Kenyan creatives eye bigger payday as Ugandan film awards go continental

Participants during the announcement of the fourth edition of iKON Film and Television Awards. [Brian Ngugi, Standard]

Kenyan filmmakers are positioning themselves for a bigger slice of Africa's $5 billion (Sh650 billion) film industry as a Ugandan awards ceremony expands across the continent, offering access to financing, co-production deals and new markets.

The fourth annual iKON Film and Television Awards, set for December 12 in Kampala, has expanded to include a new activation in Johannesburg from October 22-26, part of a broader push to connect African film markets and unlock capital for a continent where funding remains the industry's biggest hurdle.

"This is about turning conversations into actual projects that generate revenue and create jobs," said Humphrey Nabimanya, founder and CEO of the iKON Awards, in a statement.

"We have already seen a Uganda-Nigeria collaboration that produced the feature film Dambe, and now we have a Uganda-Kenya co-production under the O3plus project. These are real business deals, not just networking events."

Kenya's film industry contributes an estimated $130 million (Sh20 billion) annually to GDP, with the broader creative economy growing 60 per cent faster than other segments of the economy and contributing over 5 per cent of national GDP.

Policymakers aim to double the sector's share by 2025.

The Johannesburg activation, hosted with South African actor and producer Thapelo Mokoena, opens doors to the continent's most developed film infrastructure.

For Kenyan creatives, organisers say, that means access to studios, post-production facilities and distribution networks the country lacks.

Humphrey Nabimanya, founder and CEO of the iKON Film and Television Awards, addresses a press conference on the fourth edition of the awards. [Brian Ngugi, Standard]

The Uganda-Kenya co-production under the O3plus project, backed by Reach A Hand Uganda, Imara TV and UNESCO, is already in production.

Launching August 15, the iKON Society organizers say, offers paid membership with exclusive access to financing, curated learning and strategic connections.

For independent Kenyan filmmakers, bank loans are hard to secure without collateral and government funds are limited, making this a potential lifeline, according to stakeholders.

The 2026 awards have received 300 submissions from over 20 countries, including from Kenya alongside Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt and Senegal, as well as global markets such as South Korea, Brazil and the United States.

Around 80 per cent of submissions came from across Africa.

Nabimanya, a Ugandan social entrepreneur named among Africa's 100 most influential young people, founded both iKON and Reach A Hand Africa, the youth-led organisation hosting the awards.

Mokoena, who rose to fame as the first host of Fear Factor South Africa and starred in Netflix's Trackers, runs Easy Sundays Productions.

Nigeria's Joy Efe Odiete, CEO of Blue Pictures Entertainment Group, is leading a delegation to Johannesburg.

Kenya's government has identified the creative economy as a pillar of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, with the Kenya Film Commission offering a 20 per cent cash rebate for qualifying productions.

But the sector still faces piracy, limited financing and fragmented distribution, gaps that initiatives like iKON aim to bridge, analysts say.