Africa’s creator-enabler wars: between Selar and Mainstack on the Moment conference

In the heart of Lagos, Landmark Event Centre, the Moment 2026 conference, hosted by Mainstack from March 13 to 15, 2026, promised inspiration, networking, and growth for thousands of African creators.

Instead, it delivered one of the juiciest public feuds in the Nigerian tech scene this year, pitting two leading creator monetisation platforms against each other: Selar and Mainstack.

Selar, positioning itself as Africa’s largest creator platform with over 2 million registered users and more than $26 million paid out to creators, executed a classic ambush. They secured ad space at the venue for eye-catching billboards sporting motivational taglines like “Create with intention” and “Create what sells”, prominently featuring the Selar logo. 

Selar CEO Douglas Kendyson later explained they had proactively disclosed the competitive nature to venue operators, who approved the placements after vetting. It was bold, calculated guerrilla marketing, inserting your brand into the rival’s spotlight without saying a word directly.

Milton Tutu, Selar’s former CMO unveils as Mainstack’s new CMO

But Mainstack, having invested heavily in curating panels, workshops, and a premium experience for attendees, saw red. They lodged complaints, and the billboards were swiftly removed.

What could have ended as a cheeky anecdote exploded on X when former Selar Chief Marketing Officer Milton Tutu was unveiled as Mainstack’s new CMO right at the event.

Tutu, who spent four years at Selar scaling it from modest numbers to a continental force – growing to 2.2 million users across 13 countries, as detailed in his October 2025 Medium farewell post titled “Leaving Selar, Not the Mission” – had publicly framed his departure as amicable. 

Yet Kendyson, in a viral thread on X today, dropped a bombshell: “He was fired. I gave my blessings about his new position in December 2025 when they called me. It’s unfortunate that 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.”

Accompanying screenshots showed a wave of near-identical tweets from various users: “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!”

Kendyson labelled them scripted and targeted, implying Mainstack orchestrated a subtle or not-so-subtle dig at Selar by framing Tutu as the star product being “transferred”.

Mainstack

The timeline added fuel. Tutu’s exit announcement came months earlier, with no public bad blood until this moment. Mainstack’s announcement photo of Tutu smiling confidently circulated widely, and while observers noted the irony, Tutu had still spoken positively about Selar partnerships as recently as late 2025.

X reactions captured the chaos perfectly. Queens, that cut through the noise: “‘What Selar did was not fair.’ ‘Mainstack invested so much into that event.’ Honey, this is competition. Like the Burger King v McDonald’s, Coke v Pepsi style. It’s done all over the world. It’s not some ‘friendly Kumbaya, let’s all get along’ vibe lol.”

Her post garnered strong support, framing Selar’s move as standard big-brand tactics rather than betrayal.

Others weren’t as charitable. TheiAmEmmanuel amplified the drama by alleging Mainstack hadn’t paid staff salaries for February, questioning priorities amid their splashy event. Zegbua, a respected growth voice, quoted Kendyson’s thread to urge de-escalation: the “scripted” tweets didn’t overtly trash Selar, and airing the “fired” detail felt unnecessary.

He noted Milton had never spoken ill of Selar publicly and had even pushed collaborations recently.

This clash highlights a maturing but still raw African creator economy. Platforms like Selar and Mainstack empower millions to monetise digital products, courses, and services amid rising internet access and creator ambition.

Yet rapid growth breeds intense rivalry: talent poaching, event hijacking, and social media mudslinging become weapons when differentiation is tough.

For attendees at Moment 2026, the drama likely overshadowed some sessions, but it also underscored the stakes. Healthy competition drives innovation, yet the personal barbs risk fracturing a community still building itself. As one observer put it, this isn’t kumbaya; it’s business. Whether it fuels better products or just more tweets remains to be seen.

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