’re focusing on partnerships—and those partnerships are helping us to identify the right opportunity in the frontier markets. I mentioned earlier that we have an initiative called the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator. This is a collaboration between BII, Proparco (the French DFI), and the three of us. We’re going into countries that we all individually don’t have specific experience in—working with companies, finding the right opportunities, and investing.
That’s what’s led us to invest in Ethiopia—in a bank there. That’s what’s leading us to make some investments in Sierra Leone. Those types of initiatives have really helped us accelerate activities we’re doing.
Then mobilisation: we are now starting to originate to share, where we’re bringing other capital providers into some of our investment deals. The last one I’ll end with is: We’ve increased our presence in Africa. We have more people in our local offices who are now closer to markets, who are closer to companies, who are closer to the opportunities, and therefore we’re able to transact and invest for market-level impact better. I would say everything I’ve described—the big catalyst—has been having the right type of people in Africa to drive our investment activities.
If you look ahead to 2033, what would you count as a successful decade for Chris, being Head of BII for Africa?
I would like to continue to shift and build our volume of people in Africa. Again, I believe that having people close to the market creates a closer relationship with the companies that we’re backing, but also with the stakeholders in the markets—be it government, be it industry bodies. BII continuously having the right profile in Africa, for me, is a success.
My visit to West Africa this week—some people that I’ve spoken to are still shocked about the amount of business we’ve been doing here. Therefore, it means we need to publicise more, for me, because if you publicise more, then some of these opportunities will come knocking.
In terms of success: more people and more activity.
I think continuing to deliver on our climate target is important, because 30%—I mentioned earlier—is our target. I want us to continue to exceed that, but make sure we’re driving climate investing in Africa.
A big success for me—and I’m sure my boss will be putting this in my KPI—is how I can mobilise more African pension fund money alongside BII into new asset classes? You know, the days of just sitting there and investing in government securities, T-bills—it’s just not sustainable when you look at inflation, and when you look at some of the experiences of pension funds. You want them to invest in areas that match the liabilities and the assets that they have. So, infrastructure, maybe private credit funds.
The ability where I’m able to stand up and say I’ve been able to mobilise capital from pension funds in Africa into African assets—I think is a big one for me. And for us to continue to be seen as the lead investor in frontier markets. I think that’s the type of thing I would like to reflect on in 2033 as success measures for me in my current role.
Meta’s social network Threads is expanding the number of topics available through its newer communities feature, the company announced on Monday. This expansion might nudge people to use communities less on Reddit and X.
The platform initially launched over 100 communities in October, including those dedicated to basketball, television, K-pop, books, and more, to better compete with other social networks. With today’s expansion, Threads now has more than 200 communities, with additions that include team-specific spaces like Lakers Threads, Knicks Threads, and Spurs Threads.
The company is testing flairs within the community as well, which is also very common on Reddit. This feature lets you add a customizable label underneath your username. For instance, in the NBA community, you can show off what team you support using flair, or in the books community, you can indicate if you’re an author.
Image Credits: ThreadsImage Credits:Meta
Threads is also testing a “Champion” badge to reward members who are highly engaged in a community. The company said that it is giving badges to only a limited number of people who are highly followed in the community and who converse actively.
Image Credits: ThreadsImage Credits:Meta
The social platform, which competes with Elon Musk’s X and startups like Bluesky, crossed 400 million users in August, two years after its launch. The company also noted this fall that more than 150 million people now visit the site daily.
To date, Threads has been focusing on engaging and retaining users with features like DMs, Group chats, and ephemeral posts, and other additions.
Photo by william william / Unsplash
Seasonal variations have been very important in shipping and delivery business. Holiday and promotion times, and changes in weather may significantly influence the volume of orders, delivery time and customer satisfaction.
Companies unable to foresee these changes usually experience postponements, high expenses and unhappy clients. Through seasonal shipping patterns, the companies are able to come up with plans to cope with the increased demand, streamline their logistics, and ensure a smooth running of operations all year round. The knowledge of these trends enables enterprises to make informed choices based on the data, which improves their efficiency and customer experience.
Knowing the Seasonal Patterns
The first step is to analyze the seasonal shipments to establish some high and low seasons. Past sales data may demonstrate trends of volume of sales that take place in particular times of the year. The identification of such trends aids business in predicting a boom in shipments and aligning resources to enable this. Being aware of the time when the volumes of shipping will be highest, firms can plan more employees, reorganize the work in warehouses, and equip the transportation means to satisfy the demand effectively.
The awareness of these trends also enables companies to deal with customer expectations. Reporting approximate delivery periods in the busy seasons helps to eliminate frustration and increase trust. Marketing approaches can be based on seasonal data, so that promotions can be made at a time that can be covered by fulfillment and shipping capacity. Adequate planning along the seasonal trends avoids last minute scramble that may lead to poor quality and reliability of delivery.
Cost Optimization
Shipping costs are directly affected by the seasonal shipping trends. The carriers may usually charge more during times of high demand because of the large quantities and any delays may result in extra costs. Through the trends, a business is able to make the shipment plan earlier, negotiate lower prices with the carriers and minimize the chances of paying high prices to get the shipment delivered promptly. Shipping scheduling will be optimized using seasonal observations to control the costs and achieve timely deliveries.
Another way of cost optimization is through the use of technology. The delivery management software would be capable of delivering real-time data on the performance of the shipping process, volume trends, and inefficiency. By incorporating these tools in the process of logistics planning, business organizations can minimize unnecessary spending and enhance the process of resource distribution. Seasonal analysis as well as technology make companies stay profitable even during high demand periods.
Further Customer Satisfaction
Shipping reliability is directly related to customer satisfaction. Delays and errors are more likely to occur during peak seasons, and this could be a negative influence on the experience of the customer. Seasonal trends enable the business to be proactive in dealing with challenges that might arise and also deliver consistent performance. Given the seasonal variations, firms aware of them can introduce solutions to such problems as delayed shipping schedules, enhanced packaging, and inventory management to satisfy customers.
Customer loyalty is also achieved with high customer satisfaction. Employees who ensure customers receive their services on time even during hourly demand will find it easier to become repeat customers. With the knowledge of the seasonal shipping patterns, companies will be able to minimize late deliveries, avoid stock outs, and communicate the realistic delivery schedule. The practices can ensure that the businesses maintain customers and earn the reputation of being trustworthy.
Strategic Foresight and Planning
To succeed in strategic planning, it is necessary to analyze the seasonal shipping trends. The history of the business can be used to predict future demand to enable business decisions on staffing, inventory, and transportation resources. Firms are able to efficiently distribute their resources both in terms of over staffing as well as under preparedness at peak times. Strategic planning will make the supply chain flexible and responsive within the whole year. With route optimization software and a seasonal trend analysis, business organizations can end up with the most optimal delivery routes, which minimize delays and transportation expenses during high seasons.
Long-term forecasting also becomes better with seasonal analysis. Observing the trends of several years, businesses are able to determine the repeated patterns and readjust their business. Adding seasonal information into logistics planning helps to make prior decisions, minimize the risks of operations, and improve the level of efficiency. Proper forecasting helps businesses to be competitive and able to respond to the needs in the market.
The shipping season analysis is a very important activity to any company that depends on effective delivery processes. The seasonal analysis is essential in understanding the trends in demand, cutting down on expenses, increasing customer satisfaction and improving the strategic planning. The implementation of such tools as delivery management software can make it more efficient to offer real-time insights and data to take action. Firms that invest in seasonal trend analysis are in a better position to handle high demand seasons, hold stable deliveries and enhance customer loyalty during the year.
December 15, 2025
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Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes has become the first Nollywood film to hit the N200 million mark on its opening weekend in 2025. The announcement was first made on Monday afternoon by the film’s distributor, FilmOne Entertainment.
Behind The Scenes had its advanced screening on December 10 and 11, before officially opening in cinemas nationwide on December 12. The film was described as a five-time box office opening weekend record holder and the biggest weekend admissions of 2025. It also recorded the biggest weekend admission (34,548) of 2025.
The statement from FilmOne Entertainment’s Facebook page reads:
“We call her the Queen of Box Office for a reason! Thank you, Nigeria, for showing up, filling cinemas, and spreading the word. Behind The Scenes crossed N200M in just one weekend, broke five opening-weekend records, and became the biggest opening of 2025! It’s your love that made this possible.”
Behind The Scenes features Scarlet Gomez in the lead role, alongside Iyabo Ojo, Funke Akindele, Destiny Etiko, and Tobi Bakre. Others are Uche Montana, Uzor Arukwe, Ini Dima-Okojie, Adebowale ‘Mr Macaroni’, Ibrahim Chatta, Kamo State, and reality TV stars Handi and Wanni Danbaki, among others.
The film is a comedy-drama that spotlights the chaos, ego clashes, and hidden struggles in Nollywood film production and focuses on themes of pressure, healing, and hidden truths. It lights up an ambitious young filmmaker navigating betrayal, ambition, and on-set drama.
In addition, Behind The Scenes touches on broader societal issues like ‘black tax’ and self-sacrifice through characters such as successful entrepreneur Aderonke “Ronky-Fella” Faniran.
As Nigerians cheered the feat, fellow Nollywood artists remarked on the efforts and the milestone. In an X post, Tobi Bakara said, “Thanks to you guys! Opening weekend was good! Let’s make this week even better my beautiful people!”
Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes has now dethroned “Iyalode,” which previously held the record of the best opening weekend of the Nigerian box office with N138.41M.
Also Read: Nigerian box office rakes in ₦573m in October, one of its best months this year.
Behind The Scenes: Funke Akindele in the spotlight yet again
The latest development has further strengthened Funke Akindele’s footprints in Nollywood. Before the opening weekend, Behind The Scenes’ preview saw N27.2 million, according to the Nigerian Box Office.
Her December 2024 film, Everybody Loves Jenifa, became Nollywood’s biggest opening weekend of all time, surpassing the earlier record set by A Tribe Called Judah, which opened with N113 million.
Funke Akindele
Everybody Loves Jenifa was on another level as the film saw an admission count of 38,353, including advance screenings, and became the highest-grossing Nollywood film ever at N1.8 billion in Nigeria. The film also raked in additional revenue from international markets.
In addition, the film crossed the N1 billion mark in late December 2024 and continued its cinema run into early 2025, going on to set new box office records across West Africa.