Afreximbank Puts $118 Million Behind Nigeria's Creative Economy

Afreximbank has committed $118 million in financing to Nigeria's creative economy, announced at CANEX WKND 2026 in Lagos. The package is meant to help Nigerian businesses expand production, protect intellectual property and compete in international markets.

The money breaks into three parts:

• a $75 million facility involving Afreximbank and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN);
• a $30 million financing arrangement;
• a $13 million grant involving the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Afreximbank.

Afreximbank organised CANEX WKND 2026 through its Creative Africa Nexus programme. Nigeria's Federal Government hosted the event in partnership with the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.

The commitment matters for a sector that has struggled to secure capital suited to its business models. But the discussions in Lagos exposed a bigger problem: money alone cannot build a competitive creative industry. Without easier cross-border movement, stronger intellectual property protection and functioning routes to market, more capital may grow businesses at home while leaving them unable to trade across Africa.

Why do lenders struggle with creative businesses?

Creative firms need financial institutions that understand how the sector generates value. Most lenders do not.

"You can't move A to B without a thorough contribution, a dynamic relationship between vision and financing," said Professor Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's Nobel laureate, underscoring the need to connect creative ambition with the funding required to realise it.

Nathalie Kouassi Akon, Afreximbank's Division Director for the West Africa Gulf of Guinea, based in Accra, Ghana, said lenders must better understand creative businesses and the intellectual assets behind them. Many such firms do not fit conventional lending models, which rely on physical collateral rather than intellectual property, licensing rights or projected revenue streams.

The result is a mismatch. Music catalogues, film rights and design portfolios can carry real commercial value, but banks need the expertise and the right financing tools to recognise and evaluate those assets.

Ben Murray-Bruce, founder of the media company Silverbird Group, argued governments should reserve a share of lending for the sector. "Two and a half per cent of all loans in your country must go to the creative sector," he proposed. That was a policy proposal, not an existing lending requirement.

He also urged creatives to enter politics rather than stay outside the institutions that shape their operating conditions. "You must take a political position and run for office," he said.

His argument is that policy — copyright rules, taxation, infrastructure, trade regulation — determines whether creative businesses can access capital and grow. Afreximbank's package is a concrete intervention; its wider impact will depend on how effectively funds reach businesses and whether those businesses can operate beyond Nigeria's domestic market.

What stands between African creatives and open borders?

The push to expand African creative trade runs into a contradiction: governments promote continental integration, yet administrative and institutional barriers keep restricting the movement of people and goods.

Sandrine Umutoni, Rwanda's Minister of State for Youth and Arts, said political declarations on integration must translate into everyday administrative practice. Agreements between governments mean little if the officials processing arrivals or clearing goods do not understand why facilitating movement between African countries matters.

"Some of those barriers [are] just the mindset," she said, arguing that officials needed to understand what encouraging movement actually requires.

Her point describes a problem financing cannot solve. A performer may secure funding to tour another African country and still face administrative obstacles. A designer may find a buyer abroad and struggle to ship products across a border. A filmmaker may identify a collaborator and be unable to travel to complete the project.

In each case, trade depends on more than the quality of the work. It depends on the systems that move people, products and services.

This is where the creative economy meets the AfCFTA's broader ambitions. Lowering trade barriers is not only about manufactured goods or agricultural products; it also matters to industries built around intellectual property, performances, design, film, fashion and other creative services. Umutoni's argument was that integration must show up in the decisions of officials at the point of entry, not stay a commitment expressed at high-level meetings. If those everyday barriers persist, the promise of a larger African market will stay out of reach for many creative businesses.

Who captures the value when African culture travels?

Even with financing and market access, a harder question remains: who ultimately captures the value the work generates?

Umutoni warned that weak attention to intellectual property could deprive African creators of the revenue their work generates. She urged governments and creatives to understand the protections available to them, particularly as African music, film, fashion and other cultural products attract growing international audiences.

Global visibility opens commercial doors. It does not guarantee that creators keep control of how their work is used or receive a fair share of proceeds. Intellectual property protection is not merely a legal safeguard; it is part of the infrastructure of creative trade, enabling creators to negotiate licences, secure partnerships and build lasting income.

It also affects access to finance. If intellectual property is to serve as a commercial asset, creators must document and protect their rights, and lenders must be able to value them. Without those safeguards, Africa risks exporting more of its culture without ensuring its creators benefit proportionately from the wealth it generates.

Can an African–Caribbean marketplace turn culture into trade?

Beyond protecting creative assets, Africa needs the commercial connections that convert cultural interest into actual trade. Ginger Mariah Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahamas, pointed to an African–Caribbean marketplace and logistics centre being developed with Afreximbank as one effort to close that gap.

The platform is still under development. Its ambition goes beyond exhibition space or cultural exchange: it aims to connect producers with Caribbean buyers, facilitate the movement of goods and make cross-border transactions easier.

"This is what it's all about. It's about connecting the dots. It's about talking to each other," she said.

She illustrated the opportunity with woven bags: producers in Ghana could collaborate with counterparts in the Bahamas, combining African production capacity with local value addition and demand from visitors. "So it's made in Africa and made in the Bahamas," she said.

The model is collaboration rather than one-way export of finished goods — African businesses working with partners abroad to adapt products, share production and create value across borders. But cultural connections alone cannot sustain it. The partnerships need reliable logistics, distribution networks and commercial arrangements that let goods reach buyers and businesses complete transactions. The $118 million announced in Lagos will only pay off if that wider system gets built alongside it.