The Egbeda-based creative ecosystem celebrates an award-winning first year and expands its vision to build the skills, structures, businesses and opportunities behind Africa’s creative economy.
LAGOS, Nigeria – 19th October, 2026 – Loom Rooms, the Egbeda-based creative ecosystem founded by creative-economy strategist Shola Bamidele, is marking its first anniversary with a five-year plan focused on helping African creatives move from creating work to understanding, protecting, owning and building sustainable businesses around what they create.
Founded in response to a persistent gap in Africa’s rapidly expanding creative economy, Loom Rooms was built around a simple premise: talent alone is not enough. While Africa has developed a globally recognised creative culture across music, film, fashion, photography, design, broadcasting and digital media, many emerging creatives continue to navigate the industry without the business knowledge, professional networks and structures needed to turn creative ability into sustainable careers and enterprises.
Contracts, intellectual property, publishing, brand development, company formation, commercial strategy and access to the right opportunities can ultimately determine who benefits from creative success. Loom Rooms was created to help close that gap by connecting creatives to people, knowledge and opportunities while creating an environment where different disciplines can collaborate and develop alongside one another.
Loom Rooms’ location in Egbeda is central to that approach. While much of Lagos’ established creative and commercial infrastructure is concentrated in familiar districts, significant creative communities are developing elsewhere. Loom Rooms was established in Alimosho, Lagos State, to demonstrate that access to creative infrastructure and professional opportunity should not depend on where a person lives.
The first year has produced results across music, broadcasting, film, enterprise and live experiences. An emerging artist from the community received the PME New Wave Award, while a single released through the ecosystem has reached listeners in more than 70 countries. A broadcaster developed within the Loom Rooms community has gone on to present on major radio platforms, while other members have taken practical steps towards formalising their careers and businesses through brand development, web development, company registration and trademarking. The ecosystem has also launched a recurring live platform creating opportunities for emerging singers, hosts and podcasters to develop their work, build audiences and gain real-world experience.
Speaking on the milestone, Shola Bamidele, Founder and CEO of Loom Rooms, said: “We are proud of what Loom Rooms has achieved in its first year, but the first year was never the destination. It was proof of concept. We have seen what happens when talent is given structure, mentorship, community and business knowledge, and the next question is how we turn that into an institution that can keep producing opportunity.
“Over the next five years, we want to help creatives understand what they own, protect what they create, build businesses around their abilities and eventually become employers themselves. We want someone who enters Loom Rooms as a young creative to eventually return as a founder, mentor, employer, investor or industry leader.” Bamidele added.
Over the next five years, Loom Rooms will focus on three priorities.
- Ownership: The ecosystem will expand its work around the business of creativity, helping creatives and creative businesses understand and navigate intellectual property, contracts, publishing, brand protection, company formation, commercialisation and access to markets.
- New creative frontiers: Loom Rooms will expand its development programmes into disciplines it believes will increasingly shape Africa’s creative exports, including sound design, animation, gaming and documentary, alongside its existing work across music, media, performance, fashion, film and digital creativity.
- Creatives becoming employers: The ecosystem will support alumni and emerging creative businesses to move from individual practice into enterprise, building registered businesses, developing teams and eventually creating opportunities for other young people in Egbeda, Alimosho and beyond.
About LoomRooms
Loom Rooms is a creative ecosystem based in Egbeda, Lagos, focused on helping emerging African creatives develop the skills, relationships, business knowledge and structures required to build sustainable careers and creative enterprises.
Its philosophy, Link. Unite. Multiply., reflects its focus on connecting people to opportunities, bringing disciplines together and multiplying knowledge, collaboration and economic opportunity within the creative community.
Loom Rooms is part of the Da’Circles ecosystem, spanning creativity, business, education and media.
