Nigeria is using the Creative Africa Nexus, CANEX, WKND 2026 to showcase export-ready Nigerian businesses and pull foreign investment into the creative sector, as the government sets non-oil exports and youth employment at the centre of its economic agenda, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, has said.
Isokpunwu, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday at the event in Lagos, said the four-day gathering offered Nigeria a platform to display its goods and services to international buyers and to expose investors to opportunities in the country’s creative industry.
“The CANEX is strengthening support for young entrepreneurs through funding and policies to expand Nigeria’s creative industry as well as attracting investors to the country,” he said.
The event, hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria and organised by Afreximbank through its Creative Africa Nexus programme, opened on Thursday at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts in the National Theatre complex, Iganmu, and runs until Sunday 8 November under the theme “One People, United in Culture, Creating for the World.”
The opening ceremony was attended by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Afreximbank President Dr George Elombi, alongside culture ministers from across the continent.
Export-ready exhibitors
Isokpunwu said he was satisfied with the level of preparation and the spread of participating organisations from Nigeria and other countries, describing the diversity of exhibitors and business interests as evidence of the event’s potential to drive trade and investment.
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He said the strong showing by Nigerian businesses was particularly encouraging, noting that many exhibitors had products ready for export, and that the ministry’s mandate covered expanding exports, creating jobs, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and promoting industrialisation.
According to the permanent secretary, the government is also working to promote value addition to locally produced commodities before they are exported, and remains committed to attracting foreign investment and strengthening the non-oil export sector.
On funding for young entrepreneurs, he said mechanisms had been put in place to ensure that money provided through partnerships reached its intended beneficiaries. He cited the framework under which the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria operates, safeguards attached to African Development Bank facilities, and the Startup Act, which he said provides a framework for supporting emerging businesses, particularly those led by young people.
Isokpunwu said Nigerian youths were already making significant contributions to the creative industry across music, comedy, gastronomy and sport, and that government support and funding would deepen their participation and expand the sector’s contribution to economic growth.
A US$2 billion bet on African creativity
The Lagos edition sits on a financing commitment Afreximbank has steadily enlarged since it first backed Africa’s cultural and creative industries in 2020. The bank says that commitment was doubled to US$1 billion and has since been raised to US$2 billion in available financing.
Afreximbank frames the money as an attempt to help African creators build scalable enterprises, hold on to their intellectual property and retain more of the value generated by African culture — a shift from a sector long defined by talent that exports itself rather than the businesses around it.
The commercial case rests on the previous edition. CANEX WKND 2024 in Algiers drew nearly 4,000 participants from 81 countries and 108 exhibitors, and facilitated and agreed deals worth more than US$540 million, according to the bank. Those included a €245 million facility with New World Television to part-finance its acquisition of sports broadcasting rights across 24 African countries, and a US$3 million facility for Mediwood Studios in Tunisia.
Deal room, finance summit and a US$50,000 CreaThon
The 2026 programme is weighted towards the business of culture rather than its performance alone. A CANEX Deal Room and creative pitch sessions are intended to put entrepreneurs in front of financiers across film and television, music, fashion, sport, publishing, gastronomy, visual arts and creative infrastructure.
A Creative Economy Finance Summit, presented by Afreximbank with the Creative Economy Practice at Co-Creation Hub, will examine how creative-sector transactions can be structured, financed and de-risked, while CANEX Creations Inc. leads discussions on unlocking investment in African intellectual property.
Technology and artificial intelligence run through the agenda, including sessions on authorship and intellectual property as AI tools spread through music, film, publishing and design. The CANEX CreaThon, delivered with pan-African technology company Gebeya, will bring creators and developers together around music, video and gaming projects, backed by a US$50,000 prize pool.
Film programming includes “Stories Without Borders: Africa, Hollywood & the Global Diaspora”, featuring former Afreximbank President Professor Benedict Oramah, and “Made in Africa, Watched in Africa”, drawing on research into distribution, audiences and financing in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa. Funke Akindele was scheduled for a Friday fireside chat with media entrepreneur Chude Jideonwo.
Fashion masterclasses on building profitable African brands, textile value chains, market access and intellectual property sit alongside the CANEX Fashion Show and Awards Night. In gastronomy, the Junior Chefs Competition and Africa Jollof Wars will test how African food and ingredients can be turned into commercial propositions, while publishing is covered through the CANEX Book Factory, a book fair, writers’ workshops, manuscript pitching and the CANEX Prize for Publishing.
Stars and the closing weekend
The headline names include Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, Emmy-winning actor Uzo Aduba, actors Richard Mofe-Damijo and Thuso Mbedu, and former footballers Didier Drogba and Jay-Jay Okocha, who are due to appear in “When Giants Speak: The Business of the Game”.
A concert featuring Davido, Fally Ipupa, Flavour, Libianca, Charlotte Dipanda and Sabrina Francis is scheduled for Saturday night, before the event closes on Sunday with cultural excursions, gastronomy activities, the CANEX Music Factory Songwriting Camp and the Legends Football Match at Onikan Stadium.
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