Choplife, the entertainment and technology company founded by Nigerian musician Mr Eazi, has moved its operations to Itana, Nigeria’s first digital special economic zone, as it seeks to simplify its business across Africa.
The move gives Choplife a new corporate and regulatory base as it expands its businesses across Africa and targets global audiences.
Mr Eazi, whose real name is Oluwatosin Ajibade, said Itana would help the company manage its operations from a single African base instead of dealing with different business, banking and regulatory systems across countries.
“It is an opportunity for us to leverage and centralise our operations. It is very important to us that it is on the continent,” Ajibade said.
Choplife operates across entertainment, media, technology, gaming and intellectual property, with businesses spanning several African countries.
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Ajibade said that operating across multiple countries often entails repeating the same registration and compliance processes, which can delay expansion and make it harder for businesses to capitalize on opportunities.
He said Itana provides a platform for Choplife to maintain an African identity while operating to global standards.
“The ethos is to build an African company… or to build a pan-African company that, in its operation, in its registration, in its composition, is truly African from top to bottom, but is world-class,” he said.
Itana CEO Chinyere Inya said Choplife’s entry shows that the zone can serve businesses in the creative economy as well as technology companies.
“Their expansion reflects a growing wave of innovative companies choosing to build from Itana for a global audience,” she said.
Itana, which currently hosts about 50 companies, provides businesses with digital incorporation, multicurrency accounts, and other services to make cross-border operations easier.
Ajibade said Choplife plans to use its new base to expand content production, including film and media, while continuing to build its African operations.
For Itana, bringing a major entertainment and creative business into the zone could also strengthen its appeal to Nigeria’s growing creative economy and businesses beyond traditional technology startups.
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
