CANEX WKND 2026 opened in Lagos on 5 November with a clear message from African leaders: recognition is no longer enough. The continent, they said, needs stronger financing, intellectual property protection, distribution and market access so that more of the economic value its creative industries generate stays at home.
The four-day gathering, organised by Afreximbank, was opened on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. He said Africa must move beyond global cultural recognition and build commercially competitive creative businesses, drawing a line back to the continent’s last great cultural moment in Lagos.
“In 1977, we came to celebrate our culture. In 2026, we come to capitalise on it. We come to turn the world’s applause into contracts, its admiration into markets, and the talent of our young people into enduring wealth.”
He also called for stronger market access across the continent:
“We cannot continue to celebrate African creativity while making it difficult for African creators to access African markets.”
Deals already on the table
Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said proposed transactions worth more than US$500 million were already being discussed between Nigerian entrepreneurs, buyers and investors in deal rooms co-curated with Afreximbank.
“We promised to bring buyers and investors here. Today, Nigerian creatives are negotiating with them in Lagos. Our ambition is a deal for every part of the creative economy, from sports and gaming to creative technology and infrastructure, the arts and gastronomy.”
The Minister’s remarks came alongside a package of policy moves Nigeria has made to support the sector. They include the country’s first National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy, approved in 2025, and the Creative Sector Investment Playbook, launched in January 2026 to guide investment into studios, content production and distribution. Nigeria is also a co-champion, with Kenya and South Africa, of the African Continental Free Trade Area Protocol on Digital Trade. More than US$600 million in financing is also being unlocked for digital and creative enterprises through the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises programme, iDICE.
Beyond production finance
Afreximbank has committed US$2 billion through 2027 to support Africa’s creative and cultural industries, building on earlier commitments as demand across the sector has grown. The previous edition, CANEX WKND 2024 in Algiers, brought together participants from 81 countries and facilitated more than US$540 million in trade and investment deals.
Afreximbank’s President and Chairman, Dr George Elombi, used the occasion to argue that money alone will not fix the problem. Citing estimates from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, he said Africa’s creative economy is valued at about US$60 billion, around 2% of the global creative industry.
“We can put these financing schemes into music and movie productions. Yet the value we derive will still be low. We must therefore focus on building the creative ecosystem.”
Dr Elombi identified distribution, branding, marketing platforms and intellectual property ownership as the areas where more value needs to be retained on the continent.
What’s on this weekend
CANEX WKND 2026 brings together more than 15,000 delegates from governments, investors, financial institutions, creators and businesses across Africa, the Caribbean and the wider diaspora. The programme includes the CANEX Deal Room, the Creative Economy Finance Summit, the African Producer Accelerator, the CANEX Music Factory, the CANEX Book Factory and the CANEX CreaThon, alongside sector programmes in film and television, music, fashion, sport, literature and publishing, gastronomy, visual arts and technology.