Kudakwashe Maradzika Named to Creation Africa Program

The Lincoln Green Media founder was chosen as a finalist for the entrepreneur development initiative.

Updated on Sept. 30, 2026 in Marketing

A professional creative studio workspace with a drafting table, animation light-pad, and abstract storyboards under soft, natural daylight.
Lincoln Green Media founder Kudakwashe Maradzika was named a finalist for the Creation Africa entrepreneur development program to scale her intellectual property studio. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Do you believe creators should retain full intellectual property rights to their original work?

Kudakwashe Maradzika, founder of the intellectual property studio Lincoln Green Media, has been selected as one of 15 finalists for the second edition of the Creation Africa entrepreneur development program. The initiative supports creative business leaders across South Africa, Lesotho, and Malawi.

Why it matters

The program provides a platform for Maradzika to scale Lincoln Green Media, an studio that develops stories for comic books, animation, and live-action projects. This selection highlights the growing focus on professionalizing African storytelling and production ecosystems for global distribution.

The Creation Africa program selected 15 entrepreneurs from a pool of more than 340 applicants. The initiative focuses on scaling creative businesses across South Africa, Lesotho, and Malawi.

The players

Kudakwashe Maradzika

She is the founder of Lincoln Green Media and a participant in the Creation Africa program.

Netflix

This is a global streaming service that distributed the series Bad Influencer.

Creation Africa

It is an entrepreneur development program supporting creative industries in South Africa, Lesotho, and Malawi.

The details

Maradzika gained international recognition following the October 2025 premiere of the Netflix series Bad Influencer, which she developed through the Realness Institute and Netflix Episodic Lab. Her studio is currently adapting the comic Beasts of Tazeti into an animation project in collaboration with a South Korea-based partner.

Timeline

  1. Lincoln Green Media was founded in 2022.

  2. The Netflix series Bad Influencer premiered in October 2025.

  3. Bad Influencer recorded four million views between November 3 and 9, 2025.

  4. The Creation Africa entrepreneur selection was announced on September 30, 2026.

Market Landscape

This selection signals a shift toward institutional support for African content studios competing in a global streaming environment. It mirrors the strategic role of the Netflix Episodic Lab in fostering professional development within emerging entertainment markets.

Consumers can expect more African-originated intellectual property to reach global platforms as studios like Lincoln Green Media secure development support. This may result in an increased volume of localized animation and live-action series available on streaming services.

The takeaway

Creative founders in emerging markets are increasingly leveraging high-profile streaming successes to attract broader institutional development support. Expanding into international partnerships is a common strategy for scaling local intellectual property into global entertainment franchises.

Further reading

Learn more about emerging media strategies in the Marketing section.

Source note: This article includes information reported by Daily Maverick.

Live Poll

Do you believe creators should retain full intellectual property rights to their original work?