When Nelson Eze, Ruth Okoli, and Jude Enete launched Nestuge in April 2023, they weren’t just building another platform, they were on a mission to address a gap in the creator economy. Traditional marketplaces often overshadowed digital products, making them invisible, and lacked the specialised tools creators needed to thrive. Nestuge was founded as an all-in-one platform for digital creators to host and launch their products, providing the infrastructure to manage and monetise their offerings in one unified space.
“We saw creators piecing together multiple platforms, spending more time on logistics than on creation,” says Nelson Eze, CEO and Head of Tech at Nestuge. “Our goal was to consolidate everything, making it seamless.”
From its inception, Nestuge quickly established itself as an innovative underdog in the digital product space, consistently rolling out features that were not just improvements but industry-firsts for the African market.
From smart automations like its Telegram, WhatsApp, Google Drive and automated email sequences to streamlined onboarding processes, these tools were designed to reduce creators’ redundant administrative tasks, freeing them to focus on creating content.
Another of its unique features is its pricing structure. Nestuge’s PAYG model grants users free access to all core sales features, including setting up digital storefronts, hosting courses, and managing memberships. Charges are only incurred when users exceed 500MB of free storage or utilise advanced automated actions. This model lowers the barrier to entry, particularly for new creators or those with variable resource needs, directly aligning costs with usage.
In a move to celebrate and incentivise success, Nestuge became the first in the African ecosystem to introduce recognition plaques for users who cross $10,000, $1000,000 sales milestones, among others, fostering a community where achievements are visibly celebrated.
And now, Nestuge has unveiled one of its most impressive innovations to date: “Discover by Nestuge.”
“Discover is a sister product, a new feature that amplifies our mission. We envision Nestuge Discover as the ‘Jumia for Digital Products,” the company said. It’s a dedicated marketplace where anyone, anywhere in the world, can easily search for digital products and make purchases without necessarily knowing the individual creator behind them. This expands the creators’ reach, allowing them to sell faster and tap into a global audience.
While Nestuge empowers creators with powerful tools, Discover is about discoverability. It addresses the fundamental need for digital products to be easily found, offering a streamlined buying experience similar to what consumers expect from major e-commerce platforms.
Nestuge caters to a diverse range of industry experts, including coaches, educators, creators, and community builders, selling digital products like courses, e-books, and paid coaching. The platform offers tools for managing and monetising these offerings in a single place. For instance, creators can effortlessly host and manage online courses, issue completion certificates, and track student progress all from a unified dashboard.
The platform further enhances operational efficiency and global reach through seamless integration with household tools like Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Mailchimp.
Why a platform dedicated to digital product creators?
Valued at $5.10 billion and estimated to reach $29.84 billion in 2032, Africa’s creator economy is on a steep upward trajectory. Nestuge, with its continuous innovation and now the launch of Discover, is positioning itself as more than just a tool; it’s a movement to empower creators to build, scale, and grow communities independently.
Traditional e-commerce platforms primarily cater to physical goods, leaving digital creators with cumbersome and inadequate tools. Digital creators require more than just a storefront; they need integrated systems for content delivery, customer access control, payment flexibility, and automated onboarding. Platforms like Nestuge, with Discover at its core, consolidate these essential features, eliminating the need to piece together multiple disparate services.
By consistently pioneering features like smart automations, team collaboration, the PAYG model, creator recognition, and now the groundbreaking Discover marketplace, Nestuge is truly levelling the playing field for digital entrepreneurs across Africa, solidifying its position as an innovative force to watch.
