By Favour Pius,Lagos
Nigeria’s film industry is drawing renewed investors interest, with stakeholders projecting multi-billion-naira opportunities as Nollywood positions itself as a viable asset class amid a broader push to diversify the economy.
The momentum was reinforced at the second edition of the Film Financing Conference hosted by MBO Capital Management Limited in Lagos, where financiers, filmmakers, and industry executives examined pathways to unlock capital and scale the sector.
The investment firm disclosed that it has channeled more than N9 billion into Nigerian film productions since 2017, figure analysts say signals growing confidence in Nollywood’s commercial prospects despite lingering structural challenges.
The Executive Director, Investments, MBO Capital Management Limited, Adekunle Adebiyi, said the industry is entering a phase where disciplined financing, data-driven distribution, and diversified revenue streams will determine its long-term profitability.
He noted that while Nollywood has achieved global cultural relevance, translating that influence into consistent financial returns requires stronger collaboration between creatives and institutional investors.
Discussions at the conference centred on unlocking value across the film production chain. With stakeholders identifying distribution inefficiencies, weak infrastructure, and limited access to long-term funding as key constraints.
The Vice President, Investments of MBO Capital Management Limited, Folajimi Alli-Balogun, has said Nigeria’s film industry must aggressively expand beyond domestic borders to attract serious investment and deliver sustainable returns, warning that current box office performance does not justify rising production budgets.
Speaking with The Guardian on the sidelines of the MCM Film Financing Conference in Lagos, Alli-Balogun said while Nollywood has grown significantly over the years, its commercial structure remains weak, particularly in distribution and revenue recovery.
According to him, the conference was conceived to address long-standing structural gap that have limited the industry’s ability to compete globally and attract institutional capital.
“MBO Capital is a financial advisory and investment film. We ve been investing in film for about time years now, since 2017. Last year, we held the first conference to highlight some of the issues holding the industry back from financing to production and how Nollywood has evolved,” he said.
Balogun noted that this year’s edition is focused on repositioning the industry for global competitiveness, especially as production budgets continue to rise without a corresponding increase in returns.
“Film budgets are getting bigger, but if you look at the box office numbers, they are not the most attractive. That tells you clearly that if we want to succeed, we must go beyond Nigeria,” he said.
He cited an upcoming film, Clarissa, shot in Nigeria with a budget of about $4 million, as an example of the direction the industry should take.
“All the funding was raised in Africa, largely from Nigeria. But more importantly, it has a global distributor and has been selected for screening at Cannes. That’s the kind of model we need, strong distribution, not just big budgets,” he added.
A panel on market expansion questioned the sustainability of the “four-walling” model, warning that it may be capping revenue potential and limiting international reach.
Industry players, including Saninye Alasia and Michael Willians, called for co distribution partnerships with global studios, as well as more aggressive marketing strategies to boost box office performance.
They also highlighted the need to revisit local streaming ambitions, noting that previous platforms struggled to scale due to capital constraints, technology gaps, and low consumer uptake.
On production economics, filmmakers such as Laju Iren and Naz Onuzo argued that bigger budgets alone do not guarantee profitability, stressing the importance of integranting ancillary revenue streams.
These include soundtracks, licensing deals, and, merchandising, which can significantly extend a film’s earning cycle beyond cinema releases.
Participants also pointed to the industry’s infrastructure deficit as a major drag on growth, citing inadequate studio facilities, limited sound stages, and gaps post-production capacity.
Experts, including Isioma Idigbe and Nora Awolowo, said scaling Nollywood to global standard will require sustained investment in both physical infrastructure and human capital development.
They further emphasized the importance of building transparent systems for tracking royalties and residuals to ensure investors can reliably recoup returns over time.
Industry analysts say the N9 billion already deployed into financing could represent only a fraction of the sector’s potential, estimating that with the right policy support and financing structure, Nollywod could attract multiples of that figure in private capital over the next decade.
However, they warned that weak intellectual property protection, fragmented distribution networks, and regulatory uncertainty remain key risks that could deter large-scale institutional investment.
Despite these concerns, stakeholders expressed optimism that structured financing models and stronger investor participation could transform Nollywood into a sustainable economic driver, capable of delivering both cultural impact and competitive financial retunes.
