African entertainment now commands global demand. However, infrastructural challenges on the continent limit the full potential of Africa’s creative industries, especially film.

Making a film in the US is relatively straightforward. With many state-of-the-art studios, American filmmakers enjoy an abundance of quality locations and vetted service providers. Unfortunately, the experience in Africa is very far from that.

Given the lack of large film studios with production-ready sets and equipment, filmmakers in Africa have to search for filming locations through multiple unreliable middlemen who often charge a multiple of the actual location cost. Hiring and coordinating multiple service providers and acquiring required permits is incredibly challenging and expensive. As a result, fewer high-quality films are produced in Africa compared to the global demand for them.  

This is exactly what Film Makers Mart is solving for in their mission of growing Africa’s film industry by streamlining the filmmaking process for film producers.

Film Makers Mart’s game-changing platform offers curated filming locations, streamlined logistics, and a simplified permit acquisition process - an AirBnB for film in Africa if you like. Their end-to-end marketplace model aligns with our commitment to supporting data-driven solutions that unify fragmented markets across Africa.  

Film Makers Mart is poised to become a pivotal digital infrastructure in the African film industry, connecting film producers with the spaces, permits, and personnel they need to bring their creative projects to life. In turn, location owners will have more incentives to invest in Africa's amazing filming locations—setting a critical flywheel in motion.

The founding team—Eric Kafui Okyerefo, Chioma Paul-Dike, Igho Arusi, and Victor Awotidebe—are a team of passionate filmmakers themselves who met at MultiChoice Talent Factory in 2019. Together with the rest of the team, they’ve secured an impressive lineup of major B2B customers, including Netflix, MultiChoice, and Amazon Prime.

Africa’s median age today is 19 years - as such the continent is an important source of creative talent in the world and Filmmakers Mart is creating crucial infrastructure to harness this talent and bring African creativity and culture to the world.

We are very bullish on the power of the creative industry in Africa and we’re excited to be on this journey with the team at Film Makers Mart!