Lagos Targets Creative Economy Boom as Afreximbank Pursues $540m Deals at CANEX 2026
By Sherif Salau
Lagos is set to strengthen its position as Africa’s creative and cultural powerhouse as Afreximbank targets over $540 million in deals to boost financing, expand businesses and unlock global opportunities for the continent’s creative industry at CANEX Weekend 2026.
Dr George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Afreximbank, struck a confident note at the opening ceremony. Referring to the $540 million facilitated in Algiers in 2024, he said: “Lagos has to be several multiples of 540. So let Lagos set the mark, and I’m sure that mark will be hard to catch up elsewhere.”
The four-day gathering, running from 5 to 8 November under the theme “One People, United in Culture, Creating for the World,” is hosted by the Federal Government and organised by Afreximbank. It brings together creators, investors, policymakers and financiers from across Africa and the diaspora. At its centre sits the CANEX Deal Room and a series of Creative Pitch Sessions designed to connect entrepreneurs in film, television, music, fashion, sport, publishing, gastronomy, visual arts and creative infrastructure directly with potential capital.
Elombi framed the effort as a necessary correction. African creatives, he noted, often generate global hits while others capture most of the financial value. Citing estimates from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, he pointed out that the continent’s creative economy is valued at roughly $60 billion — just two per cent of the global total. “Too often, the African creators make the hits, and someone else makes the money,” he said.
Afreximbank has steadily raised its own commitment to the sector, moving from an initial $500 million to a $2 billion envelope covering 2024 to 2027. The Lagos event is intended to accelerate the conversion of cultural influence into scalable businesses that retain ownership of intellectual property and expand into international markets.
For Nigeria, and particularly Lagos, the gathering carries extra weight. Additional financing arrangements announced on the sidelines, including facilities involving the Development Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Export-Import Bank and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, signal a broader push to unlock capital for local creative enterprises.
Whether the deals that emerge over the next few days reach the multiples Elombi has set will depend on the quality of the conversations in the Deal Room and the willingness of investors to back African-owned creative businesses. Yet the ambition itself is clear. Lagos is being asked not merely to host a cultural festival, but to prove that the continent can turn its creative energy into lasting economic power.
