Trendx, a Nigerian blockchain startup that tokenises real-life assets, has signed a deal with The Nollywood Factory, a leading filmmaking company in Africa, to tokenise the intellectual property rights of a new movie project. Tokenisation is the process of using blockchain technology to represent the ownership or value of an asset. This deal will enable African retail investors across the world to buy into the movie’s prospect, typifying Trendx’s mission to bring more real-life applications to blockchain adoption in Africa.
With this move, Trendx will be the first startup in Africa to tokenise the intellectual property rights of a major film project, while creating a path to wealth creation for its users. The move, described by TrendX’s CEO, Nelson Elemi, as an “innovation that will change how money works in Africa,” follows Nelson’s ambition to create an ecosystem where projects and ambitions are powered by communities. These communities, in turn, will be the first beneficiaries of the success of the projects—a win-win situation that eliminates the bottlenecks that come with centralised financial institutions like banks.
The deal with The Nollywood Factory forms part of a longer list of projects that Trendx has signed with African businesses. Businesses across different sectors—from logistics and real estate to mining and agricultural processing—have been onboarded on Trendx’s platform to tokenise their assets and raise capital. Money raised on Trendx has ranged from $5,000 to $2 million.
The evolution of Trendx
Today, Trendx is a leading blockchain-powered platform in Africa that connects capital-requiring businesses with an investment-ready community of users. But this was not always the founders’ vision. The evolution of Trendx can be traced to 2018, when Nelson Elemi and his cofounder Stanley Orji were trying to scale a WhatsApp-based crowdfunding drive they started with their friends and families. Their goal then was to raise some funds for their real-estate business, which had faced multiple loan request rejections from traditional banks.
And it worked; until it didn’t—when they reached the capital limits of their immediate network. The duo realised then that they could scale their little success and allow more people to come aboard a decentralised platform. That, after all, is the promise of blockchain technology.
Trendx notably provides African businesses with the opportunity to raise capital to launch projects or scale their ventures with alternative capital channels—a sure boon for startups amid a funding winter. Reports show that more and more African startups are seeking alternative capital to take their business to the next milestones, especially as more pan-African investors seem to be more rigid with their processes. But in what world do businesses with potential always have to wait on traditional financiers? Definitely not in Trendx’s world!
A Winning team and a winning product
Nelson and Stanley, both friends and business partners for over a decade, are joined by a third co-founder, Curtis Crentsil, a senior software engineer who makes sure Trendx is secure and responsive at all times. The company’s technology is currently based on polygon and ETH—but Trendx’s plans to build its native blockchain are underway.
Businesses onboarding on Trendx can choose whether they want to open their tokenisation round to the public or leverage their private networks to raise capital. They can also decide to issue equity tokens or fixed-income tokens backed by their assets. These options notably demonstrate the flexibility of Trendx’s business model.
A UK-based company, Vula, onboards businesses by collecting important business documents and cash flow statements and interpreting them into analytics for Trendx’s retail investors. The businesses routinely update their business information with Vula, maintaining the transparency culture that blockchain transactions are acclaimed for.
For users, the catch is that capital gains are accrued on the tokenised assets, which can be traded at any point or used as collateral to obtain loans. “We are doing these to provide our users with all the liquidity options they might need. Every investor has the right to be liquid; we’re making sure of that,” Nelson Elemi said.
Trendx is not just a startup that helps with tokenisation, says Stanley Orji, Trendx’s co-founder. “We want to bring revolutionary changes to Africa’s financial system. Our main goal is to change how people and businesses think about money. If Africa will leapfrog decades of infrastructural advancements, then it must do away with bottlenecks in capital flow. This is what Trendx represents: power to the people, powered by trust and transparency.”
Speaking about the deal with The Nollywood Factory, Nelson Elemi said: “We are barely a year old at Trendx, but we’ve been able to accomplish what has never been done on the continent. Nollywood represents Nigeria’s greatest export to the world. Yet, the lack of access to funding has crippled projects and stifled growth within the industry. However, that’s old news now. Trendx has come to empower Africans and its industries with the capital power they need to thrive.”
Obi Emelonye, Creative Lead at The Nollywood Factory, was effusive as he spoke about the partnership with TrendX. According to him, the emergence of big streamers—and their capital—on the continent has gradually eroded the decision-making independence of filmmakers. “But a community-powered funding model will wrestle control and enable people to invest into an industry they love,” he said.
Emelonye, who lectures at the Yorkshire Film & Television School, University of Huddersfield, further shared that all investing community members will be titled as executive producers and will participate in some decision-making processes. “The IP rights include rights to cinema, merchandising, licencing, and so on. It means an investor has the opportunity to earn from the lifetime value of the project,” he said.
When asked about some competitors in the space, such as Get Equity, Nelson Elemi maintains that Trendx goes beyond offering equity in startups. “We offer a full suite of financial options for our customers—and our clients can be any viable business in the world. With us, it’s not just fractional ownership. We offer a gateway to the future,” he said proudly.
