The African Export-Import Bank, known as Afreximbank, has officially launched its $1 billion Pan-African Film Fund, tapping publishing and production veteran Lavaille Lavette to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the new venture.
Established through the bank’s development impact investment arm, the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), 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 commercially viable, export-oriented projects with strong global distribution potential, supported by partnerships with studios, streaming platforms and distributors.
Beyond production financing, the fund will work to address structural constraints across the industry, including strengthening global distribution of African-produced content, expanding digital streaming and exhibition platforms, and developing production studios and post-production infrastructure across the continent.
Lavette is a veteran publishing executive best known as Managing Partner at production outfit One Street Studios and 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.
“Africa’s creative industries are entering a defining moment,” Lavette said. “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.”
Afreximbank was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Cairo, with regional offices in Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon and Barbados. The bank has previously backed projects including Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa, which debuted in the Quinzaine competition at Cannes and will be distributed later this year by Neon.