We must always all be skit makers

At a current group dinner, TechCabal’s editor-in-chief, Fu’advert Lawal, laughed at one thing ridiculous I did and declared I ought to be making skits. He was half-joking, however he isn’t incorrect.

A skit is a brief, humorous efficiency that usually parodies a standard state of affairs. After I say “skit” on this article, I’m not referring to the crude comedic slop usually discovered on social media. I imply short-form, viral video content material—cinematic or scrappy—designed to seize consideration, which has turn into an actual moat in fashionable enterprise.

In at present’s crowded market, an awesome product isn’t sufficient; the power to constantly seize and maintain an viewers’s consideration is more and more changing into a extremely helpful enterprise asset.

By definition, a startup is a enterprise searching for a repeatable mannequin, which suggests each startup is by default in the midst of a pivot. That is very true for early-stage firms, now that synthetic intelligence is decreasing the boundaries to creating merchandise. A lot is transient, however companies can improve their profitable probabilities by taking a spot within the minds of potential customers by way of viral movies.

Everybody who issues to your small business—traders, high workers, prospects, and even regulators—is a human being who spends a big period of time on the web, laughing at memes and watching viral movies. What higher place to attach with them than on the platforms and within the format they always have interaction with?

The long run belongs to those that can inform thumb-stopping tales on the pace of the web. Firms and creators who thrive construct spectacle, connection, and viral narrative, not simply merchandise.

That’s why the perception from my boss hit dwelling. I ought to be a skit maker. And at present, so ought to startup workers, founders, and traders. We must always all be skit makers, studying to create content material that captures consideration and emotionally connects with folks to construct lasting connections. 

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A few of us are already skitmakers

Not too long ago, Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire, carried out an amusing TikTok-style dance routine together with his daughter to advertise his new e-book. 

Social media pages of conventional banks, like United Financial institution of Africa (UBA), are suffering from movies the place workers copy viral TikTok tendencies or act out entertaining scripts to extend consciousness for the enterprise.

Enterprise promoting within the tech ecosystem additionally adapts these skit kinds, from partnerships with skilled skit-makers like Layi Wasabi to scripting and appearing their skits with workers and executives.

Whereas virality was as soon as a fortunate accident, it’s now a deliberate technique based mostly on fixed iteration and viewers suggestions. Unburdened by outdated concepts of professionalism, Gen Z founders and workers use meme tradition, inside jokes, and anti-ads—content material that feels too candid to be company to humanise their manufacturers and generate FOMO (concern of lacking out). This method creates an engagement that conventional strategies can not ship.

When Hen Republic, Nigeria’s main restaurant chain, returned to Glovo after a yr of being off the meals supply app, Glovo introduced it by way of playful chat-style billboards and influencer posts as an alternative of solely press releases. 

This form of virality engineering, which mimics present web tradition, is the way forward for storytelling.

Tales promote, and skits are how we ought to be telling them.

In case your conservative African sensibilities make this tough to swallow, maybe you’ll imagine the consultants at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one in all Silicon Valley’s main VC companies.

Based on an August e-newsletter from Speedrun, an a16z accelerator program, there are just a few common truths for startups, however “currently it appears virtually all people agrees on one factor: You’ve gotta make a killer .” 

In a June podcast with a16z Normal Companions Erik Torenberg and Bryan Kim, Cluely’s co-founder defined that founders who “trip the algorithm” by creating viral movies for product launches or group bulletins can obtain vital outcomes. The rewards for going viral are tangible: waitlists fill in a single day, and traders clamour for introductions. For instance, the AI startup Cluely raised $15 million in 10 weeks after launching with a collection of satirical viral movies about their startup. Whereas their development metrics, variety of customers and income had been essential, the visibility from movies performed a vital position in them touchdown outstanding traders and paying purchasers.

At this level, you would possibly suppose, “That’s America; that’s not how issues work in Africa.” Nevertheless, the one nuance is “what” tales we inform, not “how” we inform them. The medium for storytelling has advanced in Africa in the identical means it has within the West.

At present, Africa, like Western international locations, is overwhelmingly mobile-first. As of 2024, over 90% of the continent’s web site visitors comes from smartphones, and video consumption is exploding on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. 

These platforms have a communication shift in direction of short-form video pushed by a basic human urge for food for quick, emotional connection. These movies condense narratives, cultural references, and model values into seconds, making them extremely shareable and efficient at capturing fragmented consideration spans. Information backs this pattern: over 384 million Africans are on social media, and user-generated content material (UGC)-based adverts have 4 instances the typical click-through charge of branded content material. Moreover, 84% of customers belief messaging that options actual folks, not simply manufacturers.

Embracing this new means of storytelling just isn’t “un-African”—it’s a less expensive method. Creating natural viral movies is a better funding than spending closely on conventional ads with depreciating forex. This method just isn’t solely more practical but in addition extra accessible to entrepreneurs working with restricted capital.

The period of sanitised, scripted model messaging is ending. Audiences now crave chaos, and wit—tales that really feel dangerous, emotional, and participatory. They not need to eat content material merely; they need to leap straight into cultural conversations and really feel like they’re part of your small business’s story.

To remain high of thoughts with everybody who issues in your small business, from potential prospects to traders, it’s good to turn into a skitmaker. Take into consideration this each time a video distracts a possible B2B shopper you’re having an off-the-cuff lunch with. As our world shifts, the brand new guidelines of enterprise engagements are altering. 

The primary precept continues to be intact: inform an excellent story. Nevertheless, what has modified with the demographics is how. Within the consideration economic system we live in, probably the greatest methods is to turn into a skitmaker. Could the very best performances win!

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Africa’s tech ecosystem is alive with ambition, and Moonshot 2025 is catalysing it into unstoppable momentum. Our theme, “Constructing Momentum,” honours previous builders and requires doubling down on methods, capital, insurance policies, and partnerships.

Count on new codecs, deeper conversations, and broader voices. That is the place imaginative and prescient turns into motion. In the event you’re constructing, funding, or enabling Africa’s innovation economic system, be part of us October 15–16 in Lagos. Early Chook tickets are 20% off! Let’s construct the long run, quicker, smarter, collectively.

Reserver your spot!

Ngozi Chukwu

Reporter, TechCabal

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