Preparations for the France-Africa Summit, scheduled to take place in Nairobi on May 11th-12th, 2026, have kicked off in earnest with the French Embassy in Nairobi convening stakeholders from the Kenyan creative sector to outline plans for the forum.
The upcoming summit will bring together policymakers, business leaders and innovators from across Africa and France to explore areas of collaboration, with innovations in the creative economy expected to be a central element of discussions in a move that signals France’s renewed focus on cultural diplomacy and youth empowerment across the continent.
This heightened attention to creative industries comes as France seeks to reinvent its relationship with Africa amid evolving political dynamics both on the continent and within France itself.
France’s engagement with African creative sectors is informed by demographic realities at home where 10% of France’s population has African descent.
According to the French Embassy in Nairobi, this has influenced the establishment of Maison des Mondes Africains (Mansa), a new cultural institution created by the French government, which is focused on promoting contemporary African and Afro-diasporic creations and cultures.
Mansa, inspired by the legacy of 14th-century Malian ruler Mansa Musa, provides a venue for artistic programming, a media platform, an incubator and a space for reflection.
However, the program faces strong criticisms in France, where anti-immigration sentiments have become a recurrent feature of public and political discourse, as in most of Europe.
Against this complex backdrop, France sponsored a delegation of Kenyan filmmakers, animators and AR/VR producers to attend the Creation Africa Forum in Lagos, Nigeria, between 16th – 18th October 2025. The forum connected creative industry practitioners from the Francophone and Anglophone parts of the continent to exchange experiences, knowledge and ideas as a way of building bridges across the African cultures which have long been disconnected.
This year’s Creation Africa Forum marked the second instalment of the event. The first edition was held in Paris, France, in October 2023.
“I got to meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron at the first edition,” said Brian Afande, Co-founder and CEO of Black Rhino VR, who has participated in both editions of Creation Africa. “It was a great opportunity because it gave us a platform to discuss the bilateral and multilateral areas of partnership between creatives in the various regions of Africa.”
For a section of the participants, the Lagos event was the first opportunity they have had to interact directly with creatives from outside Kenya. Thus, the initiative practically strengthened connections between young Africans brimming with creative ideas.
Prior to their attendance, the creatives, drawn primarily from the Association of Animation Artists in Kenya (AAAK), underwent a mentorship program which prepared them to pitch before investors who attended the Lagos meeting. This element of the initiative was aimed at enhancing the marketability and commercialisation of the creative ventures developed by the participants.
According to AAAK, the approach responds to a growing global demand for animated video content from Kenya, particularly in the advertising and edutainment media space.
“The Kenyan government welcomes such initiatives which strengthen collaborations between creatives in Africa,” noted Mr. Sudi Wandabusi, who chairs the board of the Kenya Film Commission. “Kenya is the fourth largest film market in Africa after Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco, so such initiatives from the French government help to bridge the connections between the Anglophone and Francophone markets.”
While the Kenya Kwanza administration has stated its commitment to promoting the growth of the creative economy, practitioners have decried structural gaps and inconsistencies in policy implementation as an impediment to the realisation of the sector’s full potential.
Notably, the stagnation of the Creative Economy Support Bill, 2024, which seeks to formalise proposed incentives for the sector, is cited as a major bottleneck towards stimulating the growth of Kenya’s creative economy.
However, according to Mr Wandabusi, there are parallel efforts to strengthen the protection of creatives’ intellectual property rights through the ongoing review of the Kenya Copyright Act, 2001.
France’s Ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency Arnaud Suquet, acknowledged both the promise and challenges facing Kenya’s creative sector.
“Kenya has a great vision for the creative economy and initiatives like Talanta Hela have been welcomed by the industry but the problem comes in the delivery,” he noted, adding that “while financial capital and trade are vital, investment in human capital is more difficult but sustainable. This is where the youth are and where the factors of change will be.”
Ambassador Suquet’s emphasis on human capital investment underscores a shift in France’s approach to African engagement, moving beyond a focus on infrastructure development and financing to capacity building initiatives, particularly targeting young people.
The May 2026 France-Africa Summit in Nairobi represents a significant opportunity for both countries to deepen their collaboration in the creative economy, among other areas. However, realising this potential will require addressing the policy implementation gaps that currently hinder Kenya’s creative sector.
Among the participants expected at the Summit are private firms from France, including media giant Canal+, which completed the acquisition of South African conglomerate Multichoice in September this year through a deal reportedly valued at over KSh. 387 billion, as well as French public sector investment institution Banque Publique d’Investissement (BPI).
The presence of these and other major French institutional investors at the summit signals growing commercial interest which could indeed unlock collaborations with French expertise, capital investments and market access for Kenya.
As France seeks to reinvent its relationship with Africa, Kenya’s nascent creative economy looks set to benefit from the wave of bilateral and multilateral opportunities that will shape the European power’s future engagements with the continent.
