What If Culture Were Our GDP?
- Mission 33 Group
- Dec 22, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 29, 2025
For decades culture was treated as entertainment, something to appreciate, not something to invest in. But step into any global airport terminal, any streaming playlist, any runway, and a quiet truth becomes undeniable; culture is capital. It shapes perceptions, exports identity, drives tourism, and builds influence faster than many traditional industries ever could.
Human creativity is not soft power. It is strategic power. And nowhere is this more visible than in Nigeria. A nation of more than 200 million people most under 25 - Nigeria has become one of the world’s most prolific engines of cultural production. Afrobeats fills stadiums from Lagos to London. Nollywood produces thousands of films a year. Nigerian cuisine and fashion appear everywhere from New York restaurants to Paris Fashion Week.
Yet, despite this momentum, a critical gap remains. Culture thrives in Nigeria, but the systems that translate cultural brilliance into scalable, investable economic value have lagged behind.
That gap is an opportunity.
This year, Mission 33 Ventures, in partnership with Resilience17, decided it was time to accelerate that transformation. Together, we backed CUSP & FOMO - two next-generation culinary and hospitality ventures designed to redefine how Lagos experiences culture, cuisine, community, and nightlife.
The journey began not with capital, but with conversation.
Founder Tracy Nwapa articulates a vision of Lagos that doesn't compete by imitation, but by intensifying its essence. A city that stands as a geography of influence - where food is storytelling, hospitality is lived experience and nightlife carries narrative weight. A city where creativity isn’t only exported abroad, but deliberately hosted at home - curated, scaled and monetised with excellence. A place so rooted and refined that the world must come to it.
We aligned deeply on strategy, brand architecture, scalability, operational rigour, and long-term value creation, working closely with founder Tracy Nwapa to translate the bold, category-defining visions into reality. Every strategic layer reinforced our conviction that culture requires infrastructure.
CUSP & FOMO sits at the intersection of dining, nightlife, storytelling, and community, unlocking value that multiplies across the ecosystem - from jobs and supply chains to tourism and global brand equity. They respond to growing international demand for culturally authentic, premium experiences; experiences locals take pride in and visitors travel to discover.
Lagos is already shaping global culture. With CUSP & FOMO, it demonstrates that it can host it consistently. Launching between late 2025 and early 2026, CUSP & FOMO will deliver immersive culinary and cultural experiences built locally, executed to world-class standards, and designed to resonate globally.
At the heart of this transformation stands female leadership.
Tracy is not simply launching venues; she is architecting a legacy platform for sustainable value creation and in a world where women founders continue to receive a fraction of global investment, backing visionary women is both equitable and strategically wise.
Mission 33 group backs founders who don’t just build businesses, they create real impact and unlock emerging markets. When the right entrepreneurs, capital, and partnerships converge, transformation follows.
CUSP & FOMO is just the beginning. A new era is emerging where African creativity is not only seen and heard, but built, structured, scaled, and owned to last.
Nigeria is ready. Africa is ready. Now the world is watching.
Hear Tracy share her journey and vision on an episode of the Afropolitan Podcast here.
