Afrobeats star Oluwatosin Ajibade, better known as Mr Eazi, has shared his early career struggles with touring across Africa, revealing that performing within the continent was more challenging than touring Europe and the United States.
The singer made this disclosure while speaking at the 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogue, which focused on “Empowering SMEs, Women and Youth in Africa’s Single Market: Innovate, Collaborate, Trade,” as reported by Joy News.
Looking back on his decade-long journey in music and business, Mr Eazi said, “In the last ten years, I have spent six of those years as a singer touring the world and four of those years doing a lot of entrepreneurship. Two things stand out to me.”
He explained that border restrictions and regulatory hurdles made touring Africa particularly difficult at the height of his breakthrough. According to him, “In the first six years of my rise, particularly the first two years of me blowing up, it was easier to tour America and Europe than it was to tour Africa, even though I had some of the biggest songs… once I had the number one song in Africa, touring here became even harder.”
Recounting a personal experience, the singer narrated how he was once delayed at the Kenyan border despite being scheduled to perform. “I remember two occasions, one of me going into Kenya with my band. Even though I had been paid to perform, I was stopped at the border. My band, which included members of other nationalities, were allowed to enter, but I — the lead artist who was being paid the most — had to wait,” he said.
Mr Eazi described the situation as a reflection of wider structural issues. “That incident speaks to the reality of the friction that is being put in place — friction that stops us from uniting, stops us from being stronger, and prevents us from developing,” he added.
He further stressed the importance of effectively implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), noting that “Borders as they currently function create friction in movements, in payments, in regulation and in the abilities of small and medium-scale enterprises to scale.”
Drawing from his entrepreneurial background, the ‘Leg Over’ crooner revealed that he has invested in several companies across the continent. “One of which I’m really proud of is a company that is live in 19 African countries and processes four million transactions a day,” he said.
Mr Eazi also pointed out that young Africans are most affected by cross-border barriers. “The young people under the age of 35, we actually don’t care about borders,” he said, adding that collaboration now thrives “via the internet, via cross-border collaboration in business and in creativity.”
While acknowledging that policies and frameworks already exist, he maintained that action is crucial. “What remains is the important work of implementation,” he said.
He concluded by urging African leaders to promote easier movement across borders, saying, “We are not speaking about removing nations or weakening sovereignty. We are speaking of enabling the commitments already made and allowing people to move, trade, and build within Africa more efficiently, securely, and lawfully… When Africa moves together, we do not lose strength. We multiply it… If we make Africa borderless, Africa becomes unstoppable.”
