Afreximbank Doubles Funding facility for Creative Industry to $1 Billion
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) set aside a funding package of US$1 billion to support Africa’s creative and cultural industries under the auspices of the CANEX program.
The announcement was made at the opening day of Creative Africa Nexus Weekend (CANEX WKND) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 25th to 27th November 2022.
The event brought together the largest gathering for the cultural and creative industries in Africa and the Diaspora.
IAfreximbank introduced its wider CANEX program in 2020, dedicating a US$500 million facility to support Africa’s creative and cultural industry.
The Bank says it has been able to support the industry significantly through this facility which is now nearly fully utilized.
Targets Talented African Youth
Speaking at the CANEX WKND event, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah indicated that the US$1 billion funding facility will maintain and sustain the momentum and impact initiated by the original facility.
The facility, for implementation over the next 3 years to 2025, finances all activities in the creative and cultural industry value chain, from content production to distribution. The creative and cultural activities include sports, fashion, music, movies, and art, including performance art, media, and technology.
“We hope that the experience we gained implementing the original facility will enable us to provide the industry with a more efficient solution that can grow your business further,” said Prof. Oramah. “We expect to use this facility to support our talented youth.”
So far, the Bank’s culture and creative industry support facility has assisted film production, in some cases in partnership with Netflix. It has provided lines of credit to some African banks to support commercial creative activities.
Intellectual Rights to Get Protection
The pipeline of deals also includes support for the development of sports arenas and gaming technology commercialization.
The Bank has also formed and registered CANEX Creations Incorporated, an entity that will support the protection and commercialization of African intellectual property rights.
“The days when African creatives’ intellectual property is taken advantage of by the rest of the world will soon be over, and we will see a new dawn of global creative brands emerging from the continent,” said Prof Oramah.
“CANEX Creations Incorporated will help generate intellectual property in the creative and cultural industry, ensure that they are legally protected, support the negotiation of the use and commercialization as well as distributing compensations when received.”
Afreximbank, a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade, disbursed more than US$51 billion between 2016 and 2021.
