Mary Ephraim-Egbas, founder of Africa Film Finance Forum (AFFF) and CEO of Okhma Global, has called for more structured and patient funding to boost Nigeria’s creative industry.
She made the call last week Tuesday during a panel session at the inaugural QEDNG Creative Powerhouse Summit held in Lagos.
The summit, themed “Financing as Catalyst for a Thriving Creative Economy,” brought together filmmakers, musicians, fashion designers, journalists, bankers, government officials and business leaders to brainstorm on how creatives in Nigeria can thrive and not just survive.
Speaking on the keynote address delivered by founder of the Africa Soft Power Group, Nkiru Balonwu, Ephraim-Egbas said one of the things that stood out for her was the emphasis on the need for structure and patient funding.
She said, “That really was the highlight of it for me because when you talk about funding. So patient funding and understanding on the part of stakeholders and the industry. I hear people talk about structure around the industry, I think the industry has done a lot in structuring itself. We are now going to come to the finance industry and talk about how they have structured for this particular industry. Not just structuring generally as financiers but how they are responsive to this industry and how it’s supposed to really work. How our relationship should work really.”
She also reacted to culture minister Hannatu Musawa’s projection that the creative sector could generate $100 billion and over two million jobs by 2027, cautioning that the realities of revenue distribution in Nollywood must be considered.
She said, “If you talk about generating funds in respect to Nollywood or the film industry, because 60 percent—let’s use the cinema for instance, 60 percent of the funds generated in the cinema, not just Nigeria but Africa really, is not Africa content. That doesn’t say anything wrong about the Africa content, it is just what it is in terms of the positioning of where we are at. So if you look at it, generally the film industry for instance globally is valued up at about 136 billion dollars of which Africa earns less than 1 percent of that. So if you’re saying you are actually doing an analysis and collaborating with what you said, then 60 percent of that money doesn’t come to the government, it goes out of the country, so that analysis really needs to be looked at on the understanding of where we are generating and our value needs to be better accessed.”
Ephraim-Egbas further revealed that AFFF has been engaging with banks to bridge knowledge gaps in film financing. She said, “We have just completed training for about fifteen finance, which includes financiers, banks and the rest. We talked to the banks and they said to us we don’t understand your industry, we don’t get it. We don’t know what the numbers are like, we don’t know how it works. I remember one of the banks’ MD said will you train us, will you teach us. So we put up a training, and today we’ve done more than 15 banks and financier training. So eventually it will translate into investment. But they need to understand, to know what the industry is about and how it works. This industry needs more than creators. It is an industry, which means there are many aspects. We need financiers, we need people that understand insurance, we need lawyers, we need marketing companies who understand how to take our message, curate properly.”
Other panelists included filmmaker Kunle Afolayan, AFRIMA founder Mike Dada and Joseph Edgar of Duke of Shomolu Productions. The session was moderated by broadcaster Anike-Ade Funke Treasure.
Kunle Afolayan emphasized that creativity alone cannot sustain the industry without solid financial structures, while Dada stressed the importance of collaboration across sectors.
Delivering the keynote, Balonwu argued that the problem is not lack of capital but absence of scalable and structured investment frameworks. She welcomed Afreximbank’s $1 billion Africa film fund but warned that its success depends on alignment with industry needs.
The event was chaired by Group Managing Director of SO&U, Udeme Ufot and attended by stakeholders including actress Joke Silva, NFVCB boss Shaibu Husseini, presidential aide Temitope Ajayi, ex-Lagos commissioner Steve Ayorinde and Lagos governor’s spokesperson Gboyega Akosile.
It was anchored by actress and voice artiste EyiyemiOlivia Rogbinyin.
