Facebook CEO Visits Afrinolly, Meets With Nollywood Stars (Photos)

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, visited Afrinolly, a studio which is using the latest technology to help make Nollywood films.

During his visit on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, Zuckerberg met some filmmakers including Kunle Afolayan, Rita Dominic, Adebola Williams, Richard Mofe Damijo, Stephanie Linus among others.


Mark was given a tour of Afrinolly by Chike Maduegbuna, who runs the production studio.

Maduegbunaa gave Zuckerberg an overview of how films are made and distributed in Nigeria, with Afrinolly’s mobile app being one of the most popular ways that Nigerians watch African music videos, films, comedy and trailers.

“Nollywood is struggling to grapple with the level of organization and resources required to provide Studio-based Production Infrastructures/Services," Maduegbuna said.

"Similarly, Piracy and inadequate Cinemas have limited the Movie Distribution channels available to Nollywood. We see two opportunities for Nollywood: first, is to embrace technology and establish viable Mobile-phone Distribution of Movies to complement the expanding Cinema chains. Second is to reconcile content production and its business model to accommodate technological changes in available audience-screens."

"It used to be Cinema, TV, and DVDs, but we now have a huge Digital audience that use Mobile phones and Portable Devices to watch movies. Nollywood must adjust to the new audience by redefining content production to include short films, comedy skits, and music videos. These are areas that Afrinolly is currently focusing on.”


Speaking on Nollywood, the Facebook CEO described Nollywood as "one of the best resources in the world for producing content."

Zuckerberg arrived Nigeria on August 30, 2016, to see first-hand how entrepreneurs in the country are creating the next wave of mobile innovation, and learn how Facebook can better support tech development and entrepreneurship in emerging markets.