The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is seeking to attract creative industry investments exceeding $540m through the 2026 Creative Africa Nexus Weekend (CANEX), as it intensifies efforts to position Africa's cultural sector as a major driver of economic growth.
The bank's President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr George Elombi, announced the target on Thursday at the opening of the four-day event in Lagos, expressing optimism that the value of transactions generated would surpass the benchmark established at the previous edition.
Elombi said the Lagos gathering should deliver several times the $540m figure, urging participants to make the event a reference point for future creative industry investments across the continent.
“Lagos has to be several multiples of 540. So let Lagos set the mark, and I’m sure that mark will be hard to catch up elsewhere,” he said.
The event, organised by Afreximbank in collaboration with the Federal Government, runs from November 5 to 8, with the theme, “One People, United in Culture, Creating for the World.”
A statement from the bank said the programme would provide opportunities for African creative businesses to access funding, establish partnerships and attract investors through the CANEX Deal Room and Creative Pitch Sessions.
The platforms will bring together entrepreneurs, financiers and investors across several segments, including music, film, television, fashion, sports, publishing, gastronomy, visual arts and creative infrastructure.
The gathering will also host a Creative Economy Finance Summit in partnership with the Creative Economy Practice at Co-Creation Hub, focusing on how transactions in the sector can be structured, financed and protected against investment risks.
Speaking on the challenges confronting African creatives, Elombi said the continent continued to lose substantial economic value despite producing internationally acclaimed cultural content.
He cited estimates by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which put the continent's creative economy at about $60bn, accounting for only two per cent of the global creative industry.
According to him, the problem goes beyond inadequate funding, as African creators often lack control over the commercial infrastructure through which their products reach consumers.
“So too often, the African creators make the hits, and someone else makes the money,” he lamented.
He identified foreign dominance of distribution channels, marketing platforms, branding, intellectual property rights and content catalogues as factors limiting the earnings retained by African artists and businesses.
“Our talent is global, but our share of the value is not,” he said.
The bank chief further warned that digital platforms and their algorithms were increasingly shaping the international reach of African creative products, while the growing use of artificial intelligence presented additional risks through the unauthorised reproduction of copyrighted material.
He argued that unless African businesses developed the capacity to control distribution, marketing and other segments of the value chain, increased investment in content production would not translate into commensurate financial returns.
“We must therefore focus on building a creative ecosystem, focusing not just on the idea generation, on the creation of the concept and the production, but on value capture,” Elombi stated.
To address the funding gap, he disclosed that Afreximbank had expanded its financial commitment to the creative industry from an initial $500m to $1bn and subsequently to $2bn in 2024.
The intervention, according to the bank, is designed to support the emergence of commercially viable creative enterprises, promote African ownership of intellectual property and ensure that more economic benefits remain within the continent.
Elombi listed the establishment of a Pan-African Film Fund as part of the bank's efforts to support production and distribution, alongside investments in recording studios, fashion manufacturing, entertainment facilities and other infrastructure.
He added that CANEX Creations Inc. had also begun investing in African intellectual property, including film projects and music catalogues.
The 2026 edition will feature discussions on intellectual property investment, artificial intelligence and digital technologies. It will also host the CANEX CreaThon, organised with technology firm Gebeya, with $50,000 earmarked as prize money.
Elombi called on African governments to sustain investment in the cultural sector despite competing fiscal demands, warning that reduced budgetary allocations could weaken employment opportunities and economic growth.
He also advocated reforms that would allow intellectual property to serve as collateral for loans, noting that Nigeria's Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act 2017 provided a framework that could be further leveraged.
According to him, integrating collateral registries with copyright and trademark databases across the African Continental Free Trade Area would make it possible for creative businesses to access funding using their intellectual property across national borders.
“The right that is not on record cannot be financed. And the royalty no one can audit cannot be priced,” he warned.
He encouraged financial institutions to develop lending arrangements backed by royalty income, while urging creators to register their intellectual property and maintain credible records of their earnings.
Looking beyond the Lagos event, Elombi said Afreximbank would evaluate its success ahead of the 2027 Intra-African Trade Fair scheduled to hold in the city.
The bank, he explained, would measure the impact of CANEX by the volume of contracts secured, creative facilities established, intellectual property acquired and livelihoods generated.
“Afreximbank will not stand as a spectator at Africa’s cultural renaissance. Afreximbank will be the banker of Africa’s creative industry,” he declared.
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