Afrexim Bank to boost creative industries with $500m

The President of Afrexim Bank Group, Professor Benedict Oramah, has disclosed that the bank will commit $500 million to creative and cultural industries in the next two years.

He made the disclosure Friday at the opening ceremony of the Creative Africa Exchange, CAX, summit holding at the Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

Explaining the funding window, Professor Oramah said the Bank is committed to supporting the actualising of the huge potentials of the creative industry in the continent.

He told a large gathering of pan-African and global participants at the summit that the bank’s analysis shows that African creative industry has a great potential for economic emancipation of the continent.

According to him, if the creative and cultural artists from different parts of Africa are making waves and breaking boundaries with some of them winning laurels at global stage, then it is expected that their intellectual property must translate to value for African economy.

He noted that the continent is so rich in arts and culture to the extent that conversations are rendered in poetic form and knowledge is conveyed through songs.

The DAILY TIMES correspondent in Kigali reports that Professor Oramah urged creative artists to repackage the industry and structure their trade to be able to access funding

Hosted by Times Multimedia, with headline support of Aiteo and Afrexim Bank, and strategic partnership of the African Development Bank, the three day summit/exhibition is being attended by participants from Africa, America, United Kingdom and among others.

It is expected that trade deals of abut $2 billion will be arranged among 250 exhibitors during the summit.