Can a $50M Film Fund Fix African Storytelling’s Value Chain? Mo Abudu Thinks So
When Mo Abudu stepped onto the media scene over two decades ago, she wasn’t looking for celebrity. She was looking for voice. Not just hers, but Africa’s. She wanted to build platforms that could take African stories out of the shadows of Hollywood and onto global stages where they could stand shoulder to shoulder with any narrative from New York or Seoul. That vision has since grown from a small talk show into a full-blown creative empire—and now, a $50 million bet on the future of African storytelling.
But the stakes are higher than ever. Can one fund, even with its bold ambition and seasoned architect, truly fix Africa’s fragmented creative value chain?
Let’s take a closer look.
From HR to Global Storytelling: Abudu’s Mission-Driven Pivot
In her 40s, Mo Abudu left a successful career in human resources to become a talk show host. To many, it looked like a midlife crisis. To her, it was a necessary risk. That risk paid off when her show Moments with Mo began airing across 48 countries, giving her a platform to do what no one else had dared: center African narratives, for Africans and the world.
But Abudu quickly realized that storytelling didn’t begin or end with a camera. It started with infrastructure—training, funding, distribution, and most importantly, ownership. That’s where the cracks in the system began to show.
Now, at age 60 and backed by experience, networks, and an international profile, she’s not only dreaming bigger—she’s institutionalizing the fix.
What Is the Afro Film Fund—and Why Now?
The Afro Film Fund is a $50 million private equity film investment fund aimed at supporting African filmmakers and storytellers. It is designed to address the chronic underfunding that plagues the continent’s entertainment industries, while also targeting the softer but equally pressing issue of sustainability.
Abudu’s core thesis is that the African creative sector cannot thrive if it does not own its value chain. Right now, the industry operates like a house with missing walls—brilliant talent, yes, but unstable conditions. Without proper training, funding, or access to distribution channels, even the best stories get lost in development hell.
The fund is expected to go live by the end of 2025, and it promises more than just money. It promises mentorship, training, and access to distribution and monetization. Essentially, it offers a 360-degree pipeline for African film development—from script to screen to streaming royalties.
A Value Chain in Disrepair
To understand why the Afro Film Fund could be revolutionary, it’s important to understand just how broken Africa’s storytelling value chain currently is.
1. Development & Training
Africa is bursting with creative energy, but much of it never gets the polish it needs. Scriptwriting workshops, story labs, and basic film education are still underdeveloped across the continent. The best training often happens informally or abroad—making access unequal and sustainability difficult.
Abudu has already begun to address this through her EbonyLife Creative Academy, a Lagos-based film school offering free courses to aspiring filmmakers. The Afro Film Fund will scale that effort, ensuring that skill development isn’t a luxury but a foundational part of Africa’s creative ecosystem.
2. Financing
Most African filmmakers work with shoestring budgets, piecing together funds from personal savings, donor grants, or short-term commercial loans that don’t align with creative timelines. What the Afro Film Fund does is fill this financing gap with private equity that understands the long game of storytelling.
It will also invest in commercially viable content, something that is sorely lacking in a market often skewed toward low-budget dramas or donor-backed documentaries.
3. Production Infrastructure
Even with great stories and funding, the continent suffers from outdated equipment, poor logistics, and limited technical talent in post-production. The fund, through strategic partnerships, aims to upgrade this infrastructure—whether by setting up state-of-the-art studios or enabling co-productions that tap into global best practices.
4. Distribution & Monetization
Perhaps the weakest link in the chain is distribution. Many African films never leave their home countries. Even fewer make it to cinemas in the UK, US, or Europe, where diaspora audiences are eager but underserved.
Abudu plans to use her existing platforms—including EbonyLife ON, a streaming service, and now the newly launched EbonyLife Place London—to create direct-to-consumer pipelines. This is essential not only for visibility but for actual revenue generation. After all, storytelling is a business—and monetization is the final frontier.
Why London? Why Now?
Setting up a cultural hub in South London—a historically African and Caribbean neighborhood—is both a symbolic and strategic move. It connects African storytellers to a global market, provides access to top-tier collaborators, and invites the diaspora into the ecosystem as co-creators and investors.
But it’s also deeply personal. Abudu was born in London, left for Nigeria at seven, and returned in her 20s before going back home to build her media career. Her new cultural hub in the UK mirrors the one she already built in Lagos, creating a dual-node system for African content—a sort of transatlantic bridge for creativity.
And it makes business sense. While Nigerian films may dominate the African continent, they have struggled to find theatrical release overseas. The lack of African-owned cinemas and distributors in the UK has made it hard to scale. EbonyLife Place London could change that.
Can $50 Million Really Make a Dent?
$50 million is a big number, especially in African currency terms. But when you compare it to the budgets of Hollywood studios or even European production companies, it’s modest. So how can it be enough?
The power of the Afro Film Fund isn’t just in the money. It’s in the strategy.
Unlike traditional film funding—which often supports projects in isolation—the fund is building a value chain. Every dollar is intended to move through a pipeline that strengthens the whole industry. From training the filmmaker to funding the film, distributing it, and finally monetizing it through streaming, festivals, and international licensing.
This is what Abudu calls “completing the value chain.” It’s not about saving a few great films. It’s about building an industry that can stand on its own, scale sustainably, and pay its creatives what they’re worth.
Scaling a New Creative Economy
The Afro Film Fund comes at a time when Africa’s broader creative economy is in transition. From music to fashion to gaming, creatives are finding ways to monetize their art in digital and global markets. But film and television have lagged behind—largely due to their high capital demands and fragmented infrastructure.
This fund could become a blueprint not just for Nollywood but for the broader African film industry, from Accra to Nairobi to Kigali. It also signals a shift in mindset—from survival mode to investment mode. Creatives are no longer just artists; they’re founders, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders in a growing sector.
What the Afro Film Fund brings is confidence: confidence in our stories, in our markets, and in the commercial viability of African creativity.
Lessons from Mo’s Journey
Mo Abudu’s personal story—of taking a leap at 40, of building a media empire from scratch, of navigating loss, fear, and reinvention—is itself a masterclass in storytelling. But more than that, it’s a case study in leadership.
She didn’t wait for Western validation to start. She built EbonyLife from the ground up. She didn’t beg international platforms to air her content—she created her own. And she’s not asking permission to globalize African stories—she’s doing it.
That entrepreneurial energy, combined with strategic partnerships, is what makes the Afro Film Fund more than a financial instrument. It’s a declaration of sovereignty.
The Real Test: Will the Stories Travel?
There’s no doubt that Africa has talent. What remains to be seen is whether this new infrastructure can help our stories truly travel—not just to diaspora audiences, but to mainstream ones who’ve never seen a film from Lagos or Nairobi.
Abudu is betting that if you build it right, they will come. That with the right backing, African stories can move from cultural curiosity to commercial heavyweight. That audiences around the world are ready to see the continent not just as a backdrop for aid campaigns or war dramas, but as a source of joy, imagination, and cinematic genius.
Final Thoughts: More Than a Fund, A New Foundation
Can $50 million fix African storytelling’s value chain?
Not completely. But it can rewire it. It can fund hundreds of films, train thousands of creatives, and build the infrastructure that keeps talent from bleeding out. It can turn storytelling from a passion project into a scalable industry.
And perhaps more importantly, it can inspire a new generation of African storytellers to stop asking for permission—and start building their own platforms, their own funds, their own value chains.
Mo Abudu is laying the groundwork. Now it’s up to the rest of us to pick up the tools.
A guest post by
A curious mind exploring the crossroads of creativity and insight.