Afreximbank supports African creative products with $500m

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced a $500 million support for the production and trade of African cultural and creative products over the next two years.

President of the bank Prof. Benedict Oramah told guests at the Creative Africa Exchange Weekend, Africa’s first continental event dedicated to promoting exchange within the creative and cultural industry, held in Kigali at the weekend that the funds, which would build on what the bank was already doing, would be accessible as lines of credit to banks, direct financing to operators and as guarantees.

He said the creative economy was increasingly recognized as a significant sector and meaningful contributor to Africa’s gross domestic product and that the cultural and creative industries catalysed economic growth by fostering more inclusive, connected and collaborative societies.

“Creative industries can be potent vehicles for more equitable, sustainable and inclusive growth strategies for African economies,” Prof Oramah stated.

He noted that while Africa had a deep pool of talent, it lacked the infrastructure and capacity to commercialize its creative talent and reap the vast fortunes in it.

He commended Egypt’s “astronomical growth in creative exports over the last decade” and the Nollywood industry’s increasing importance which had prompted the Nigerian government, in its Economic Recovery and Growth plan, to forecast export revenues of $1 billion from the industry by 2020.

Prof. Oramah described the African market as the lowest hanging fruit for African creative products but noted that, until recently, “that market was fragmented and balkanised, such that a Senegalese knew more about creative products in France than in Ghana”.