Afrobeats fills stadiums. Nollywood fills screens. African fashion fills the front rows. So why does so much of the money still end up somewhere else?
That question hangs over CANEX WKND 2026, which opened in Lagos on 5 November and runs until 8 November at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Cultural & Creative Arts. There are concerts, big names and plenty of spectacle. But the people behind the weekend say the real story is the business.
A bank that wants to back creatives
CANEX, the Creative Africa Nexus, is Afreximbank’s flagship programme for Africa’s creative and cultural industries. It was built on a simple idea: talent and visibility are not enough. African creatives also need access to capital, skills, markets, policymakers and industry partners, so they can build enterprises that are commercially sustainable and ready to export.
Behind it sits a $2 billion commitment from Afreximbank to the creative industries for 2024 to 2027. CANEX WKND is the programme’s annual flagship gathering, and this year it brings creatives, investors, policymakers and industry leaders from Africa, the Caribbean and the diaspora to Lagos under the theme “One People, United in Culture, Creating for the World.”
From FESTAC ’77 to CANEX ’27
The theme carries a history lesson. In 1977, Lagos hosted FESTAC, the landmark festival of Black and African arts and culture. CANEX frames its Lagos gathering as the next chapter, with the goal of turning that cultural influence into lasting economic value. It also builds momentum toward the Intra-African Trade Fair, which Lagos hosts in November 2027, where creative products and intellectual property will sit alongside Africa’s wider trade story.
The deal rooms and the dance floors
The weekend runs on two tracks at once.
The first is business. The CANEX Deal Room, running from 5 to 7 November, connects selected creative entrepreneurs with financiers and investors. Pitch sessions, a Creative Economy Finance Summit and a session on financing African intellectual property all aim at the same question: how do you structure, finance and protect creative work so that its value stays with the people who made it? It is a pressing issue. UNESCO estimates that piracy diverts 50 to 75 percent of revenues from Africa’s film and audiovisual industries.
The second track is culture, and it is hard to miss. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka headlines a conversation on building the creative economy of Global Africa, alongside culture ministers from Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Rwanda. Actors Uzo Aduba, Funke Akindele and Thuso Mbedu are billed for the programme, as are football legends Didier Drogba and Jay-Jay Okocha. Davido, Fally Ipupa, Flavour, Libianca and Charlotte Dipanda headline the music, with a major concert on 7 November.
Seven industries, one argument
CANEX is organised around seven verticals: film, music, fashion, literature, visual arts and design, gastronomy and sports. Each is treated as an industry with its own supply chain, not just a showcase.
In film, the talk is about financing and distribution, including research on how African audiences watch African stories. In music, it is about royalties, ownership and turning global popularity into durable businesses. Fashion gets masterclasses on building profitable brands and textile value chains, plus a fashion show and awards night. Literature has a book fair, manuscript pitching and a publishing prize. Visual arts brings exhibitions and collector engagement. Gastronomy has the Junior Chefs Competition and the fiercely followed Africa Jollof Wars. And sport gets its own business conversation, “The Business of the Game,” before the weekend closes with a Legends Football Match at Onikan Stadium on 8 November.
Technology is a growing thread too. This year includes the first Creative Economy Technology Showcase, debates on AI and authorship, and the CANEX CreaThon, run with the tech company Gebeya, which backs creators in music, video and gaming with a $50,000 prize pool.
Proof of concept
CANEX points to results. The 2024 edition facilitated $540 million in deals and drew more than 4,000 attendees from 81 countries. More recently, CANEX Creations, which was set up to commercialise African intellectual property, invested in the Nigerian feature film Clarissa, which was then acquired by NEON for worldwide distribution. It is the pathway CANEX wants to repeat: African capital, African stories, global audiences.
This year, the target is 10,000 delegates and 300 exhibitors. Notably, there is no headline deal figure. The organisers say they would rather focus on the quality of the pipeline than chase a number.
That may be the most telling detail. The performances will trend and fade by Sunday night. The test of CANEX WKND 2026 will be what is still standing months from now: the deals that close, the rights that are protected, and the creators who keep more of what they create.