By Samuel Abulude
Funding is important to the success of any enterprise, hence funding the entertainment industry is as essential as creating all other enabling environment for its growth. In this piece, SAMUEL ABULUDE writes on the challenge of funding in the Nigerian movie industry.
The arts and entertainment sector in Nigeria is getting bigger as more avenues to express Nigerian culture and tell its stories in better ways are unfolding everyday. The entertainment industry has gotten some government attention as the need to put a structure to the industry is being clamoured for.
Film making and TV series production all over the world is a capital intensive enterprise. Nigerian film makers have always relied on their savings and financial support from friends and family to pull through. As the technologies of film making evolve, movie makers are faced with the challenge of getting finances to execute different projects.
TV independent producers, marketers and movie makers are faced with getting the much needed funds to carry out different projects across the value chain of film/drama production. With banks having limited knowledge of the inner workings of film making getting loans from them difficult , such that most entertainment companies in the country rely on their savings and funds borrowed from the wealthy for production.
The motion picture industry which dates back to the 70s grew from passionate theatre artistes seeking to express themselves via the arts and tell their stories for people to watch at the cinemas. Then the revolution that came in the 90s from making films direct to homes in VHS format and Nollywood was born.
Former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, established the $200 million Special Entertainment Fund and the era of government recognising the movie industry to support it began. Not many entertainment companies could access the fund and there were confusions about the inability of indigenous companies to access the huge fund. Then came the Nollywood grant for capacity building and distribution which became more accessible to film makers.
Norbert Ajaegbu, guild head and film maker of repute, when asked about the issue of funding in the movie industry said that the only major intervention is the Innovative Distribution Fund of the Project Act. He said, “No one has been able to access the fund. It will significantly assist the ailing industry. But, it is yet to be disbursed. The government has assisted reasonably in the area of capacity building and production. The industry needs more of similar intervention. Particularly, in the area of distribution. If the distribution of entertainment industry is rebuilt, Nigeria as a nation, will stand tall among league of nations.”
Benefits Of Nollywood Grant
The Nollywood grant named NollyFund under Bank Of Industry BOI says the fund shall be used for film production value chain (i.e. from pre-production to post-production) and is expected to create a minimum of 2,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs for Nigerians. The fund will be accessed by limited liability companies, and enterprises engaged in film production which include beneficiaries of the federal government’s Project ACT.
Grant For The Movie Industry
NollyFund has an initial programme limit of N1 billion and a single debt limit of N50 million for individual loans.
The bank has already accredited some reputable distributors, among which are: G-Media, Filmone Distribution Company, Silverbird Distribution Company and Genesis Deluxe Distribution Company as well as studio operators that include Fans Connect Online Nigeria Limited, Kingsley Ogoro Productions Limited and 4Screams International Nigeria Limited.
The Bank of Industry had in the recent past, financed several creative industry projects like Half of A Yellow Sun, Flower Girl, Digitisation of Silverbird Cinemas, The Filmhouse, Viva Cinemas, Ozone Cinemas, and G-media.
The challenge for some film makers and companies was to prove viability. Revenue can be recouped from cinemas and online platforms. ’30 Days In Atlanta,’ produced by Ayo Makun made N137 million from cinemas within a short period of its release and it is still a record high and a testament that a good movie, well packaged could make the owners smile to the bank. October 1 is also doing well in the cinemas. Of recent, ‘FIFTY’ produced by Mo Abudu of Ebony Life Films also grossed N400 million from cinemas and other platforms like Netflix. Piracy of movie has always been the bane of movie makers recouping their resources invested into production and effort is being made to tackle it.
8 Companies Access N1.2b Entertainment Fund
LEADERSHIP Sunday enquired about the existence of the $200 million Entertainment Fund and how much has been disbursed so far, the management of Nigeria Export-Import Bank NEXIM under the leadership of Bashir M. Wali disclosed some information which seeks to educate Nigerians on the fund. According to a document, “the US$200 million is a line of credit facility from the African Development Bank that is under sovereign guarantee arrangement provided by the federal government. Currently eight companies obtained approvals under the bank’s Creative and Entertainment Industry Loan Scheme in the total sum of N1.2 billion of which about N800million was cumulatively disbursed to five beneficiary projects.
“However, based on complaints from stakeholders on the accessibility, it is instructive to highlight that former President Goodluck Jonathan approved N3 billion as funding grant under Project ACT (Activating Creativity and Technology in Nollywood) in which there were several beneficiaries and with disbursements of about N2 billion provided grant funding support that was handled by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The bank’s Creative and Entertainment Industry Loan Scheme is the only product that was developed essentially for all the industry’s value-chain after a technical study / advisory support from the EXIM India who are also involved in supporting Bollywood in India,” Wali disclosed.
Highlights Of Govt’s Funding Intervention
Film House Group, CEO Kene Mparu speaking on the intervention said, “I join the multitude of people that say that this industry has never before enjoyed such an enabling environment. Yes, the $200m loan, via Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM), is an amazing thing that actually empowered us to go ahead with this project. The managements of BOI and NEXIM banks are fantastic. They absolutely wanted to support the industry and they did. They set us on the path, and since then, we’ve had commercial banks like FCMB and private equity companies now investing in the company. That $200m fund is actually designed to be a stimulation fund to stimulate other investors like private equity companies and commercial banks to invest in the industry. So, I’m absolutely ever grateful to that fund, and to the federal government, BOI and NEXIM Bank for doing that because now commercial banks and other investors have stepped in. I am indeed proud to say that, that fund was the beginning of the 25 cinemas in six years vision.”
Kingsley Omo-Efe, a producer, director and stakeholder in the movie industry said, “The level of funding is improving, though it is still not enough. The challenge still remains that most people, organisations and financial institutions still don’t understand the inner workings of the industry, they need to get close to the practitioners and associations and under-study or interact positively with open mind.” Speaking on how he was able to finance his first project, Omo-Efe who is a co-consultant of Yabatech Film Academy said, “My first project as an independent was jointly produced, it was very difficult convincing the family member to invest, I had to even let go of some of my rights. After that I was able to save up some money from it and my job as a director to finance my other projects. Most of my projects now are fully financed by me. The challenges are much, always trying to convince new investors even yourself when the last project has not started yielding. For instance, when you put a programme on TV, it will take a very long time before the advertising agencies fulfill their own part of the contract.
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