This year, the exclusive gathering brought together 35 corporate women in a safe, closed-door setting to explore the challenges of balancing life, career, family, and relationships.

The intimate session provided a platform for participants to share their stories, learn practical strategies, and gain valuable insights on blooming in every aspect of their lives.

The event builds on the foundation laid in April 2023, when Oluwasola Obagbemi, the convener of The Bloom Conversations with Sola, launched the initiative with 30 phenomenal women from diverse industries.

At the inaugural session, Sola shared her personal and professional journey, highlighting life lessons that have shaped her success. The atmosphere encouraged participants to share openly, creating a supportive space for growth and mutual encouragement.

The first edition featured distinguished speakers, including Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, Folake Sanu, Folake Soetan and Nkiru Olumide-Ojo.

These leaders shared invaluable insights on navigating life’s challenges with strength, resilience, and grace.

More than a year later, their lessons continue to inspire and fuel Sola’s vision of empowering women to bloom wherever life plants them.

“This second edition is about going deeper,” Sola shared during her address. “It’s about tackling the unspoken questions women often face, building resilience, and fostering a network of support where women can openly share and grow together. Traditional conferences, summits and webinars often lack the intimacy required for vulnerability and actionable problem-solving. The Bloom Conversations with Sola breaks those barriers, creating a space where women can connect, share, and win together.”

The 2.0 edition featured two inspiring speakers: Mrs. Folake Soetan, CEO of Ikeja Electric, who offered practical guidance on personal development in the workplace, goal setting, and nurturing relationships across life’s domains.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Adenike Macaulay, CEO of Wakanow, shared her experiences on building workplace allies, achieving balance, and investing in self-growth.

Together with Sola, they provided actionable insights to empower participants to overcome challenges and achieve their personal and professional goals.

This year’s event was made possible through the support of partners, including ProvidusBank, Bolt Nigeria, SM Productions, Firewood Jollofrice, DiosDelite, Poshclick, Johnvents, WakeyWhacks, CakesByDebbie, and Ego Foundation.

This exclusive roundtable discussion, held in Lagos, comprised of Facebook spokespersons including Oluwasola Obagbemi, corporate communications manager, SSA; Rof Maneta, strategic partner manager, global partnerships, SSA; Betty Ansah, product communications manager, EMEA; and Maria Cubeta, communications manager for Facebook. 

An in-depth look at how these tools can help Nigerian content creators build businesses, and groom communities on the platform, as well as the dos and don’ts to enjoy this new feature, were the focus.

Starting with the success stories of Nigerian creators who have been leveraging Facebook to grow their brands and impact global communities, Obagbemi highlighted four creators among many. 

One was Mark Angel, a well-known content creator with a massive following of 22 million on Facebook. Obagbemi shared how Facebook’s reach and tools have helped Mark Angel connect with a global audience, even to the extent of impacting the mental health of individuals positively. 

Facebook’s reach made it an ideal platform for Mark Angel to share his humour with a larger audience. He is creating for the world, not just Nigeria.

Another inspiring story was David Obi, who runs a Gen Z group on Facebook, Facebook, (@YorochiTv Facebook Community) with 537k members. 

His initiative, “Open Mic Week,” has become a popular online event, showcasing young talents and helping community members achieve huge successes, boosting engagement and providing opportunities for young Nigerians.

“First winner of Miss Yorochi TV signed by a prestigious modelling agency, two other community members reached the finals of The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, had contestants in The Voice and Nigerian Idol, achieving remarkable success. In 2022, partnered with Motive Africa Visual Academy to train 40 members in videography and photography.”

Aproko Doctor, a medical doctor who uses Facebook to share health-related content was also spotlighted. With over 1 million followers, the platform has greatly impacted his career.

In his words, “Facebook gives me the opportunity to connect with a broad spectrum of people and with its diverse audience, I can share my content, and build a community around my brand. Leveraging on features like Live streaming, I can creatively express myself, share my passion for healthcare advocacy and also share my vision for improved healthcare and wellness.”

Gina Ehikodi, a former TV personality known as Foodies&Spice, transitioned to a full-fledged Facebook creator. She found that Facebook provided instant audience feedback that traditional TV lacked and now has 1.8 million followers. 

Rof Maneta gave positive feedback about engaging with the Nigerian creator community, noting, “For a very long time, I’ve seen the capabilities of African creators. It’s thrilling to see them now have the tools to monetise their creativity on Facebook.

Betty Ansah spoke on the energy and passion she observed in local creators. “Meeting the creators and seeing their focus was truly great. Their work ethic and the quality of content they produce is awesome,” she said.

Meta Introduces Monetization Features for Nigerian and Ghanaian Creators

Facebook Monetisation Tools for Creators

The core of the event was the introduction of Facebook’s new monetisation products: In-Stream Ads and Ads on Reels. 

These tools are designed to help creators earn money directly from their content. Rof Maneta explained the importance of these Facebook monetisation tools, stating how creators can be in control of their careers, as they receive the opportunity to turn their passions into sustainable pay cheques.

“We believe that autonomy is really important and we want creators to be in control of their careers.

“By providing various tools and features that enable creators to earn money from their content, Meta is helping them turn their passions into careers. This not only benefits the creators themselves but also leads to higher-quality content on Meta’s platforms.”

Ansah further reiterated that “Facebook is for social discovery that opens your world in big and small ways.”

She explained that Facebook’s strategy is guided by two major trends: the evolving expectations of social media among young adults and advances in AI technology. 

“We are especially focused on the younger generation aged 18-29 years old, as they are often the ones driving the changes in how social media should work.”

Young adults are in a phase of exploring and expanding their horizons in areas such as living arrangements, relationships, family, education, identity, work, and interests, Ansah explained. They often seek out content from others rather than relying solely on their existing friends. 

One young adult from Los Angeles highlighted this by saying, “Experienced people – that’s the best thing about Facebook, they’re experienced, they’re real, and they have a lot of content that shows me they know what they’re talking about.”

In-Stream Ads

In-Stream Ads are ads placed within the content itself, and they come in four types: pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and image ads. They are brief advertisements integrated into video content, which can be shown at various points during the viewing process.

Pre-Roll ads appear before the video starts, targeting viewers who search for content, such as on a Page timeline or Watchlist in Watch.

Mid-Roll ads are displayed during the video, ideally at natural break points, to provide a seamless viewing experience.

Post-Roll ads are shown after the video has concluded, reaching viewers who have finished watching the content on Watch or on a Page timeline.

Finally, image ads appear below the content, bringing a non-interruptive way to engage viewers without disrupting their viewing experience.

Ads on Reels

Ads on Reels allow creators to earn money from short-form videos without interrupting the viewer’s enjoyment of your content. This feature is currently invite-only, but it presents a huge opportunity for creators who meet the criteria.

Eligibility for Monetisation

For creators aiming to leverage the Facebook monetisation tools, the following criteria must be met to qualify for In-Stream Ads:

1. Professional Profile or Page: Creators must have an existing page or professional profile to publish their videos.
2. Follower Count: A minimum of 5,000 followers on the professional profile or page.
3. Watch Time: At least 60,000 total minutes viewed in the past 60 days.
4. Content Restrictions: All content must adhere to Facebook’s Partner Monetisation Policies. This includes publishing original content and avoiding prohibited formats such as unedited meme pages or engagement bait tactics.
5. Active Videos: Creators need to have at least five active videos posted directly to their page or professional profile.

For Ads on Reels, you must be invited to the program, as creators cannot request access. 

Even if you meet all requirements, there is no guarantee of an invitation due to the random selection involved in product testing.

To ensure continued monetisation for Ads on Reels, creators must publish original content and avoid prohibited formats like uneditorialised meme pages. 

Watch and engagement baiting, such as “follow for follow” tactics, is also prohibited. 

Facebook has upgraded its Reels and Feed ranking technologies, introduced new model architectures, and aims to have the world’s best recommendation technology by 2026. 

Added to this, Meta Llama is building a collection of generative AI models and tools, offering new opportunities for social discovery.

Facebook has improved the video experience, making it easier to explore and connect over various video formats. Features like an updated fullscreen video player and a slider for longer videos are now available globally. 

The platform has also seen an increase in private sharing, leading to new quick video-sharing options across Facebook and other platforms like WhatsApp. 

To support creators, Facebook introduced Professional Mode for public posting and follower growth, and evolved its payout model to reward creators based on content performance across all formats.

However, the study observed that as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, the most significant challenge SMBs are facing now is the current state of the economy, supply chain disruption, inflation, threat of recession as well as production cost hikes.

Due to the state of the economy, 16% of SMB owners within the past 6 months reduced the size of their workforce in Ghana while 5% of SMB owners in Nigeria have made similar adjustments to their workforce within the same timeframe.

While SMBs fight to find their footing during this post Covid era and navigate the current economic situation, Meta technologies have been instrumental in helping local businesses thrive and have their good ideas discovered.

In the lead up to the festive season, Meta has decided to launch the ‘Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found’ campaign to further build on the success of the campaign first launched in 2021. The campaign is aimed at spotlighting and celebrating local businesses with unique gifting ideas while encouraging holiday shoppers to support local businesses during this festive trading window.

“At Meta, we are committed to empowering SMBs with free skills and resources to help them build thriving businesses, develop meaningful connections, and unlock economic potentials so they can continue making a positive impact across the world,” Oluwasola Obagbemi, Corporate Communications Manager for Anglophone West Africa at Meta.

She also said, “This festive season, we seek to spotlight and tell the stories of SMBs with unique gifting ideas and provide SMBs with access to tools, support, and solutions needed to grow thriving businesses while reinforcing our continued support of small businesses to ensure they have a voice and ensure the right customers find their good ideas.”

When surveyed, 49% of SMBs in Ghana reported using digital tools for advertising and 59% of SMBs in Nigeria reported generating at least 25% of their sales through digital channels in the past 30 days. It was also revealed that 46% of operational SMBs in Nigeria on the Facebook app reported having sold their goods or services to customers in other countries in the past 5 years.

This compares to the global average of 30%. These discoveries have been made possible through the provision of digital tools for SMBs to ensure they are found by the right customers.

Through this campaign, Meta continues to support and give a voice to more than 200 million businesses using Meta technologies to ensure their good ideas are found.

Guests were invited to step into a multi-sensory experience with zones dedicated to key Metaverse entry points, including — Meta Spark Augmented Reality (AR), Digital Collectibles (NFTs), and Avatars. Musical powerhouses Teni, Santi, and Ayra Starr took to the stage with immersive and interactive performances, aimed at inspiring Nigerian creators to ‘flex’ in the Metaverse and explore new ways to connect with their communities. Last night, Nigeria was the stage and the world its audience.

Ineke Paulsen, Meta’s Director of EMEA Marketing, commented: “The creator community here in Nigeria, and across Africa is exciting to witness, these creators are pushing boundaries and truly having a global impact. We know that creator communities will help to make the metaverse more inclusive and inspiring, with technologies providing limitless opportunities.

“FlexNaija” is a celebration of how communities can push the boundaries of creativity and social connection physically and online. This campaign reinforces Meta’s commitment in supporting African innovators and creators in new ways to express themselves. We’re excited to continue this journey in showcasing the power of collaboration in the metaverse,” Paulsen added.

Photos and captions – #FlexNaija