There is a particular kind of frustration that sits deep in the chest of a talented Nigerian producer — not the frustration of a bad idea, but of a great one trapped by a lack of money. Ask any filmmaker in Surulere, any music producer in Sangotedo, or any fashion designer hustling out of a tight apartment in Yaba, and they will tell you the same thing. Talent was never the problem. The funding always was. For decades, Nigeria’s creative industry grew on pure grit, with producers financing projects through personal savings, borrowing from family, or piecing together budgets from informal investor networks sometimes called “Ajo.” That era, while it produced some genuinely remarkable work, also kept the industry far smaller than it needed to be.
That conversation is beginning to change — and quickly. A convergence of government policy, multilateral banking commitments, private equity, and international development partnerships has opened up a landscape of funding options that would have seemed impossible just five years ago. The money is not limitless, nor is it always easy to access. But it is real, it is documented, and Nigerian producers who understand it stand an enormous advantage over those who do not. This article walks through the key funds, explains what they offer, and gives honest context about what it takes to qualify.
Before diving into the funds themselves, it is worth understanding the scale of what is at stake. According to the State of the Creative Innovation Ecosystem in Nigeria study commissioned in 2024 by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, Nigeria’s creative economy employs approximately 4.2 million people and contributes around $3 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product annually [1]. That same study, built on more than 1,700 survey responses and fieldwork across seven states, revealed that over 80 percent of creative practitioners in the country are self-taught and fewer than 10 percent have ever accessed formal financing. Those two statistics, read together, are staggering. An industry that feeds millions of families and earns billions for the country is largely running without a single naira of structured credit. That gap is exactly what the new wave of funds is trying to close.
The Federal Government’s New Bet on the Creative Economy
The biggest development in recent memory came in late 2024, when President Bola Tinubu’s administration approved the establishment of the Creative Economy Development Fund, known as the CEDF, during a Federal Executive Council meeting on October 23, 2024. The CEDF is not a grant scheme the way older Nigerian producers might remember — where money was announced publicly but disappeared into bureaucracy. This time, the fund has been structured as a special purpose vehicle with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated as an anchor shareholder and oversight from an independent investment committee designed to insulate it from political interference.
The fund operates in two distinct phases. Phase One, which opened on April 28, 2025, targets large creative projects requiring over $100,000 in financing. Phase Two, scheduled to open on August 4, 2025, is designed specifically for smaller enterprises — the SMEs and MSMEs that make up the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian creative industry. According to Nairametrics reporting from May 2025, disbursements from Phase One are expected to begin on January 1, 2026, with Phase Two disbursements following on April 1, 2026 [2]. Applicants can visit the official portal at CEDFnigeria.com to submit expressions of interest.
What makes the CEDF genuinely different from past government creative initiatives is its approach to intellectual property as collateral. For as long as Nigerian producers have existed, the central frustration with formal bank lending has been the collateral requirement. A filmmaker with two completed films does not usually own land. A music producer with a catalog of hits does not have a vehicle worth pledging. The CEDF changes that logic entirely. Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, announced at the Afreximbank Annual General Meeting in Abuja in 2025 that under the new framework, registered creative works — including songs, films, fashion designs, and software — can now function as legitimate collateral for loans. “This initiative is about liberating the power of creativity and transforming creative assets into tangible financial tools,” Musawa said, according to the Innovation and Technology Resource Centre [3]. That sentence carries weight, because it reframes the entire conversation about what a creative professional is worth in the eyes of the financial system.
Importantly, the CEDF is not limited to artists and performers alone. According to the fund’s official rollout document published by the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, the fund’s coverage extends to the full creative value chain — upstream suppliers like studios, post-production editors, and curators, as well as downstream players like distributors, e-commerce platforms, and cinemas [4]. A sound engineer, a distribution company, or a digital rights management startup can apply just as legitimately as a filmmaker or recording artist.
Closely linked to the CEDF is the Creative Leap Acceleration Programme, known as CLAP. Approved by the Federal Executive Council and flagged off by Minister Musawa in 2024, CLAP is the training and enablement arm of Nigeria’s creative economy ambition. The programme promises structured training in exportable creative skills, mentorship from industry professionals, and critically, direct access to funding application channels [https://clap.gov.ng/]. Notably, registration on CLAP has been made mandatory for all CEDF applicants, meaning the two programmes are deliberately linked. Musawa has stated publicly that the broader vision is to contribute $100 billion to Nigeria’s GDP from the creative sector by 2030, with 2 million jobs created along the way.
The Multilateral Money That Is Already in Play
One of the most consequential partnerships underpinning Nigeria’s creative funding push is the relationship with the African Export-Import Bank, more commonly known as Afreximbank. In October 2024, Nigeria secured a $200 million financing facility from Afreximbank specifically to support the creative industry. This was announced by Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of Afreximbank, at the Destination 2030: Nigeria Everywhere event held at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “We are pleased to be working with the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy to put in place a financing facility of $200 million,” Oramah said, as reported by BusinessDay [5].
Beyond that bilateral deal, Afreximbank’s broader continental programme — the Creative Africa Nexus, known as CANEX — represents a larger pool of capital that Nigerian producers can tap into. Originally launched with $1 billion in available financing for Africa’s creative and cultural sectors, Afreximbank announced during CANEX WKND 2024 that it was increasing that commitment to $2 billion over the next three years. Within that program, the bank has also been developing a dedicated $1 billion African Film Fund aimed specifically at financing, co-financing with major studios, and supporting producers and directors of film projects across the continent. One of the most encouraging real-world examples of CANEX’s potential came when the very first film Afreximbank financed under this program premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, with several more from Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya queued up for streaming platforms, according to statements made by Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, at the 2023 CANEX Summit in Cairo [6].
On the domestic banking side, the Bank of Industry has been financing Nollywood longer than most people realize. The BOI’s NollyFund scheme was one of the earliest structured attempts by a Nigerian institution to give filmmakers access to single-digit interest loans at scale — with an initial program limit of one billion naira. The scheme has already financed more than a dozen film projects, including Queen Amina, produced by the legendary Okey Ogunjiofor of Living in Bondage fame, who received 50 million naira under the program. When a BOI delegation visited Ogunjiofor on set at the Africa International Film Festival, they found state-of-the-art equipment, period costumes, and a crew operating at a level that prior underfunded productions simply could not reach. Babatunde Joseph, the bank’s then-Divisional Head for Large Enterprises, explained that the NollyFund was designed precisely to give filmmakers the financial runway to make movies at international quality standards while also connecting them to accredited distribution channels [7]. The BOI’s creative industry mandate has since expanded, and the bank now provides creative sector loans under its Large Enterprises, Small Enterprises, and Micro Finance Bank arms, covering fashion, music, arts, and entertainment.
Then there is NEXIM Bank — the Nigerian Export-Import Bank — an institution that many creative producers have not thought to approach, but probably should. Established in 1991, NEXIM’s core mandate is financing Nigerian exports, and under a formal creative and entertainment industry loan product, any registered business operating in film, music, fashion, radio, or television activities is eligible to apply. Loans are available for up to seven years and can cover working capital as well as equipment acquisition. The bank also introduced the Women and Youth Export Facility, or WAYEF, which specifically supports emerging entrepreneurs in digital services and the creative economy with more flexible terms. According to reporting by BusinessDay from September 2025, NEXIM Bank disbursed over 420 billion naira in export financing and created more than 12,000 direct jobs, with the creative sector forming part of that disbursement ecosystem [8]. “Whether it’s in agro-processing, hybrid value chains, or the creative sector, with energy and intelligence, the outcomes are going to be great,” NEXIM’s Managing Director, Abubakar Abba Bello, said. The bank’s application process flows through NEXIM’s regional offices and, in some cases, through participating commercial banks.
International Capital and Private Equity Finding Nollywood
The entry of international capital into Nigeria’s creative economy did not begin with a government policy — it began with a streaming platform. Netflix entered Nigeria in 2016, and by 2022 had invested $23.6 million in licensed, co-produced, and commissioned Nigerian film content. According to a report covered by Further Africa in April 2023, that investment contributed $39 million to Nigeria’s GDP, $34 million to household income, and supported 5,140 jobs throughout the economy [9]. Producers like Kemi Adetiba, Mo Abudu, Editi Effiong, and Charles Okpaleke built internationally visible careers partly on the runway that Netflix funding provided. Editi Effiong’s Black Book, for example, became the first Nollywood movie to take the number one spot globally on Netflix when it premiered in September 2023 — a milestone that demonstrated what properly funded Nigerian content can do when it gets a real platform.
However, the landscape with Netflix shifted meaningfully in late 2024, when the platform announced it would pause commissioning and acquiring original Nigerian productions from November 2024 onward. Director Jay Jituboh, speaking on Pulse Nigeria’s Hot Takes programme, clarified that Netflix had not exited the country entirely but was changing its model to focus more on licensing content that had already succeeded in Nigerian cinemas first, rather than funding productions upfront [10]. The shift stung — Kunle Afolayan described it publicly as a “fatal last supper” during a panel at the 2025 Zuma International Film Festival. But it also forced a useful reckoning. Producers who had anchored their financial models entirely on streaming platform deals needed to find other routes.
Private equity has stepped in to fill some of that space. One of the more exciting real-world examples is VEMA I — the Volition Entertainment, Media and Arts Fund — led by Nigerian entrepreneur Kola Oyeneyin. The Black Book, which went on to top Netflix’s global charts in September 2023, was financed through VEMA I, making it the first major Nollywood film funded by a structured tech investment syndicate, according to reporting by Within Nigeria from June 2025 [11]. Another vehicle, Capital Film Productions, founded by Adim Isiakpona and Hamza Kassim, raised 800 million naira across initial funds targeting a 37 percent cumulative return. Their investment in Gangs of Lagos — which grossed 230 million naira domestically and hit Amazon Prime Video’s top-10 non-English list — showed that disciplined, performance-based Nollywood financing can deliver serious returns.
On an even larger scale, September 2024 saw the launch of the Next Narrative Africa Fund — a $40 million fund created through a partnership between Next Narrative Africa, a Nigerian media production company, and HEVA Fund, a Kenyan-based investment firm. According to TechCabal’s reporting from September 2024, the fund targets films with budgets of between $1 million and $5 million per project, offering both equity investment and outright grants in some cases, with a target of deploying $40 million over four years [12]. For mid-level Nigerian producers with projects at that budget range, this fund is worth serious attention.
Meanwhile, the UK-Nigeria Technology Hub launched its own Creative Fund in 2026 under the UK Government’s Digital Access Programme, implemented through Tech4Dev. This first-phase grant initiative is targeted at film, fashion, and music projects with strong potential for impact, scalability, and job creation. What separates this fund from many others is its focus on the technical capacity gap — it subsidises access to visual effects artists, sound engineers, post-production editors, and digital tools like content delivery platforms and AI-driven production technologies, addressing the very reason so much high-value Nigerian creative work has historically been outsourced abroad [13]. Oyinkansola Akintola-Bello, Director of the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, stated clearly: “Nigeria’s creative sector already delivers real economic value, and both governments have committed under the UK-Nigeria Economic Transformation and Investment Partnership to supporting its growth.”
What Producers Must Do to Access These Funds
Understanding that funding exists is one thing. Actually walking through the door and getting it is another. The reality, as many Nigerian producers have discovered the hard way, is that money follows structure. Every fund discussed in this article — from the CEDF to Afreximbank to the BOI NollyFund — requires applicants to present themselves as viable business entities, not just talented individuals.
The first and most non-negotiable step is formal business registration. Every single fund mentioned here requires a valid Corporate Affairs Commission registration number. A filmmaker applying for CEDF funding as a private individual with no registered production company will not get far. This is not bureaucratic formalism for its own sake. It signals to lenders and grant committees that the applicant understands they are running a business, not just producing art. For producers who have been operating informally, the time to fix that is before applying, not after.
The second requirement, almost universally, is a business plan with financial projections. For the CEDF Phase One specifically, MSME Africa’s reporting confirms that applicants must submit a detailed business case with five-year financial projections, expected funding ranges, financial models, presentations, and IRR forecasts where available [14]. That language — IRR forecasts — should not be alien to producers who want to access serious capital. It means internal rate of return: basically, showing on paper how an investor or lender gets their money back and what they earn in the process. Producers who do not yet understand how to write this kind of document should invest in finding a financial consultant or business development service provider who does. The BOI, for instance, has appointed over 400 SME Consultants as Business Development Service Providers across the country, many of whom can assist with exactly this kind of documentation.
The third piece of this puzzle is intellectual property registration. Given that both the CEDF and NEXIM Bank are now explicitly recognizing IP as collateral, any producer who has created original work — a film, a music catalog, a game, a fashion design — needs to have that work properly registered with the Nigerian Copyright Commission. Unregistered IP cannot serve as collateral, and its market value cannot be formally calculated. Building an IP portfolio is no longer just legal housekeeping; it is the foundation of your credit worthiness in the new creative economy.
Beyond formal eligibility, the practical wisdom shared by producers who have navigated these systems points to one additional truth: relationships matter. The BOI NollyFund did not arrive with a billboard campaign. Filmmakers like Ogunjiofor found their way to it through industry networks. The Afreximbank CANEX programme rewards African creative businesses that are already internationally visible and can demonstrate market traction. The UK-Nigeria Creative Fund is looking for projects that show scalability and impact, not just artistic ambition. The producers who have succeeded in accessing structured creative financing have invariably invested time in industry events, submitted projects to international film festivals to build visibility, and built relationships with the financial institutions long before they needed a check.
Nigeria’s creative economy, according to PwC projections cited by ThisDay in reporting from August 2025, has the potential to contribute $15 billion to the national GDP — a figure that dwarfs the current $6.4 billion valuation [15]. The music industry alone grossed over $400 million in 2024 through streaming, brand deals, and international concerts. Nollywood produces more than 2,500 films annually. UNESCO has estimated that Africa’s creative sector could generate $20 billion annually and create 20 million jobs if fully supported. Nigeria, with its population and talent density, should be capturing the largest share of that. It is finally assembling the financial infrastructure to do so. The funds are here. The question every Nigerian producer now needs to answer is whether they are ready to walk through the door.
