For three days in March, Lagos’ Landmark Event Centre was meant to be the epicenter of Africa’s creator economy. Mainstack, the sleek upstart positioning itself as the “operating system” for digital entrepreneurs, had poured resources into curating Moment 2026, an inaugural conference featuring panels, workshops, and a premium experience for over 4,000 attendees. Instead, the conference delivered one of the messiest public feuds the Nigerian tech scene has seen this year.
Days before the event kicked off on March 13, attendees noticed something odd. Large, eye-catching billboards dotted the venue, carrying motivational taglines like “Create with intention” and “Create what sells,” each prominently featuring the logo of Selar, Mainstack’s biggest rival in the Nigerian creator tools ecosystem. It was textbook ambush marketing—inserting your brand into a competitor’s spotlight without saying a word directly.
Selar CEO Douglas Kendyson later explained they’d disclosed the competitive nature to venue operators, who approved the placements after vetting. But Mainstack, having invested heavily in curating the conference experience, saw red and lodged complaints. The billboards came down swiftly.
What could have ended as a cheeky marketing anecdote instead exploded on X when former Selar Chief Marketing Officer Milton Tutu was unveiled as Mainstack’s new CMO right there at the event. Within hours, a wave of near-identical posts appeared from various accounts: “So, I guess I am moving with Milton Tutu to Mainstack” and similar variations announcing loyalty switches.
Kendyson responded with a thread on X that dropped bombs. “He was fired,” Kendyson wrote bluntly about Tutu’s departure. “I gave my blessings about his new position in December 2025 when they called me. Unfortunately, they’re stooping to making a cheap coordinated PR attack on our brand with scripted tweets when it’s been nothing but love from me. I’m not Michelle Obama.”
The final line referenced Michelle Obama’s famous phrase “When they go low, we go high,” making Kendyson’s stance crystal clear. Selar had no intention of staying quiet.
The $30 Billion Market These Two Are Fighting Over
This feud isn’t just personal drama. It exposes the growing pains and intensifying competition in an African creator economy projected to grow from roughly $5 billion in 2025 to nearly $30 billion by 2032. As the stakes rise, platforms are deploying aggressive marketing tactics, talent poaching, and loyalty programs to build moats around their user bases.
Selar, founded in 2016 by a former Paystack and Flutterwave engineer, has positioned itself as the reliable infrastructure of African creator monetization. With over 2.2 million users across 13 countries and more than $26 million in total payouts to creators, it remains the market incumbent. In 2025 alone, Selar says it paid out over ₦18 billion, approximately $12.86 million, to nearly 400,000 creators. The platform enables digital entrepreneurs to sell products including ebooks, courses, templates, and services with integrated payment processing, analytics, and marketing tools.
Mainstack, founded in 2022 by Ayobami Oyaleke and Olamide Akinola, takes a different approach. Rather than focusing purely on e-commerce infrastructure, Mainstack positions itself as the complete “operating system” for the creator economy, offering not just payment and storefront tools but portfolio management, analytics, and community-building features. The company raised funding and has been aggressively expanding across Africa, targeting creators who want more than transactional tools—they want brand-building infrastructure.
The Moment 2026 conference represented Mainstack’s bid to cement its position as the platform shaping Africa’s creator future. Over 4,000 creators, hundreds of brands, and industry stakeholders gathered for what was billed as the largest convergence of African creators in recent history. Mainstack wanted to own the narrative. Selar crashed the party.
What Actually Happened: A Timeline of the Billboard War
The sequence of events reveals how quickly marketing ambushes can spiral into personnel disputes and public feuds in Africa’s tight-knit tech ecosystem.
Days before Moment 2026 officially began on March 13, Selar purchased billboard space at the Landmark Event Centre venue. The billboards were large and eye-catching, featuring Selar branding with taglines designed to appeal directly to the creators Mainstack was hosting. According to Kendyson, Selar proactively disclosed the competitive nature of the placement to venue operators, who vetted and approved it. This was guerrilla marketing, not trademark infringement.
When Mainstack discovered the billboards, they lodged formal complaints with venue management. The billboards were removed before the conference officially started, but screenshots and social media posts had already circulated. Attendees and online observers noted the audacity—Selar had literally advertised inside a competitor’s flagship event.
On March 13, as Moment 2026 kicked off, Mainstack made a surprise announcement. Milton Tutu, who had spent four years at Selar as Chief Marketing Officer helping scale the platform from modest numbers to a continental force, was joining Mainstack in the same role. Photos of Tutu smiling confidently circulated widely. The announcement was designed for maximum impact at Mainstack’s event.
Within hours, X erupted with coordinated posts. Multiple accounts posted near-identical messages: “So, I guess I am moving with Milton Tutu to Mainstack #moment2026” and “#Momentbymainstack just announced that Milton is now the CMO! Milton moves from stellar to moment!” The consistency suggested scripting.
Douglas Kendyson, watching the posts flood his timeline, labeled them a “cheap coordinated PR attack” orchestrated by Mainstack. Then he dropped the personnel bombshell: Tutu hadn’t left Selar voluntarily. “He was fired,” Kendyson wrote, citing concerns over team management and leadership style. Kendyson also alleged that Mainstack had been running broader misinformation campaigns targeting Selar’s fees, payout reliability, and product quality.
The claim directly contradicted the narrative Tutu had presented publicly. When Tutu announced his exit in October 2025, he published a heartfelt Medium post titled “Leaving Selar, Not the Mission” that framed his departure as amicable. He detailed his four years scaling Selar to 2.2 million users across 13 countries and spoke positively about partnerships as recently as late 2025.
On Monday, March 16, Tutu responded with his own Medium post. “I’ve also heard claims that I was fired from Selar,” he wrote. “While multiple factors influenced my exit, the final and only official documentation that marked my exit from the company is my resignation letter, which was acknowledged by the leadership team.”
Tutu acknowledged that he might not have been a perfect boss or leader, framing his time at Selar as a learning experience. “You can call me a bad boss or a bad leader, but I am still only human, same as you, and with that comes the opportunity for learning and growth,” he wrote.
The statement didn’t end the controversy. It clarified Tutu’s position while leaving the core narrative dispute unresolved. Was he fired or did he resign? The documentation says resignation. Kendyson says termination. The truth likely sits somewhere in the messy middle where departures are negotiated and framed differently depending on whose story you’re hearing.
The Legal and Ethical Questions Nobody Can Agree On
The Selar-Mainstack feud raises questions about competitive conduct in African tech, where industry norms are still being established and the line between aggressive marketing and unethical behavior remains blurry.
From a legal perspective, Selar’s billboard placement sits in defensible territory. Ambush marketing—placing your brand near an event you did not sponsor—isn’t inherently unlawful in Nigeria or most African jurisdictions. For legal liability to arise, there would need to be evidence of trademark infringement, passing off, or deliberate misrepresentation of affiliation. Selar made no claim to be associated with Moment 2026, and the venue gave written approval for the placement.
The ethical question is less clear-cut. Mainstack invested significant resources in organizing the conference, creating an opportunity that drew thousands of creators to one location. Using that footfall without contributing to the event may be legally permissible, but it raises questions about conduct standards within the industry. African tech audiences appear divided on the matter, which itself reflects a broader reality—competitive norms in this ecosystem are still being established.
Brand strategist @lamideee_a, who attended Moment 2026, offered one of the most detailed industry perspectives on X. The response acknowledged the complexity: aggressive competition drives innovation, but personal attacks risk fracturing a community still building itself. As one observer framed it, this isn’t kumbaya. It’s business. Whether it fuels better products or just more tweets remains to be seen.
The coordinated X posts announcing Tutu’s move to Mainstack occupy similarly murky territory. If Mainstack orchestrated identical tweets from multiple accounts to amplify Tutu’s announcement, that’s coordinated marketing, which is standard practice for major announcements. But if those tweets implied that creators should switch platforms based on personnel moves, framing Tutu as “the star product being transferred,” that edges into attacking a competitor’s brand rather than promoting your own.
Kendyson’s public claim that Tutu was fired, rather than allowing the resignation narrative to stand, is another gray area. If the claim is true and termination was the operational reality behind a negotiated resignation, Kendyson was being honest in response to what he perceived as a coordinated attack. If the claim is false or exaggerated, it’s a reputational attack on a former employee who can’t fully defend himself without burning bridges.
Neither company emerges from this looking purely professional. Both deployed tactics that prioritize competitive advantage over industry collegiality. That’s not necessarily wrong—business is competitive—but it signals that Africa’s creator economy wars are intensifying, and the gloves are coming off.
What Moment 2026 Revealed Beyond the Drama
For attendees at Moment 2026, the Selar-Mainstack drama likely overshadowed some sessions, but the conference also revealed something about Mainstack’s ambitions and execution capacity.
According to a Condia reporter who attended, “For a first attempt, The Moment 2026 did well. You could tell by the crowd that people were excited to be there. But, being a pioneer project, there were definitely some first-time hiccups.”
Logistically, the event struggled. Big screens showed only the Moment logo instead of displaying speaker names or panel topics, making it hard to follow discussions. Ushers and volunteers seemed lost and couldn’t answer basic questions about the schedule. These are typical first-conference problems, the kind that get smoothed out with experience. But they also suggest that Mainstack, in its rush to host Africa’s largest creator convergence, may have prioritized scale over polish.
The conference drew over 4,000 attendees including creators, brands, and industry stakeholders, which by any measure represents a successful turnout for a first-time event. Panels covered monetization strategies, brand partnerships, content creation best practices, and the future of Africa’s digital economy. Brands used the opportunity to announce partnerships and product launches. Creators networked, learned, and built relationships.
But the billboard controversy and the Tutu announcement dominated the conversation, both at the venue and online. Mainstack wanted Moment 2026 to position them as the platform leading Africa’s creator economy. Instead, the narrative became about their feud with Selar. That’s a marketing failure regardless of who was right or wrong about the tactics.
The Talent Poaching Dimension Nobody’s Talking About Enough
The Milton Tutu situation exposes a dimension of African tech competition that doesn’t get discussed openly enough: talent poaching as competitive strategy.
Tutu spent four years at Selar, from a period when the platform was still building its brand to the point where it reached 2.2 million users across 13 countries. In his October 2025 farewell Medium post, Tutu detailed the growth journey and positioned his departure as pursuing the mission of empowering creators through different means. The framing suggested an amicable split with mutual respect.
Mainstack reached out in December 2025, according to Kendyson, who claims he gave his blessing for the hire. That timeline suggests Mainstack identified Tutu as valuable talent and pursued him deliberately, which is standard competitive practice. Companies hire talented people from competitors all the time. It’s how ecosystems function.
But announcing Tutu’s hire at Moment 2026, Mainstack’s flagship event, with coordinated social media posts amplifying the news, transforms a simple hire into a public statement. The message being sent wasn’t just “we hired a talented CMO.” It was “we hired Selar’s CMO, and creators are switching with him.” That’s talent poaching as marketing weapon.
Kendyson’s response—publicly claiming Tutu was fired rather than maintaining a professional silence—suggests he viewed the announcement and the coordinated posts as a direct attack on Selar’s brand. By claiming termination, Kendyson was attempting to undercut the narrative that Tutu left for a better opportunity, reframing it as Selar making a leadership decision to let him go.
Tutu’s response, emphasizing his resignation letter as the official documentation, pushes back without directly accusing Kendyson of lying. He acknowledges imperfection as a leader while maintaining that the exit was his choice. It’s a careful statement that protects his reputation while not escalating the conflict further.
What neither side is saying publicly is that the truth about employment exits is almost always complex. Employees resign because they see limited growth opportunities, disagree with leadership, or receive better offers. Employers allow resignations because terminating someone creates legal risk, damages morale, and generates negative press. The negotiated resignation where both parties agree to frame it as voluntary departure is standard corporate practice.
The Selar-Mainstack feud dragged that negotiated ambiguity into public view and forced both sides to take positions. Kendyson chose aggression. Tutu chose measured defense. Neither approach is wrong, but both reveal how personal these competitive battles become in Africa’s small, interconnected tech ecosystem.
What This Means for Africa’s Creator Economy Wars
The billboard battle and the Tutu controversy signal that competition in Africa’s creator economy is entering a more aggressive phase. Platforms are no longer content to compete quietly on product features and pricing. They’re using guerrilla marketing, talent poaching, ambassador programs, and coordinated social media campaigns to build moats around their user bases.
This intensification reflects the market opportunity. A $30 billion creator economy by 2032 represents life-changing scale for platforms that capture even small percentages of total transactions. If creator platforms typically take 5 to 10 percent fees, capturing just 1 percent of a $30 billion market means $300 million in annual revenue. That’s enough to justify aggressive competition.
Selar’s incumbent position gives it advantages. With 2.2 million users and a reputation for reliability, the platform benefits from network effects and brand trust. Creators who’ve built audiences on Selar are sticky—they won’t switch platforms casually because migration risks losing customers and disrupting revenue streams.
Mainstack’s challenger position requires aggressive tactics. They need to convince creators that switching platforms delivers enough value to justify the migration cost. Hiring Selar’s former CMO sends a signal: we understand what made Selar work, and we’re building something better. Announcing that hire at Mainstack’s flagship conference amplifies the signal.
The question is whether these tactics build sustainable competitive advantages or just generate drama that distracts from product development. Platforms win by solving creator problems—better payment processing, stronger analytics, easier content delivery, more effective marketing tools. Billboards and personnel announcements make noise, but they don’t make products better.
Healthy competition drives innovation. Selar seeing Mainstack gain traction incentivizes improving their platform. Mainstack watching Selar’s market dominance motivates building differentiated features. Creators benefit from platforms competing to serve them better.
But competition that devolves into personal attacks, coordinated PR campaigns, and public disputes over personnel matters risks fracturing the ecosystem. African tech is small enough that everyone knows everyone. Burning bridges has long-term consequences. The talent that leaves Selar today might lead another competitor tomorrow. The executives making enemies now will encounter those same people in partnership discussions, investment rounds, and ecosystem convenings for years.
The Unanswered Question: Was Any of This Worth It?
Three days after Moment 2026 ended, the African tech ecosystem is still processing what happened. The conference succeeded in drawing 4,000 creators to one venue, creating networking opportunities and knowledge sharing. But the narrative became about the Selar-Mainstack feud, not about Mainstack’s vision for empowering creators.
Did Selar’s billboard gambit work? The brand got attention and reminded creators that alternatives to Mainstack exist. But the billboards were removed quickly, and the subsequent drama shifted focus to personnel disputes rather than product differentiation. It’s unclear whether any creators actually switched to Selar because of the marketing stunt.
Did Mainstack’s announcement of hiring Milton Tutu work? The company demonstrated ability to attract talent from the incumbent and generated significant social media buzz. But the coordinated posts triggered accusations of manufactured PR attacks, and Kendyson’s response dominated headlines more than Mainstack’s announcement. The optics became about drama rather than strategic hiring.
Did Douglas Kendyson’s aggressive response work? He defended Selar’s brand and pushed back against what he viewed as coordinated attacks. But publicly claiming a former employee was fired rather than resigned risks looking petty and creates questions about Selar’s internal culture. Future talent might hesitate before joining a company where the CEO publicly disputes departure narratives.
Did Milton Tutu’s measured response work? He clarified his position without escalating conflict further and maintained professional dignity. But the controversy now follows him into his new role at Mainstack, creating pressure to deliver results that justify the drama surrounding his hire.
The answer to “was this worth it” probably depends on what happens next. If Mainstack uses the attention from Moment 2026 to launch compelling product features that attract creators from Selar, the drama becomes a footnote in a successful growth story. If Selar retains users and grows despite Mainstack’s aggressive tactics, Kendyson’s public defense of the brand will look prescient.
But if both companies simply burned credibility and goodwill in service of generating social media noise that doesn’t translate to user growth or revenue, then the Moment 2026 feud becomes a cautionary tale about confusing attention with progress.
What Comes Next for Creator Platform Wars
As the dust settles, the African tech ecosystem will be watching closely to see whether Mainstack’s upcoming product rollouts can match the volume of drama surrounding its new CMO’s arrival. Milton Tutu now carries the burden of proving that hiring him was a strategic win, not just a personnel raid designed to weaken a competitor.
For Selar, the challenge is maintaining its incumbent position while Mainstack aggressively courts creators with the promise of being a more comprehensive operating system rather than just e-commerce infrastructure. Product differentiation and reliability will matter more than billboard placement or social media drama.
For creators caught in the middle, the rivalry creates both opportunity and risk. Competition between platforms should drive better features, lower fees, and improved service. But platform drama can also create uncertainty about which tools to invest time learning and building audiences on. Creators need stability. Platforms fighting public battles don’t project stability.
The broader lesson is that Africa’s creator economy is maturing rapidly, and with maturity comes intensified competition. The collegial early days where ecosystem builders cheered each other’s success are giving way to market fights where platforms deploy aggressive tactics to win users and defend territory.
This isn’t inherently bad. Mature markets are competitive markets. But the tactics matter. Platforms that compete by building better products, improving creator economics, and solving real problems will create sustainable advantages. Platforms that compete primarily through marketing stunts, talent poaching, and social media drama risk winning battles while losing the war for creator trust and loyalty.
Right now, the scoreboard reads: Selar pulled off a guerrilla marketing stunt that got noticed but quickly removed. Mainstack hired a high-profile CMO but got dragged into a public personnel dispute. Both companies generated headlines that had nothing to do with serving creators better.
The creators, who are supposed to be the center of this economy, mostly watched two platforms fight about billboards and employment exits. That’s entertainment, maybe. But it’s not empowerment.
And in a $30 billion market opportunity, the platforms that figure out how to empower creators without creating drama might be the ones that win long-term. Because ultimately, creators don’t care about rivalries. They care about tools that help them make money, build audiences, and create sustainable businesses.
Everything else is noise.
The Moment 2026 conference ran March 13-15, 2026 at Landmark Event Centre in Lagos. Mainstack announced Milton Tutu as CMO during the conference. Douglas Kendyson responded on X claiming Tutu was fired. Tutu issued a Medium response March 16 stating he resigned. The African creator economy is projected to grow from $5 billion in 2025 to $30 billion by 2032.
