After experiencing exponential growth in 2021 and not knowing where the road would lead us last year, we are proud to say that 2022 was equally phenomenal.

Our goal at Selar has always been to make it easy for creators to sell their digital products online and get paid easily from anywhere in the world.

In 2021, we paid about $2M to all our creators, and we doubled that in 2022, paying over $4.5M to creators on our platform.

We couldn’t have done this on our own, it’s only possible with the help of the amazing creators that trust us with their business.

At the start of 2022, we had 20,000+ creators and we ended the year with more than triple that amount, 70,000 creators, all selling their products on Selar. We couldn’t be more thankful! 

We also had customers who bought products from our merchants from over 180 countries in the world and this just reinforces one of our goals, to simplify payment processes to enable creators sell to anyone, anywhere in the world, and receive payments from anywhere in the world.

Check out other impressive milestones from Selar!

Selar Digital Creator Summit

In growing the creator economy in Africa, one of our major focuses is to go full throttle on audience education and show people the possibilities digital products have to offer.

Amidst so many events and programs that we had, our summits were the major highlights for us as we recorded a high number of attendees from over 7 countries. In our Digital Creator Summit, we had guest speakers like Tricia Biz, Ankur Nagpal (Founder, Teachable), and other expert creators in the ecosystem.

Selar Affiliate Network

In 2021, one of our most used features at Selar was the affiliate feature. With it, creators can easily add affiliates to their product so they can promote it for a commission.

With the success of that feature, in 2022, we launched Selar’s Affiliate Network – a marketplace where creators can list their digital products for free and affiliates can pick any product of their choice and promote it for a commission on each sale made.

Having launched the Affiliate Network in June 2022, we grew to over 86,000 users (affiliates) in just 6 months. These numbers show and reinforce what we are building at Selar – that the creator economy would not just benefit creators but anyone interested in being a part of all it offers. 

The Ultimate Digital Product Manual

We launched one of the most resourceful ebooks for creators in Africa – The Ultimate Digital Product Manual. The Ultimate Digital Product Manual is a free ebook by creators, for creators. 

We partnered with 12 leading creators in Africa: Naomi Osemedua, Amba Eyang-Ajakaiye (idarenotdread), Milton Tutu, Emmanuel Akpe, Oyekunle Damola, Ally Wealth, Adewuyi Tamilore, Padebi Ojomo, Salem King, Bolaji Ajibare, Ellena Affah, and Naijabrandchick to write this book, teaching you all about digital products. 

It is the ultimate guide to developing the right digital product idea, creating it, and selling your product to gather more customers. Within four months of launch, we recorded over 7k downloads from creators all over Africa.

Each chapter includes secrets, strategies, and principles of how top creators in Africa make thousands of dollars selling their digital products from the comfort of their homes. You will also find methods, techniques, strategies, and concepts to help you boost your sales. 

Product Launch & Updates

As we helped our creators thrive in the creator economy, we went further to simplify their creator journey and empower them with all the features they need for business growth. This year, we had 9 major product updates, all with one thing in mind: improving our creators’ experience.

Let’s highlight a few of our favorite product updates:

1. Upsells & Cross-sells

With these new updates, you can now make more of your products visible to customers at checkout. Customers who buy one of your products can receive higher-end recommendations on your other products to buy.

2. Customized abandoned cart email

One of our coolest features on Selar is the automated email reminders we send to merchant customers that abandon their cart when trying to purchase a product. We took this feature a step higher by introducing Customized Abandoned Cart Email, a new feature that allows you to customize the email sent to people who abandon their cart.

3. More payment options

Payment flexibility is one of the major ways to increase conversions online because it gives customers the opportunity to choose the payment method that is easy and safe for them.

In 2022, we introduced Klarna (buy now, pay later option), Cash App, Google pay and Apple pay payment options for creators who have Stripe & PayPal integration set up on their online stores.

4. Quarterly/Biannual subscription

This new update allows you to enjoy more Selar features and functionality for longer periods of time by subscribing either quarterly or biannually to the Selar pro plan.

5. Course certificates

We rolled out this feature to help course creators improve the credibility of their courses. This also gives students proof of knowledge and earns them a right to brag online about the latest course they took.

6. Sales page drag & drop

We updated our sales page feature to make it even better! We introduced the drag & drop feature that allows creators to build sales pages in minutes by customizing any of our ready-to-use templates. 

7. Customized Selar branding on store front

To allow our users total ownership of their business, we took store branding to another level. Creators can now customize the look of their store and hide the “Powered by Selar” branding on their Selar store. This helps creators to achieve a more professional and personal look. 

8. Product QR code & Coupon QR code

These features make it easier for our creators to close sales quickly. Coupon QR codes make it easier for customers to receive the discount set with the coupon code at checkout. While with the product QR code, customers are taken directly to the product page on Selar, and the product is automatically added to their cart. 

9. Legal pages

This new update allows creators to quickly create a Terms & Conditions page, Privacy Policy page, Shipping policy page, and Refund Policy page, all in a few clicks.

Partnerships & Collaborations

In growing the creator Economy in Africa, we believe that we can’t do it all on our own. We had several partnerships with different brands and communities in 2022. 

We partnered with our friends at Ingressive for Good to show and train techies on how they can start earning from digital products, we also had a webinar collaboration with SendPulse on Effective Email Marketing Strategies for digital creators.

You can find a full list of the brands we partnered with in 2022 in the image below.

Press Features

The past year has seen a significant increase in media coverage of our organization. From print and broadcast news to online publications and social media, our message and mission have reached a wider audience than ever before. Some of our press highlights recorded for 2022 include; Guardian Nigeria, Channels Television, News central tv, Tech Nova, Premium Times, and TEF cover amongst others.

Selar 100

We ended the year with The Selar100 campaign aimed at appreciating African creators for a job well done in 2022. It was a first-time edition and featured creators from over 5 different African countries, highlighting their creator specialty and Selar stores.

Now more than ever we are ready to go full throttle in growing the creator economy in Africa. With all these great milestones in 2022, we are not going back, we are not relenting, and we are not stopping! We have $4.5 million reasons to keep growing the African Creator Economy. Our goal is to show Africans that they can earn a living from their passion, knowledge, and skills.