Onome Amuge
The Africa Creative Market (ACM), one of the continent’s fastest-growing platforms for the creative economy, has announced its 2026 edition, marking its fifth anniversary with an expanded, five-city global programme anchored by a flagship event in Lusaka, Zambia.
The milestone edition will culminate in a six-day gathering in the Zambian capital, following a series of international and regional activations in Cannes, Lagos, Johannesburg and Kigali. Organisers say the expanded footprint reflects rising global interest in Africa’s creative industries as investable sectors, spanning film, digital media, gaming, fashion and immersive technologies.
ACM’s decision to locate its main event in Lusaka follows a strong Zambian delegation to the market’s 2025 edition in Nigeria and a formal partnership with Zambia’s Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts, alongside private-sector and cultural stakeholders. The Lusaka event will be integrated with the country’s Creative Industry Business Summit and the Kwimbo National Arts Festival, a move designed to align international deal-making with domestic policy priorities and cultural programming.
Zambian officials see the event as part of a strategy to position the country as a competitive destination within Africa’s creative and film economy, at a time when governments across the continent are seeking to diversify growth away from commodities and towards services, tourism and intellectual property-driven industries.
“Zambia is proud to host Africa Creative Market 2026. This partnership reflects our commitment to building a vibrant creative economy that creates jobs, particularly for young people, attracts investment and positions Zambia as a destination for film, culture and innovation,”said Kangwa Chileshe, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts.
Founded in 2021, ACM has evolved into a pan-African marketplace that brings together creators, investors, studios, policymakers and development institutions. Its programming increasingly mirrors the structure of global creative markets, combining policy dialogue with commercial deal rooms, investment forums and skills development.
In 2026, ACM plans to broaden that model across five cities, using international platforms such as Cannes to attract global capital and distributors, while regional hubs in Lagos, Johannesburg and Kigali focus on intra-African collaboration and market access. The Lusaka event will serve as the focal point for negotiations, showcases and policy engagement.
“This moment is about scale, substance and legacy. Hosting our main event in Zambia signals the next phase of African collaboration. From Cannes to Lusaka, ACM 2026 is about Africa showing up globally, together,” said Inya Lawal, founder of Africa Creative Market.
Organisers expect delegates from across Africa, Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East, reflecting growing investor interest in African content, digital creativity and youth-driven cultural industries. Programming will span film, animation, gaming, extended reality (AR/VR/XR), music, fashion, art and digital media, with a mix of conferences, masterclasses, exhibitions and structured business-to-business and business-to-government meetings.
A core commercial focus will be financing, with dedicated investment hubs and deal rooms designed to connect creative businesses with private equity, development finance institutions, brands and public-sector buyers. The event will also host the Women in Film and TV Africa Conference and Awards, alongside innovation showcases, hackathons and technology-driven creative labs.
Zambia aims to use the event to position itself as a competitive filming and creative hub, drawing international studios and streaming platforms by highlighting investable infrastructure, locations and human capital.
“Bringing ACM to Zambia opens our creative ecosystem to the world. It creates real market access for local creatives and positions the country as a serious player in film, digital media and the wider creative industries,” said Abel Silungwe, a Zambian partner at ACM.
Africa’s creative economy has gained policy attention in recent years, driven by its employment potential, export revenues and cultural influence. However, access to finance, skills development and market fragmentation remain persistent constraints. Platforms such as ACM aim to address these gaps by linking policy, capital and talent across borders.
As ACM enters its fifth year, organisers say the 2026 edition is intended to move beyond visibility towards long-term institutional impact, using scale, cross-border partnerships and structured investment to embed Africa’s creative industries more firmly in the global economy.
