Leenkies launches to help African creators earn beyond platform payouts

For years, monetisation for many African creators has been inconsistent – either locked out of platform-led revenue streams such as TikTok payouts, or reliant on affiliate links and one-off campaigns.

Nigerian YouTuber Tayo Aina is seeking to address that gap. His new platform, Leenkies, is designed to give creators a more direct way to earn from their audiences – allowing them to take payments and manage work from a single link.

He told The Daily Influence the idea came from his own experience of underutilised demand.

"For a very long time, it was just a link to my YouTube channel," he said. "People might click it, but there wasn't anywhere for them to actually buy or see what else I offer."

Aina has spent nearly a decade building a YouTube audience of more than one million subscribers, producing documentary-style content on travel and culture across Africa. That experience, he said, exposed how difficult it can be to convert attention into revenue.

Creator-led control

Link-in-bio tools – popularised by platforms like Linktree and Beacons – give creators a single page to organise their links. But Aina said they are built for traffic, not transactions.

Leenkies, he said, is designed to go further, combining that front-end link with tools that allow creators to sell products, manage brand deals, send invoices and track performance – effectively turning a profile link into a business hub.

The platform integrates payment systems including Paystack in Nigeria, M-Pesa in Kenya, and MoMo in Ghana, alongside global providers like Stripe, aiming to reduce friction in markets where cross-border payments remain a barrier.

"We want to make sure that wherever a buyer is coming from, they can pay easily, and creators can receive that money without delays," Aina said.

Rather than taking a percentage of creator earnings, Leenkies charges a flat monthly subscription of $9.99. He said this is so creators can "keep most of what they earn, especially when they are just starting."

Leenkies is still in its early stages, but early usage suggests demand is healthy. Aina said he generated over $1,000 in sales within a week from an existing product link after switching to the platform, while other creators have reported increased visibility.

The launch comes as questions around creator monetisation in Nigeria have intensified, driven by gaps in platform payouts and growing scrutiny over how digital income is generated and taxed.

It's a shift Aina said many African creators are already navigating and he expects will fuel more entrepreneurship going forward.

"If you want to build a sustainable business, you need products or services around your audience," he said.

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