Social media and social content creation have taken a dynamic approach in recent times, with numerous talents popping up each passing day. However, there appears to be a distinct hierarchy amongst these individuals in terms of content quality, engagement, reach, and style. This article will bring you the top 5 content creators that inspired us in the year 2024. These creators have entertained, motivated, and imparted in us, directly or indirectly, throughout the year with their voices and content.
Social media has changed from merely a means of communicating with friends and family, it has become a source of income and livelihood for many. Many people now post different content – dance videos, memes, short-form videos, reaction videos, and more on social media for likes and engagement. This also means that the internet is highly saturated and it’s become very difficult to come across high-quality content of meaningful messages. Hence, it is important to applaud the few whose content has not only been interesting, but also educational, impactful, meaningful, and entertaining. This is the story of top content creators who have been major sources of inspiration and entertainment in 2024.
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Top 5 Content Creators That Inspired Us in 2024
Khabane Lame (Khaby Lame)
As always, people don’t often recognize their full potential until they are left with no way out. This could also be said to be the same for Khabane Lame, the famed Charlie Chaplain of TikTok. Growing up in an immigrant family in Italy, the Senegal-born TikToker, like every other person, was doing his best as a factory worker in pre-pandemic Italy. However, he wasn’t so lucky when the pandemic hit and lost his job, just like millions of other people.
While this could’ve been a huge blow for any 20-year-old lad trying to support his struggling family, for Khaby, it was his greatest breakthrough. With ample free time on his hands, he began posting random videos of him dancing and watching video games on TikTok. Just some regular videos of a regular guy doing regular things, but then, he spiced it up quite well and created his unique voice, style, and signature.
The most followed TikToker upgraded from posting videos of him doing random stuff to videos of him correcting people’s complicated ways of doing simple things and “de-complicating” them. He started performing the same actions other people are performing, but in simpler ways and ending his videos with a signature hand gesture as if to say “See how easily you could’ve done that”.
Overall, Khaby Lame has been a major inspiration that failures aren’t failures themselves, it’s the next action after failing that determines whether it’s a failure or just another phase to learn from and improve.From losing his job at the age of 20 to partnering with Juventus FC, becoming the Official FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Brand Ambassador for QNB, and becoming brand ambassadors for Hugo Boss, Netflix, Binance, and many more, the 24-year-old TikTok star was listed in 2022’s edition of Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and he stands at the top of the list of top 5 content creators that inspired us in 2024.
Anne Kansiime
In a world full of uncertainties and changing dreams, only the strong can stay true to their dream, pursue it actively, and achieve it. I guess that does make Anne Kubiryaba Kansiime a strong woman, then? The famed “Africa’s Queen of Comedy” didn’t just rise to stardom, it was a passion she’d nurtured since she was an undergraduate. Born in Mparo in present-day Rukiga District, in the Western Region of Uganda, Anne pursued her bachelor’s degree in Arts and Social Science from Makerere University, where she took the first leap into comedy and entertainment.
Her journey to becoming a TV star began back in 2007 when she joined the defunct “Theatre Factory”, a theatre group comprised of other undergraduate students from Makerere University. The group performed drama skits at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala’s central business district and it was fun while it lasted. In January 2010, some of Theatre Factory’s members, including Anne, had a disagreement with the group’s management and broke away, which led to the disbandment of the group and the establishment of a new theatre group – the Fun Factory, or Fun Factory Uganda, as it is being referred to now.
Things were good with the Fun Factory and their best skits became televised on the NTV Uganda. While with the Fun Factory, the Ugandan YouTuber started posting her sketch comedies on YouTube, which garnered a lot of positive feedback and by the end of November 2014, she already amassed more than 15 million views on her YouTube channel. With several awards to her name, Anne Kasiime has since risen to the pinnacle of African entertainment and she’s a famed stand-up comedian whose originality comes from “talking about things that are going on in life”. Even so, she continues to be a source of inspiration and tenacity while also helping indigent kids stay in school through her charity foundation.
Isaac Ayomide Olayiwola (Layi Wasabi)
What would be your first reaction if a 6”5 tall man dressed in laced materials and armed with a machete approaches you on the road? Well, that was one of my earliest memories of Isaac Ayomide Olayiwola, your favourite Instagram Lawyer, investor, and meme icon. Hailing from Osogbo, the capital city of Osun State in the southwestern part of Nigeria, Layi Wasabi has risen to the top as one of the most consistent and reliable content creators in Nigeria. The journey which started with creating memes of himself and sharing them on Twitter (X), has led him to dine with the big guns of the Nollywood with several awards and recognitions and brand deals.
While the world was cooped up by the pandemic back in 2020, Isaac Olayiwola decided to utilize the ample time at his disposal to put his work out there. At the time, his selling point was his 6”5 height which made him stand out as a meme character. Wearing a green lace sown into “buba” and trousers with a lemon “abetiaja” cap, he could be seen sitting or standing on high grounds, in the middle of lone roads, in the rain, even as far as sitting on transformers or electric wires, depicting the loneliness and longings in the apocalyptic world of COVID-19 pandemic.
Well, that was the Layi Wasabi of 2020. While still maintaining the dress style and occasional memes, the Osogbo-born comedian has grown tremendously in terms of content quality and style, but what’s even more mind-blowing is his originality and consistency. The 26-year-old law graduate has since crafted three (3) distinct and unique characters for himself – The Law: a crooked lawyer who never ceased to get himself into trouble, Mr Richard: an investor who uses motivational talks to get people to sign up for him “get-rich” schemes, and the meme character he started with.
For a talent like Layi, winning the Best Content Creator award at the 2024 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards was just the tip of the iceberg. His successes over the year have been impressive, a testament to his hard work, dedication, determination, and great team. With many brand deals and partnerships to his name, Isaac Olayiwolais one of the top 5 content creators that inspired us in 2024, entertaining people with quality content without nudity or vulgarity, which has populated the Nigerian skit-making industry.
Fisayo Fosudo
While a lot of young people focus on the over-saturated entertainment industry and hope to make a breakthrough, Fisayo Fosudo had a better focus, one which set him apart and made him one of the very best at his craft –visual story telling. The graphic designer-turned-content creator has taken the time to grow himself and charted a course as a visual storyteller, with his content focusing on personal finance and mobile technology.
As one of the first set of content creators in Nigeria, Fisayo’s drive is to show people “how to use tech for good” with the highest-quality videos possible. When it comes to finance, he believes that the money topic is complex and intimidating, especially in a world so digitalized as we are today. Hence the mission is to simplify this seemingly complex topic so that a lot of people will be able to approach their finances with confidence and better understand their economy through high-quality content shared on his YouTube channel.
Being a brand ambassador for Musicbed is just one of his many achievements, he’s also one of the 26 Africans featured on the 2022 YouTube Black Voices Class, winning the Tech Creator of the Year award at the TrendUpp Awards in 2021, the Tech Influencer of the Year award at the TechPoint Awards in 2021, and many other awards and recognitions to his name. Fisayo has crafted a name for himself as a visual storyteller and has undoubtedly inspired over 110 million people who have viewed his content.
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji (KSI)
Boxing, sports, music, social media… Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji stands at the pinnacle of it all. The Yoruba boy born in London over three decades ago has made a name for himself in the sports media, as a boxer, and also as a sports influencer, amassing a whopping 41 million subscribers and over 10 billion views on his three YouTube channels.
Starting as a FIFA gaming commentator and posting them on his YouTube channel, KSI quickly diversified into vlogs and comedy videos. But that’s by the way, the Nigerian-UK content creator rose to stardom as a musician and as a boxer, founding the “Sidemen” alongside five other people in 2013 as a community of content creators and producing different styles of content, including various challenges, sketches, and video game commentaries. That’s not all, JJ, as often called achieved his first commercial as a music star in 2015 following the release of Lamborghini, featuring P Money. In 2016, KSI released his first EP titled “Keep Up”, the EP that topped the UK R&B Albums Chart, and in 2020, he released his first studio album – Dissimulation, which also debuted on the UK Albums Chart.
Olajide Olatunji also dabbled in boxing as a welterweight boxer, having fought the likes of Joe Weller, Logan Paul, Luis Alcaraz Pineda, and Tommy Fury. His passion for boxing prompted him to found the Misfit Boxing, a boxing promotional company in partnership with Wasserman Boxing. Overall, KSI has made a great deal of impact in the UK’s sports media and entertainment, a contribution that qualified him to feature on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2021 and on Forbes’ Top Creators List in 2023.
With loads of awards and recognition, Olatunji’s impact extends beyond entertainment and sports, his contributions to charity cases, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Anthony Walker Foundation, and Help the Hungry Campaign, among others, are just a few of his efforts to make changes where it mattered. Overall, KSI is one of the top 5 content creators who inspired us in 2024 and continues to be a source of inspiration both as an influencer and as a businessman with his contributions to the growth of other content creators and a better world.
Final Thoughts
Wrapping this up, the individuals featured on this list of top content creators that inspired us in 2024 have contributed their quota in creating high-quality and engaging content and their marks have been recognized. Content creation is a tedious job and creating content of values takes even more effort, but what’s more? These creators didn’t just excel in their crafts, they’ve proven to be worthy of emulation with their content, crafts, hard work, and determination. Overall, they’ve shown us that nothing is impossible and that’s a great lesson to carry into 2025.
The list of content creators who inspired us in 2024 is endless. Many other talented content creators continue to inspire us with their creativity. Feel free to share some of your favorites in the comments section!
Cheers and Happy New Year