A new event aimed at bringing more money into African films took place in Cape Town this week. The first-ever African Film Investor Roundtable (AFIR) ran from July 21 to 23. It brought together top film investors, financiers, producers, and outside experts who all work in African cinema. The event was put together by Steven Markovitz, founder of Big World Cinema, along with the HEVA Fund, a group that supports Africa’s creative businesses.
Steven Markovitz has been making films in Africa for more than 30 years. He started Big World Cinema in Cape Town back in 1994 and has since worked with over 120 directors from more than 20 African countries. Some of the company’s best-known films include Rafiki, which became the first Kenyan film to ever premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, along with Omen and Tug of War, both of which also played at major international festivals.
Steven Markovitz also leads the African Producers Accelerator, a program that helps train African film producers. At the roundtable, he said this feels like a big moment for African cinema, since more people around the world are noticing African talent, and more African money is now available to fund African films. He said the event was a chance to bring both of these things together in one room.
The event was co-led by Wakiuru Njuguna, Managing Partner at HEVA Fund. Her Nairobi-based fund has already put in more than $40 million and backed over 500 creative businesses across East Africa. She said the whole idea behind the roundtable was to bring together investors who already believe African film is worth investing in, so they could work together more easily going forward.
One of the other big names at the event was Osahon Akpata, who runs CANEX Creations Inc. This company invests in ideas and creative projects on behalf of Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa. CANEX Creations recently backed the Nigerian film Clarissa, made by the sibling directing duo Arie and Chuko Esiri, which was later picked up by the studio NEON.
Also attending was Adekunle Adebiyi from MBO Capital Management, a Lagos-based investment firm. His company has already put over $9 million into African film, helping fund more than 42 film and TV projects from countries like Nigeria and Ghana.
Speaking about the event, Osahon Akpata said he was impressed by the strong group of people in the room. He said he saw several projects worth investing in, and expected many of them to get funding soon, either from his own company or from other investors who attended.
The next African Film Investor Roundtable (AFIR) meeting is planned for November in Lagos. It will take place as part of CANEX WKND 2026, a four-day event that brings together creative professionals, investors, and industry leaders from across Africa and its diaspora.
With more global attention on African films and more money now flowing into the industry, this Cape Town meeting is being seen as an early but meaningful step toward building stronger financial support for African cinema in the years ahead. CANEX WKND itself is organized by Afreximbank and has grown into one of Africa’s biggest creative industry gatherings, with its 2024 edition in Algiers alone drawing around 4,000 attendees from 81 countries and helping secure $540 million worth of deals across the continent’s creative sectors. Holding the next AFIR meeting alongside an event of that scale suggests organizers want the momentum from Cape Town to carry into an even bigger stage in Lagos later this year.
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