Across Africa’s booming creative landscape, thousands of photographers, designers, and digital artists struggle with one recurring challenge, visibility, fair pay, and trust.
The global freelance economy often overlooks African creators, locking them out with regional restrictions, delayed payments, and currency barriers that make creative work feel more like a gamble than a career.
Many talented artists end up underpaid, uncredited, or entirely invisible to the global market.
In this edition of Techparley’s DRIVE100, where we spotlight Africa’s most promising startups, we turn our attention to MyArteLab, founded by Ebuka Michael Esiobu, a Lagos-based multidisciplinary creative who’s transforming the African freelance economy through technology and trust.
MyArteLab is not merely a digital platform, it’s a bridge between creativity and credibility, connecting verified African photographers and visual designers with clients who often struggle to find reliable talent.
“Most global freelance platforms ignore African realities such as regional restrictions, delayed payments, and currency barriers,” Esiobu said. “This leaves creators unseen and clients underserved.”
An African Marketplace Built for Creators, by Creators
MyArteLab was born from the simple but powerful belief that African creatives deserve visibility, fairness, and access to global opportunities without systemic barriers.
The platform acts as a creative marketplace, enabling clients to search, discover, and book verified photographers and designers based on location, style, and budget, three crucial filters often missing on global freelance platforms.
For creators, the platform functions as both a portfolio space and a digital wallet. They can showcase their work, set their rates confidently, and receive instant payments through an integrated wallet that supports both fiat and stablecoins.
Every transaction is protected through a Solana-based escrow system, ensuring that payments are released only when both parties confirm satisfaction.
Esiobu captures the essence of this model best when he said, “MyArteLab provides a simple, secure, and transparent environment where trust replaces guesswork. We combine technology with empathy, because as creatives, we’ve lived these challenges firsthand.”
MyArteLab Core Attributes: Fairness and Trust
Unlike the global giants such as Upwork and Fiverr, which cater to freelancers worldwide, MyArteLab zeroes in on the African reality. It addresses unique pain points, from currency conversion issues and withdrawal delays to low visibility of African talent.
The startup’s unique value proposition lies in combining verified visibility, secure payments, and transparent user experience. Through blockchain, MyArteLab eliminates middlemen, ensuring that creators keep more of what they earn.
The ratings and review system builds accountability and transparency, while escrow-protected transactions prevent disputes and ensure smooth collaborations.
In Esiobu’s words, “Our mission is to give African talent the global stage they deserve. We’re proving that technology can power fairness.”
This approach doesn’t just build a marketplace; it builds a community of trust, one where creative value is recognized and rewarded across borders.
From a Creator’s Vision to Visible Impact
In just a short time, MyArteLab has evolved from a concept to a growing digital movement. The company is officially registered in Nigeria under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and already boasts an active online presence across X, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.
Its landing page (myartelab.com) has attracted a steadily growing waitlist of creators, showing genuine demand for a solution tailored to Africa’s creative professionals.
The startup has also maintained an offline presence, participating in creative events and exhibitions in Lagos, where it engages with photographers, designers, and potential clients to understand their challenges firsthand.
On the tech side, MVP development is currently in progress, built using the MERN stack with Solana blockchain integration. The inclusion of Solana ensures scalability and speed, essential for handling multiple payments seamlessly in the long run.
“We’ve grown a loyal following even before the product is fully live,” Esiobu noted. “It shows how desperate Africa’s creative ecosystem is for fair representation.”
Meet the Team: The Minds Behind the Movement
Behind MyArteLab’s progress is a small, determined team blending artistic vision and technical precision.
Ebuka Esiobu, the Founder and CEO, is a visual storyteller whose work spans photography, music, and brand collaborations.
Having worked with global artists like The Game, Camidoh, and Joshua Baraka, his career embodies the creative struggle, visibility gaps, delayed pay, and unfair treatment, that MyArteLab now aims to solve.
His Co-founder, Japhet John, brings the technical muscle. A blockchain developer with over five years of experience, he is also the President of the Blockchain Club at ATBU Bauchi and Lead Developer at SuperteamNG Bauchi Chapter.
His expertise in Solana and MERN stack development ensures that MyArteLab is not just visionary but technically solid.
“Together,” Esiobu said, “we’re merging artistic intuition with technical innovation to rebuild trust in Africa’s creative economy.”
Challenges, Lessons, and Resilience
Like every ambitious startup, MyArteLab has navigated its share of storms. Funding remains a central challenge, the team is currently bootstrapping the business through personal savings and community support, focusing on a lean but high-impact MVP build.
The early team also faced restructuring after the loss of its initial developer. Instead of stalling, Esiobu saw it as a reset, rebuilding around passion and shared vision.
“We’ve learned to adapt,” he explained. “Losing a team member didn’t break us; it refined our purpose.”
The team is also working on legal and structural readiness, seeking international registration to open up access to grants, investors, and compliance structures needed to scale.
“We’re consulting with a startup lawyer to plan for global expansion,” Esiobu added. “It’s not just about raising funds; it’s about raising the right kind of confidence.”
Scaling Vision: From Digital Platform to Creative Ecosystem
The roadmap for MyArteLab’s growth is ambitious but thoughtfully staged. Within the next six to twelve months, the startup plans to complete MVP testing, onboard its first 200 verified creators, and launch a mobile app to complement the web version.
A major highlight of its short-term vision is integrating AI-driven discovery features, allowing clients to instantly match with creators based on style, expertise, and location.
Beyond product development, Esiobu’s three-to-five-year vision expands into building MyArteLab Hubs, physical creative spaces in major African cities for workshops, networking, and cross-border collaborations.
These hubs will serve as incubators for creative innovation and community building.
In the long term, the team plans to establish the MyArteLab Foundation, dedicated to training, mentorship, and funding young African creatives.
“Our dream is to be Africa’s most trusted creative marketplace,” Esiobu emphasized, “but also its biggest creative family.”
Talking Points
MyArteLab strikes me as more than a startup, it feels like a quiet revolution in Africa’s creative ecosystem. Its focus on transparency, fairness, and blockchain-backed trust positions it as a refreshing alternative to global platforms that often overlook African realities.
What stands out most is its human-centered vision that aim empower photographers and designers not just to earn, but to be seen and valued on their own terms.
Of course, scaling such a model across multiple markets will demand consistent execution, investor confidence, and continuous education of both creators and clients about the technology behind it.
However, if MyArteLab maintains its authenticity and community-first approach, it could very well redefine how Africa’s creative economy operates, proving that innovation, when guided by empathy, can transform opportunity into lasting impact.
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