CANEX CEO Bets Big on African Film Finance to Unlock a $2.5 Trillion Market
Osahon Akpata, CEO of Cairo-based intellectual property investment firm CANEX Creations Inc. (CCInc), is on a mission to transform how African films are financed and distributed. After a whirlwind season that included the Lumière Summit in France and a landmark debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Akpata is pushing a clear message: African creativity is undervalued, and smart capital can change that.
At TIFF, CCInc hosted the inaugural African Global Hub, its largest international event outside Africa. The hub showcased six African works-in-progress, including the sequel to Nollywood hit The Black Book, and featured a special screening of Muganga: The One Who Treats, a biopic about Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege. More than 400 industry insiders attended the screening, followed by a conversation with Mukwege, actor David Oyelowo, and Black Panther star Danai Gurira.
“The reception for Muganga was extraordinary,” Akpata said. “Watching more than 400 people experience the film and then welcome Dr. Denis Mukwege reinforced our conviction that this is a powerful story capable of travelling well beyond its origins.”
Why CANEX Creations Exists
CCInc is a subsidiary of the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the investment arm of Afreximbank, a Cairo-based development finance institution with $42 billion in assets. The bank launched the Creative African Nexus Program (CANEX) to boost Africa’s share of global creative revenues, which currently sits at just 2-3% of a $2.5 trillion market.
“The median age in Africa is 19 and a half,” Akpata explained. “The creative sector employs more people than any other industry in the 15-29 age range. The bank saw an opportunity to increase jobs and revenues by investing in this sector.”
Afreximbank initially set aside $500 million for CANEX, later increasing it to $1 billion in 2022 and $2 billion in 2024. The program spans six pillars: financing, capacity building, export promotion, policy advocacy, partnerships, and digitization.
Filling the Funding Gap
Akpata, a Nigerian banking veteran with stints at Ecobank and McKinsey, was hired in April 2024 to build CCInc and became CEO in September 2025. He says the company fills a critical gap: many African creative projects lack access to venture capital or equity financing.
“We have a ticket size of between $500,000 and $5 million,” Akpata said. “We’re doing mostly venture investing, and we only put a certain percentage towards a project, maybe 20 to 40%.”
CCInc has invested in films like Clarissa, a contemporary Nigerian adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway starring Sophie Okonedo and David Oyelowo, which screened at Cannes and TIFF. It also stepped in to complete financing for Muganga at the post-production stage, helping the film secure international sales attention.
A Model for Sustainable Investment
Akpata believes that commercial success will attract more investors. He points to Clarissa, co-financed with MBO Capital and Chapel Hill, which landed a worldwide distribution deal with Neon.
“If you can get African film content good access to the market with proper distribution and get some commercial success, that will encourage more investors to come in,” he said. “There is a huge opportunity to create IP that is an investable class from the continent and its diaspora.”
The hub at TIFF also included a panel titled “Closing the Gap,” featuring Janet Brown of Tribeca Enterprises, producer Tamara Dawit, and Adekunle Adebiyi of MBO Capital. Partners included FilmOne Limited, Natives Filmworks, and South Africa’s Gambit Films.
What’s Next for CCInc?
Beyond film, CCInc has invested in music publishing, including a catalogue of 230 songs featuring Afrobeat stars. The company is also attracting interest from Hollywood names like John Boyega and Viola Davis, as well as African diaspora figures like Angélique Kidjo.
“We’re saying we want Africans to own their own IP,” Akpata said. “We want to commercialize the IP that comes out of the creative industries, and we’re going to put financing behind it. That is attractive, and it makes people come to us.”
The next step, he says, is converting the buzz from TIFF into concrete deals. “The objective was never visibility for its own sake. We wanted to put compelling African projects and filmmakers in front of buyers, distributors, and financiers. The next step is converting that engagement into commercial outcomes.”