Rof Maneta: African Creators Leveraging AI Tools to Build Viable Livelihoods

Strategic Partner Manager for Creators at Meta in Sub-Saharan Africa, Rof Maneta, in this interview with Sunday Ehigiator highlighted how African creators are leveraging diverse content formats, community engagement and emerging AI tools to build viable livelihoods and grow their audiences locally and globally

Why did Facebook see this year’s African Creators Summit as an important moment in engaging more closely with creators across Sub-Saharan Africa?

I think what’s worth noting is that this is the third version, right? So, we’ve been at every version of the African Creators Summit. And I think just as Meta, we view creators as innovators, as storytellers. And this summit in particular is sort of a mix of culture and technology, and we want to be at the forefront of that intersection.

And we think Facebook is also a good way to help creators monetise as well. So, we want to support the summit, but we also want to support the ecosystem as well.

What makes Nigeria such an important market for creators on Facebook?

Nigerians are really interested in monetising in different ways. So, it’s not just video. It’s text. It’s a video, of course. It’s text, it’s photos.

And of course, on Facebook, you can monetise all kinds of content, which is why it was important for us to support creators. So, there’s a matrix of ways that creators monetise, and that’s what makes Nigeria so different.

Facebook is also a huge market globally for Nigeria, which is why it makes sense for us to be here, to nurture the ecosystem, and to make sure people are producing in the best ways possible.

What trends are you seeing among African creators today?

I think, as I mentioned earlier, it’s just not monetising video. It’s monetising across a whole number of different media formats. So, it’s reels. It’s photos. It’s a video.

And I think what’s also interesting is that creators are sort of looking for long-term sustainability. So, the content they produce themselves is long-term content, but they’re also looking for an ecosystem that’ll support them long-term as well. We want to make sure we’re that ecosystem.

So, for example, last year we got rid of half a million spam accounts—accounts that showed spammy behaviour or fake engagement—just to make sure creators are in a healthy ecosystem. We’ve also cracked down on unoriginal content, just to make sure our ecosystem is functioning well. Over 10 million accounts that were impersonating creators have all been deleted. And with unoriginal content as well, whenever someone copies your content or steals your content, we’ve put down measures to make sure that content isn’t distributed and isn’t monetised at all.

You mentioned earlier that Facebook is committed to supporting African creators and the economy. What has been done to make the platform support creators’ growth?

I think in terms of growth, number one, we’ve reworked our Facebook feed, on Facebook in particular. But I also think what makes us different from any other platform is the different services where you can grow. So, for example, if you want to be discovered, if you want to grow your account, you can post reels, and that’s how you get discovered. If you want to connect meaningfully with friends and family, you can do that through your stories, through your feed, and you can post photos. So, there are different ways you can grow on the app.

If you want to be discovered, you can post reels. If you want to connect with family or build community, we make sure the community-building features are there as well.

AI tools are becoming more embedded in content creation. What tools should Facebook creators look out for?

I think Meta AI is a big one, especially on Facebook. So, there are translation and dubbing features. So, if you’re in a country where Meta AI is supported, you can literally use Meta AI to translate your videos so that you can grow to a global audience. These are already existing technologies.

Other ones are in the works, but those I can’t talk about. But for now, what we have currently is Meta AI, the translation features, and the dubbing features.

What’s great about the dubbing features is that it looks at the movement in your video and syncs to your voice, so it looks like you’re the one who’s actually speaking. And I think that’s a great way to help you grow your audience, because audiences are multilingual.

Visibility is important to creators, but so is connection. How does Facebook help creators build deeper relationships with their audience?

I think it goes back to some of the things I mentioned earlier. It’s about posting on different surfaces.

So, the idea is that if you want to grow, we have features that help you grow. For example, reels. If you post a reel, it’s predominantly going to be shown to people who don’t follow you. That’s how you get discovered as a creator.

If you want to build community, you can post a different kind of content—photos, stories, or other media. There are also community-building features like Facebook Groups. So, it’s really about using different surfaces for different things.

For creators looking to grow and monetise, what opportunities does Facebook offer today?

I think number one is support. We have workshops called Creator Labs, where we teach creators how to monetise.

We also show up at events like this African Creators Summit. But generally speaking, if you go to our Help Centre, we’re very candid and transparent about what it takes to monetise.

If you follow our community guidelines, produce eligible content, not just video but different types of content, you’re over 18 and in an eligible country, then you should be able to monetise.

What are the best practices creators should know when creating content on Facebook?

Number one, it has to be original. Make sure it’s your own original, authentic content. That’s the biggest piece of advice we can give.

Number two, don’t post content with third-party watermarks. Sometimes people create content outside the app and import it, and that’s something to be careful about.

Make sure the audio is eligible. Follow our community guidelines. And where you can, use trending audio and sounds from our library.

On a personal note, what has been the most inspiring thing you’ve seen African creators do on Facebook in the past year?

Build their livelihoods. Facebook is unique, not just in Sub-Saharan Africa but across the continent, because people are able to build livelihoods from it.

People tend to think of Facebook as a platform for much older people, but we see it as a place for young audiences as well, where they discover new creators. Creators being discovered, publishing, and choosing Facebook as their platform of choice—that’s been really inspiring.

Many creators worry about burnout. How can creators grow sustainably without feeling pressure to always be online?

Number one, find a pattern that works for you. When creators ask me how often to post, I usually say anything between one and three times a week is fine. Take breaks as well. But when you take those breaks, you can plan for content to still go out. Create a buffer or a bank of content and schedule it during the time you’re away.

That way, you’re still publishing and getting engagement, but you can step away a bit.

For someone just starting, what’s one simple thing you’d advise them to focus on before monetisation?

Finding your voice. Everyone wants to monetise, and that’s important. But people support content that’s unique and that they haven’t seen anywhere else.

So, find your voice, and everything else will follow. Your voice is the most important thing.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of Africa’s creative economy?

What excites me most is how we use AI. Across the continent, we’re very inventive, and we use technology in different ways. Last year, during a Meta AI campaign, we had a designer who created an entire fashion line using AI; the designs and the whole collection. Seeing how creators use AI meaningfully to create content is something I’m really looking forward to.

What originally drew you to working with creators, and how has that shaped your role at Meta?

Before working with creators, I was a journalist. Journalism is about discovery; coming in to speak with someone and not knowing their story, then finding out.

It’s the same with creators. I might work with 150 creators, and each has a different story. That discovery mindset is what drew me to this work.

It used to be journalism, and now it’s amplifying creators’ stories through one of the biggest social media platforms in the world.

That still informs how I work today, especially discovering new creators, not just working with the same established ones.

What’s one misconception you often hear about African creators?

The biggest misconception is that creators across the continent have very different challenges. Whether I’m in Nigeria, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, or anywhere else, most people want the same thing: to make a living from what they do. If people understood that shared reality, it would be easier to build a strong creator community across Africa.

Outside of work, are there African creators or content styles you personally enjoy on Facebook?

I really enjoy reaction videos; meaningful reaction videos, not just facial expressions.

I like commentary videos on current affairs and pop culture. And comedy. Comedy is universal, whether it’s from Lagos, Los Angeles, or South Africa.

If you could leave African creators with one piece of encouragement, what would it be?

Facebook cares for you. Facebook, as an ecosystem, cares for creators.

Be yourself. Everyone you admire brought something original that didn’t exist before. Keep creating. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have—the followers will come.