Big boost for Africa’s creative sector as Afreximbank allocates US$1 billion to industry

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has called for a multi-faceted approach involving government support, private-sector investment, and international collaborations to address the numerous challenges confronting Africa’s creative and cultural industries.

Speaking at the opening of the 2023 CANEX Summit here on Thursday as part of the third Intra-African Trade F air (IATF2023), Mrs Kanayo Awani – Executive Vice president, Afreximbank) cited limited access to financing- where many creative entrepreneurs and cultural institutions struggle to secure financial support for their projects and ventures, infrastructure and technology gaps in physical and digital connectivity, limited access to reliable electricity, internet connectivity, and infrastructure for content distribution and monetization; hindering creatives’ ability to monetize their work as some of the challenges confronting the industry

To solve the problems, she said, efforts should be focused on improving access to finance, strengthening intellectual property rights, investing in infrastructure and technology, enhancing skills and capacity-building initiatives, promoting trade and investment, and developing robust platforms for content distribution and monetization.

On Afreximbank’s interventions to boost the industry, he said the Bank was working on the establishment of a $1-billion African Film Fund to be launched in 2024 to support the continent’s film industry.

Mrs. Awani said the fund would oversee film financing, co-finance with large studios, finance African filmmakers, and finance producers and directors of film projects across the continent.

She noted that during CANEX WKND 2022, the Bank had increased the financing it was making available to the creative sector from US$500 million to US$1 billion and that the Bank currently had a pipeline of over US$600 million in film, music, visual arts, fashion, and sports deal.

“The very first film we financed recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival,” Mrs. Awani said, adding, “The Bank has several in the pipeline from Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, which should be on streaming platforms in 2024.”

Acknowledging that the film and audiovisual industries in Africa accounted for US$5 billion of the continent’s GDP and employed an estimated five million people, with the potential to create over 20 million jobs and generate US$20 billion in revenues annually,

Boris Kodjoe, a celebrity actor of Ghanaian descent, highlighted how the creativity of Africans had influenced various aspects of modern life, including music, fashion, art, design, social consciousness, business, sports, film, and TV.

He said that the exploitation of black creativity by the West had had lasting effects and that, despite admiration of black excellence, Africa still faced branding challenges due to external perception fuelled by the traditional media’s depiction of poverty, famine, civil wars, and migration on the continent.

Mr Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, said that the creative sector in Africa was rapidly growing and making a significant contribution to the inclusive growth and sustainable development of African economies.

“I reaffirm my belief that the African creative industry has huge potential to be a source of employment and revenue to create the Africa we want – revenue from intra-African trade as well as revenue from the rest of the world.”

He urged African nations to convert their vast potential into plans and projects that yield tangible results, stressing the need to also invest in protecting international property rights.