How Dr. Sulaiman Kassim Is Backing Africa’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

By Ugo Aliogo

Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape is undergoing a profound shift. Across the continent, a new generation of founders is emerging, building businesses in media, technology, fashion, agriculture, and the creative industries at a pace that few anticipated even a decade ago. Yet for many of them, the obstacle is not ambition or ideas. It is access: to mentorship, to capital, to networks, and to the kind of structured, long-term guidance that transforms a promising venture into a sustainable company. That gap, visible to anyone paying close attention, has become the defining mission of multi-award-winning media executive and entrepreneur Dr. Sulaiman Kassim.

“Talent exists everywhere across the continent,” he says. “What’s often missing is structure, the support systems that help founders move from an idea to a scalable business.”

It is this conviction that led him to launch TEN Works, a venture builder designed to support early-stage African entrepreneurs and creative founders. Rather than functioning as a traditional investor, the platform focuses on what Kassim believes is even more valuable at the earliest stages of a business: strategic partnership. Through TEN Works, he works alongside founders, helping refine business models, connect ventures to networks, and support long-term growth strategies. The goal is not simply to fund companies, but to help build the foundations that allow them to thrive.

The philosophy reflects Kassim’s own career trajectory. Over more than two decades working within the African media industry, including leadership roles at MultiChoice Group and as Executive Producer of major productions such as Nigerian Idol, he witnessed firsthand how opportunity can transform lives when talent meets the right platform.

Reality television, often dismissed as pure entertainment, proved to be something far more powerful. Shows like Nigerian Idol did not just produce ratings; they launched careers, built new creative pipelines, and helped expand the continent’s cultural economy. Behind the cameras, hundreds of young professionals; editors, directors, producers, sound engineers, writers, were learning their craft on large-scale productions that demanded world-class execution. Many of those individuals have since gone on to lead projects across Africa and beyond.

“The creative economy is one of Africa’s most underestimated growth engines,” Kassim says. “But building an industry requires more than talent, it requires people willing to invest in others.”
That ethos of mentorship has become central to his work. Over the years, colleagues and collaborators have consistently noted his deliberate focus on developing the next generation of leaders within the productions he manages. Young professionals who entered projects as assistants or junior crew members frequently found themselves given expanded responsibilities — gaining both technical mastery and the confidence that comes with being trusted early.

For Kassim, that process is intentional. Leadership, he believes, is not defined solely by personal success but by how many others are empowered along the journey.

This belief now shapes the broader vision behind TEN Works. The venture builder focuses on sectors where Africa’s growth potential intersects with creativity and innovation, from media and cultural enterprises to emerging technology platforms and sustainable businesses. Kassim also sees the model as part of a larger conversation about Africa’s economic future. Across the continent, young people represent one of the fastest-growing populations in the world. Harnessing that demographic advantage will require new pathways for entrepreneurship, particularly in industries where African creators and founders can compete globally.

“Africa’s next economic chapter will be written by its entrepreneurs,” he says. “Our responsibility is to make sure they have the tools and networks to succeed.”

This approach reflects a broader shift in Kassim’s own career, from shaping stories on screen to helping entrepreneurs write their own.

And while the transition from television executive to venture builder may appear unexpected, Kassim sees it as a natural evolution. Both worlds, he argues, rely on the same fundamental principle: believing in people before the world sees their potential.

“Every successful production starts with talent that someone was willing to take a chance on,” he says. “Entrepreneurship is no different.”

In many ways, the mission of TEN Works mirrors the philosophy that guided his work in entertainment for years: build the platform, empower the talent, and let the next generation take it further. For Kassim, the ultimate measure of success will not be the companies he helps launch, but the ecosystem they create in return.

“If we do this right,” he says, “the entrepreneurs we support today will become the mentors, investors, and leaders who shape Africa’s future tomorrow.”
And that, he believes, is how lasting impact is built, one opportunity at a time.