Oramah, Kagame, Steve Harvey others to Headline CAX WKND 2020

Ololade Adeyanju/

Creatives and culture aficionados from all walks of life will gather in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, from January 16 to 18, 2020 for the second edition of the Creative Africa Exchange (CAX) Summit tagged CAX WKND 2020.

Sponsored by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), with collaborations from the African Union, UNESCO, the African Development Bank, the African Finance Corporation, Initiative for Global Development (IGD), other multilateral institutions and strategic partners, the event will facilitate investments into the creative industry through trade, industrialisation and provision of critical infrastructure to support the transformation of Africa.

CAX WKND is the biggest summit for the creative arts, entertainment and cultural sector in Africa, and it attracts some of the renowned names in the creative and cultural sector. The 2020 edition of the summit will host notable names like the President of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, the President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina and the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, Bank executives and content buyers. Keynote speakers at the event will be popular African practitioners in the industry and others from Hollywood

Apart from attracting some of the highly respected names in the industry, the summit will also attract an estimated $2bn of investment deals into the creative and cultural industry, as it will be hosting so many investors who are looking for new investment opportunities on the African continent. About 1,500 participants are expected from 68 countries, with over 250 exhibitors also coming around to show their skills and merchandise to the world.

The maiden edition which was hosted in Cairo, Egypt on December 12, 2018, brought together some of the biggest names in the art and entertainment industry, in celebration of the rich African culture and portrayal of out-of-the-box creativity in fashion, arts, music, publishing and media. In attendance was former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as other government officials from different countries, who showed support for the Creative Industry in Africa.

Following the launch of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), which is providing access to trade and market information, the president of AFREXIM Bank, Prof. Benedict Oramah said, “CAX is a very important component of our work to promote regional integration, we see this as a seed for our development.”

The organisers told NewsmakersNG that CAX’s primary objective is to serve as a consolidated marketplace for the creative and cultural industry by harnessing Africa’s greatest resource – the human resource – to project the rich African culture and heritage. This is in furtherance of continental initiatives like the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which has been signed by 54 out of 55 African countries. In the last one year, CAX has become the favourite meetup event for African creatives and consumers of African art.