The African Film Investor Roundtable (AFIR) which took place last week in Cape Town, brought together 13 of the continent’s most active film investors with 11 producers from the African Producers Accelerator (APA) programme, for the first gathering of its kind dedicated to building a sustainable investment ecosystem for African cinema.
The inaugural Roundtable (21 to 23 July), was presented by Big World Cinema (SA) and the HEVA Fund (Kenya) and chaired by Steven Markovitz, CEO of Big World Cinema and Executive Director of APA, and Wakiuru Njuguna, Managing Partner of the HEVA Fund.
Investors and experts in attendance included representatives of the Ford Foundation, CANEX Creations Inc. (an Afreximbank subsidiary), MBO Capital, the Bertha Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation and National Film and Video Foundation, Business and Arts South Africa, and individual investors including Tony Tabatznik and Wale Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi alongside experts Caroline von Kühn, Executive Director of Oxbelly, and Erica Motley Dupuis, Executive Producer at Impact X Capital.
The programme also brought together expert perspectives in masterclasses spanning the film business from risk to rights. One session tackled how to de-risk the film value chain across the full arc from development through to distribution. Another walked investors through real-world case studies tracing a project’s journey from initial budget to finance plan to waterfall structure, drawing on experience producing acclaimed, award-nominated feature films. A further session offered an overview of IP finance in Africa, grounded in the perspective of a major international law firm with a footprint across more than 60 countries.
Steven Markovitz says “It feels like a historic moment in African cinema with increased global recognition of the growing talent on the continent and increased availability of African finance for African film. The Roundtable was a unique opportunity to bring these forces together and the results were beyond our expectations.’’
“The driving force behind the Roundtable was to bring together investors who already recognise African film as an investable asset class and create a platform for collaboration across the continuum of capital,” adds Wakiuru Njuguna. “The most encouraging moment was seeing those conversations translate into commitments, with investors expressing their intention to co-invest and support projects from the African Producers Accelerator. That is the kind of collective action that will shape the future of Africa’s film industry.”
Momentum is building. Several investors at the Roundtable made financial commitments for co-investment, while others are actively shaping models for future partnerships. Organisers are now turning that energy into a concrete working plan to keep investors collaborating going forward, and the conversation won’t stop there: key talks and discussions will roll out online as a podcast series, giving audiences a front-row seat to the ideas driving the industry forward. Behind the scenes, producers and investors are already following up on Roundtable connections, and deals will be announced as they are signed.
Osahon Akpata, CEO of CANEX Creations Inc., the intellectual property investment company of Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), said about the APA: “It is an impressive group of people have been put together, I see very investable projects from the different impressive group of producers who have come here, and I’m sure that they will get funding either from CANEX Creations Inc. or some of the other investors who were in the room because they have very strong projects.’’
The APA and AFIR are supported by Bertha Foundation, Just Films/Ford Foundation, Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, with programme partner Oxbelly. Special thanks to Dorp Hotel and The International Emerging Film Talent Fund.
The next Roundtable will take place in Lagos in November at CANEX WKND.
AFIR grew out of the African Producers Accelerator, established by Big World Cinema in 2025 with the support of the Bertha Foundation, to help mid-career African producers strengthen their businesses and prepare investment-ready projects. This year APA received over 260 applications from 31 African countries, with six producers from this new cohort pitching their projects to investors, alongside five producers from last year’s cohort. These producers have come through APA’s rigorous three-month programme covering business strategy, financing structures and investor readiness.
The APA cohort includes a Rotterdam Tiger Award recipient in Variations on a Theme, produced by Annemarie Du Plessis (South Africa); Khalid Awad (Sudan), co-producer of the Cannes award winner Goodbye, Julia; Josh Olaoluwa (Nigeria), producer of One Woman, One Bra, which premiered at Venice and won the Tribeca Audience Award winner; Funmbi Ogunbanwo (Nigeria) of BAFTA-winning and Cannes’ My Father’s Shadow; Abba T. Makama (Nigeria) producer of The Lost Okoroshi; award-winning genre writer and producer David Franciscus (South Africa) with films selected for Fantasia and IFFR; Babalwa Baartman (South Africa) producer of Good Madam, TIFF Platform Competition and sold to Shudder and Amazon; Kofi Owusu-Afriyie (Ghana) whose film The Fisherman premiered at Venice; Producer and tech app entrepreneur Zoe Ramushu (South Africa); Netflix hit-producer Neo Baloyi (South Africa); leading Angolan producer and exhibitor Jorge Cohen (Angola) whose films screened at Tribeca and IFFR; producer and former distributor, Mimi Bartels (Nigeria), who produced the Netflix hit The Black Book and many other commercially successful films. The programme Director is Tamsin Ranger of Big World Cinema, and she is joined by two industry advisors, Erica Motley Dupuis and Lina Chaabane.
Among the investors are HEVA Fund who has mobilised over USD 40 million and invested in more than 500 creative businesses across East Africa; MBO Capital has invested over USD 10 million in 42 film and TV productions from Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa; CANEX Creations Inc., the Afreximbank-backed IP investment vehicle, is building a portfolio that includes Clarissa, starring Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri which premiered in Directors Fortnight this year and is being sold by Neon; the Bertha Foundation has supported over 300 documentaries globally through its storytelling programmes; and Just Films, Ford Foundation which grants over $4m annually to documentaries.
AFIR is a first-of-its-kind gathering of African and international investors, financiers and producers dedicated to building a sustainable investment ecosystem for African film. Launched in 2026 by Big World Cinema and HEVA Fund, it grew out of the African Producers Accelerator (APA) and is co-chaired by Steven Markovitz and Wakiuru Njuguna, and moderated by George Gachara, Chair of HEVA Fund Board.
Established by Big World Cinema in 2025 with the support of the Bertha Foundation, APA supports experienced African producers in strengthening their businesses, refining their investment propositions and preparing projects to confidently engage with investors.
Big World Cinema is a Cape Town-based pan-African production and distribution company with a 30-year history working with over 150 directors from more than 30 African countries. Its slate includes Cannes prize-winner Augure, Rafiki and Viva Riva!, their films have screened at Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice. The company co-founded the Encounters Documentary Festival, Electric South, and the African Producers Accelerator.
HEVA Fund is the first dedicated investment, advisory and knowledge platform for Africa’s creative economy, founded in Kenya in 2013. Operating across 10 countries in Eastern Africa, HEVA has mobilised over USD 40 million and invested in more than 500 creative enterprises spanning film, TV, music, fashion, gaming and design. It combines flexible, stage-appropriate capital with governance and investment-readiness support to help creative businesses grow and attract further private investment.
