When Lagos hosts the fifth Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in November 2027, Nigeria’s government and its continental partners want African culture seated at the same table as commodities, manufacturing and financial services, in what would mark the most deliberate integration yet of the creative economy into the continent’s flagship trade diplomacy event.
The ambition is underwritten by hard numbers. According to PwC, Nigeria’s entertainment and media industry is valued at nearly $15 billion, driven by Nollywood, the world’s second-largest film producer by output, and the global reach of Afrobeats. Continent-wide, the African creative industry is valued at over $50 billion and employs millions, with AfCFTA Secretariat Secretary-General Wamkele Mene describing it as one of the potential drivers of Africa’s industrial revolution.
The mechanism connecting culture to trade at IATF2027 is the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), Afreximbank’s creative economy programme, which debuted at IATF2021 in Durban and has grown into one of the trade fair’s signature platforms, covering film, music, fashion, culinary arts, sports and literary publishing.
A financing commitment behind the vision
The expansion of CANEX into IATF2027 comes backed by a significant capital commitment. Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah announced in October 2024 that the bank would double its CANEX financing window from $1 billion to $2 billion for the next three years, citing a marked surge in demand across Africa’s creative sectors since 2022 spanning film production, music, fashion manufacturing and sports.
Recent foreign investment decisions have validated the sector’s commercial attractiveness, including Universal Music Group’s acquisition of a majority stake in Mavin Global, the Nigerian label behind internationally recognised artists, and Canal+’s strategic acquisitions in African production companies across Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Rwanda.
Lagos as the convergence point
Nigeria’s selection as IATF2027 host carries particular weight for the creative economy argument. Lagos is already the undisputed hub of African popular culture, home to the continent’s most exported film industry and the epicentre of Afrobeats, a genre that has reached mainstream commercial status in the United States, the United Kingdom and across Europe.
At the IATF2025 roadshow held in Lagos ahead of the Algeria edition, Afreximbank Executive Vice President Kanayo Awani noted that Nigerian enterprises generated over $11 billion in signed deals at IATF2023 alone, the highest of any participating country. With Nigeria now the host nation, organisers are targeting $50 billion in total trade and investment deals across all sectors for the 2027 edition.
The CANEX Summit at IATF2025 in Algeria was billed as the largest gathering of creatives from Africa and the diaspora, convening continental and global players to showcase goods, explore business opportunities and facilitate investment within a rapidly expanding creative economy. The Lagos edition is expected to be larger in scale.
The underlying policy argument, that African culture is not merely a soft power instrument but a bankable export sector capable of generating hard trade deals, is one that Afreximbank has been building since CANEX launched in 2020. IATF2027 in Lagos represents its most visible test yet.
