Company spotlight· Music
Afreximbank's CANEX: how Africa's trade bank is financing creatives
Africa's export-import bank has put serious money behind film, music and the wider creative economy through its Creative Africa Nexus programme. Here's what it is and how to get close to it.
- Backer
- Afreximbank (CANEX)
- Offers
- Financing & loansEvents & deal rooms
- Who it's for
- Creative businesses: studios, labels, producers, festivals
Most talent never thinks of a trade bank as a backer. But the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has become one of the biggest financiers of Africa's creative industries through its Creative Africa Nexus programme, known as CANEX.
What CANEX is
CANEX is Afreximbank's programme for the creative and cultural industries. When it launched in 2020, the bank set aside a dedicated $500 million facility for the sector. At the CANEX Weekend in 2022 it doubled that to $1 billion over three years.
The facility is meant to cover the whole value chain, from producing content to distributing it. Within it sit more specific tools, including a Film Financing Development Facility and a Music Development Facility.
The African Film Fund
Afreximbank has also announced a $1 billion African Film Fund, run through its impact investment arm, the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA). Reporting on its timing has shifted over the years, so check the bank's own announcements for where it stands now.
CANEX Weekend
Every year the bank hosts CANEX WKND, a gathering of creatives, financiers and buyers. The 2024 edition was held in Algiers, and the bank reported facilitating deals worth around $540 million there, including a €245 million facility for sports broadcasting rights.
What this means for you
CANEX mostly finances companies and projects at scale: studios, labels, production houses, festivals and the businesses around them. An individual artist is unlikely to get a cheque directly. Where it helps you is through the companies and productions it funds, and through the deal-making rooms at CANEX events.
Your next step
If you run a creative business, or work with one, read the latest CANEX announcements on Afreximbank's website and look at who is speaking and pitching at the next CANEX WKND. Those are the producers and companies with access to this money, and the people worth getting in front of.
Sources
- #funding
- #film
- #music
- #creative economy
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