Afreximbank targets to raise $1bn to boost Pan-African film fund – Daily Trust

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has disclosed plans to raise shut to $1 billion for a Pan-African film fund.

The Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, Kanayo Awani, acknowledged this whereas delivering the opening assertion on the 2026 Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Summit in Lagos.

She stated that the financial institution’s influence funding fund- the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), had entered right into a co-general partnership settlement with One Street Studios to mobilise up to $1 billion for a Pan-African film fund.

She added that contemporary investments and interventions have been aimed toward strengthening Africa’s artistic financial system and positioning the continent as a worldwide manufacturing and distribution hub are a part of the pipeline to boost the trade.

She stated the financial institution’s funding technique was designed to tackle the structural challenges confronting Africa’s artistic industries, notably insufficient financing, weak distribution networks, fragmented markets and poor mental property safety.

“The creative economy is no longer peripheral. It is part of Africa’s development story. It is a trade sector, an investment opportunity, and a strategic asset capable of generating jobs, foreign exchange and global influence at scale,” she stated.

Awani acknowledged that the financial institution, via its subsidiary, Creative Africa Investments, had authorised six investments in new initiatives spanning film, tv, music and digital content material.

“These are not simply investments in individual productions. These are investments in intellectual property platforms that will create long-term value for creators and investors,” she stated.

She stated the fund would finance African content material, strengthen distribution networks, develop enabling applied sciences and construct the infrastructure required to place Africa as a globally aggressive manufacturing hub.

Earlier, the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, represented by veteran actress, Joke Silva, known as for stronger safety of African artistic works and larger collaboration amongst stakeholders to guarantee practitioners might earn sustainable livelihoods from their labour.

Silva stated African creators want stronger mechanisms to defend their mental property and safe the financial advantages of their work.

She additionally recounted how the National Theatre in Lagos was rescued from deterioration via collaboration amongst Nigerian banks, arguing that the expertise demonstrated what could possibly be achieved when establishments pooled assets to protect vital cultural belongings.

“The protection of our work lies with our continent. We cannot blame other countries for using our works anyhow they please. They will protect their own, we must protect our own,” she stated.