₦airaland Forum

Three Crowns, a leading Nigerian milk brand produced by FrieslandCampina WAMCO, has successfully launched its Treasure that nourishes our world Campaign in celebration of 2025 World Milk Day. The campaign is aimed at reinforcing the brands commitment to providing superior nutrition for mothers and their families across Nigeria through exciting engagements both online and offline in major cities.

On World Milk Day, 1st June, Three Crowns executed successful consumer engagement activities across strategic locations nationwide including Sabo Bus Stop, Ikorodu, Lagos; Lugbe area on airport road Abuja, Bodija Market Ibadan featuring a special appearance by popular content creator and influencer Lizzy Jay, affectionately known as "Omo Ibadan," who added vibrant energy and excitement to the day's activities; Kano at Sauna Dakar by Dakar's Central Mosque; Jos at Old Airport Road; and Owerri at Wetheral Junction. The nationwide activations successfully engaged thousands of consumers, providing education about dairy nutrition while celebrating the vital role of mothers in Nigerian families.

This year's global theme, "Let's Celebrate the Power of Dairy," emphasizes how dairy serves as an accessible, affordable, and nutrient-dense food essential for balanced diets worldwide. Three Crowns leveraged this significant occasion to highlight the brand's essential role in supporting mothers' nutrition while demonstrating understanding of the multifaceted responsibilities of motherhood and the importance of empowering mothers with proper nourishment.

Chioma Igwe, Marketing Manager Three Crowns, stated "The responses from mothers and families across the country were overwhelming and heartwarming,". This World Milk Day campaign successfully celebrated these incredible women while reinforcing the importance of prioritizing their own nutrition. When mothers are well-nourished with quality milk like Three Crowns, they are better equipped to care for and extend same to their families and fulfill their many vital roles in society."

The campaign successfully sustained Three Crowns' top-of-mind awareness by emphasizing the brand's essential role in supporting healthy dairy nutrition. Through the engaging activations, consumer rewards, and awareness campaigns, Three Crowns encouraged Nigerian mothers and families to increase their daily intake of Three Crowns milk, enabling them to consistently care for both themselves and their families.
"The success of our World Milk Day campaign across the country demonstrates the universal appreciation Nigerian mothers have for quality nutrition," said Lilian Elue, Brand Manager, Three Crowns Milk.

"Our activations went beyond just celebrating dairy they recognized the strength, dedication, and sacrifices of mothers while ensuring they understand the nutritional support available to them through Three Crowns. The energy and enthusiasm we witnessed, confirmed that connecting with mothers at the community level creates the most meaningful impact."

The multi-city activations proved to be enriching experiences for communities, successfully combining entertainment, education, and meaningful consumer connections. This campaign was particularly well-received, underscoring Three Crowns' successful strategy of partnering with relatable personalities who genuinely resonate with Nigerian families.

Three Crowns continues to be recognized for its superior quality and nutritional value, making it the preferred choice for families seeking reliable dairy nutrition. The brand's dedication to supporting maternal health aligns with global efforts to improve family nutrition and wellbeing.

World Milk Day, celebrated annually on June 1st, was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food source.

For media inquiries, please contact: Taiye Tunkarimu, Corporate Communications Manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc.


Signed
Ore Famurewa,
Executive Director, Corporate Affairs,
June 2025

Jason Njoku, the founder of iROKOtv, has shared his experience running iROKOtv and trying to make it profitable in Nigeria.

Writing on his website, Njoku.org, Jason Njoku described the company’s $100 million investment in the local market as a costly mistake.

He said the platform, which was founded in 2011 and launched in 2015, was operating in “full survival mode” in the first ten years.

Njoku said the company was faced with several obstacles and struggled against competitors like Netflix, Amazon, Showmax, and Iflix.

The article titled, "STREAMING IN NIGERIA. DID THE MARKET WIN?" was published in March 2025 but is gaining traction now as Nigerians discuss iROKOtv after a court freezed Jason Njoku's bank accounts amid debt crisis


Jason Njokue wrote:


"Iroko’s first funding was in August 2011; our mandate was to build a large streaming business in Nigeria.

"Tiger Global believed that one of the largest growth areas would be online entertainment, and like most content, the winners would be local content in large domestic markets.

"They invested $200 million in Netflix back in 2010 and then invested in IVI in Russia, YY in China, Netmovies in Brazil, and us in Nigeria.

"With super-expensive data bundles and inelegant payment options (I remember waiting for Interswitch to enable us to integrate), our market took a while to mature. In most opportunities, you can be too early or too late; only in hindsight can you gauge when the best time to strike would be. iROKOtv was very early when we launched in 2011, but we were fortunate that there was a ready-made international market in the diaspora who were willing to pay and able to overcome any technical hurdles (payment/bandwidth/devices) to enable us to at least generate a sizable income.

"We actually waited until 2015 (four years post-launch), building the product, securing a sizable content library, and assembling a team to attempt to take on Nigeria and Africa. Between the revenues we generated and the venture capital we raised ($35 million) over the first ten years, we easily spent $100 million trying to win.

"But we weren’t winning; we weren’t really losing either. We were just there, in full survival mode, operating in the toughest conditions possible. Streaming, even domestically, is a scale game.

"Africa wasn’t immune to those costs. It’s incredibly expensive across marketing, content, delivery, and product platforms. Our largest, most serious competitors were Showmax, Netflix, Amazon, and Iflix. Collectively, they easily invested $1 billion or more from 2015 to 2023

"During that period, we often had tense board meetings about why iROKOtv wasn’t succeeding; it was challenging to feel that all my hard work and dedication were constantly reduced to 'you’re not doing enough'.

"We have been, and remain, the most aggressive in trying to distribute content across Nigeria—deploying hundreds of manned kiosks, teams of outbound contact centre agents, creating agency networks, adjusting our product to prioritise Android downloads, and pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing.

"At one point, it dawned on me, and I finally shot back in a board meeting: if iROKOtv was losing, could they point to someone who was beating us? In the startup world, that’s usually the outcome of underperformance.

"You are simply being out-executed by a better-capitalised or higher-performing startup. In this case, there simply wasn’t anything anyone could point to to establish that.

"So my simple assertion was that the market was winning. In 2019, we went out to fundraise; for the first time, we used a bank, Stanbic IBTP, to support that.

"We were looking for $10-20 million to keep pushing into and across Africa with our outbound, agency, and kiosk models.

"I believed my tales of survival would inspire the (primarily) PE investors that we were going to be the eventual winners in a brutal, long-fought civil streaming war. Instead, they all largely concluded that perhaps there was no market there, that the unit economics were simply not viable at any reasonable scale.

"What they were all interested in was the ROK content, TV channels, and distribution business. It was straightforward (fewer than 30 employees), had clear revenue recognition (billion-dollar paid TV platforms – DStv, Multichoice, SKY, etc., with 3-5 year contracts in non-local currencies), and was amassing a sizable IP library funded by the same paid TV platforms. Once we separated out ROK, it was clear where the value lay in Iroko. It represented 80% of revenues and 25% of costs. EBITA margins of 35-40% were achieved without even realising it.

"The outcome of that fundraise was the $25 million partial exit (Iroko sold her shares; Mrs Njoku remains a significant shareholder in the studio) to Vivendi/Canal+.

"We closed in July 2019.

"Before the end of 2019, we had distributed $5 million as a special dividend and were primed to take on the world.

"Then COVID-19 happened. Streaming temporarily boomed in the West (our North American business tripled in subscriber growth), while Nigeria closed borders and grappled with peculiar economic principles (devaluations, FX windows, etc.).

"The local market in Nigeria simply collapsed. We saw it and stubbornly decided to keep investing and doubling down until we were all tapped out, having burnt through most of the post-exit capital.

"To save iROKOtv, we considered crowdfunding, an AIM LSE listing (you could raise $10-30 million easily back then) with relatively little revenue but a strong narrative.

"In the end, we raised $1.1 million in convertible notes, then recapped the company a year later and paid it back.

"In 2023, we finally accepted there was no market for paid premium services and exited Nigeria. We haven’t processed any Naira payments there in almost two years.

"As I humbly survey the wreckage of the last 15 years of streaming in Nigeria and Africa, it’s clear our (then $2k GDP per capita) was too small to support even a $5/mo product. It’s clear this wasn’t even a question of capital.

"Showmax alone continues to pour tens, if not hundreds, of millions to make it work. But the global giants tapped out last year; their costs (content and marketing) were clearly unsustainably high, and their product needed to be localised to make sense and actually work; it’s just not how platforms sustainably scale.

"So I wasn’t surprised when either Amazon or Netflix rolled back their considerable investments in Nigeria. $5/mo is a luxury I doubt even 250k can reliably afford in Nigeria.

"You can see the impact of what GOtv and DStv are suffering at the hands of the market. It’s okay that we tried and failed. It’s okay that we accept the limitations in the domestic market we find ourselves in. Did it need $1B+ to figure this out?

"Absolutely not. I believe, with my newfound knowledge, that iROKOtv could have reached the same conclusions with $5-10 million versus the $100 million+ we ended up investing.

"In hindsight, streaming wasn’t the winning model for Nollywood in Nigeria. Content, channels, and distribution were.

"With the economics that business had in 2018, we could have shut down iROKOtv and her $5 million/year in losses and either listed it or just had a fantastically profitable business.

"But I was a believer and walked away from millions of dollars in personal liquidity to put it all in to build streaming in Africa.

"My lessons were expensive, and that’s why I am so consistent in telling founders not to over-raise.

"I am not surprised by the story of Obi from Kobo360; I lobbied him pre-$30m raise not to raise too much capital or later on to seek a merger with his nearest competitor whilst they were engaged in a brutal price war.

"The unit economics and payment cycles were brutal, and capital wasn’t going to dramatically change the market dynamics, and it appeared that no one was really going to win that market. It’s only with deep, lived, and expensive experience that I can glance at unit economics coldly and get a feel for whether, with the usual macro turbulence, a startup has a better chance at long-term success.

"Nigeria is currently a massive drag on the entire operating business of Multichoice. Their most recent H1 reports indicate. Reminder that this is the largest pay platform in Africa, which is currently being acquired in a $2.8B deal."

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We experienced a technical issue earlier this morning that temporarily affected some users' Flex Naira & Dollar balances. We can now confirm that this has been resolved.

We acknowledge that this falls below our standards and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. Rest assured, your funds remain safe and secure with Piggyvest.

Thank you for your patience and understanding 💙