EXCLUSIVE: The Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank, also known as Afreximbank, has officially launched its much-talked-about $1 billion Pan-African Film Fund, with publishing veteran Lavaille Lavette signed on to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the new venture. 

Afreximbank has established the fund through its development impact investment arm, the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA). The bank said the Pan-African Film Fund will invest “across a diversified portfolio spanning content production, infrastructure and distribution” using a mix of “equity, quasi-equity and structured financing solutions.” 

The fund will prioritize what Afreximbank has described as “commercially viable” and “export-oriented projects” with strong global distribution potential, supported by partnerships with studios, streaming platforms and other distributors.

Alongside production financing, the Pan-African Film Fund will lend funds to address what Afreximbank described as “structural constraints” across the industry. This will include strengthening the global distribution of African-produced content, expanding digital streaming and exhibition platforms, and developing production studios and post-production infrastructure on the continent. 

Lavette is a veteran publishing exec, best known as the Managing Partner at the production outfit One Street Studios and a co-founder of JVL Media, alongside Academy Award winner Viola Davis and producer Julius Tennon. FEDA and One Street Studios will serve as Co-General Partners to the Fund. 

Lavette described the Pan-African Fund as a “defining moment” for Africa’s creative industries in a statement. 

“Through the Pan-African Film Fund, we will mobilise long-term capital that supports creators, strengthens production capacity, and builds sustainable global distribution pathways for African storytelling,” she said. 

Afreximbank was created in 1993 and is headquartered in Cairo with regional offices in Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Barbados. The bank has backed projects such as Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa, which debuted in the Quinzaine competition at Cannes and will be distributed later this year by Neon. 

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