Africa producers globally desired food but too much of it is processed away from the continent. CANEX hopes to change that.
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When the CANEX Weekend event lands in Lagos this November 5-8th, it will be bringing along some food from host country Nigeria, the wider continent, and the African diaspora.
Along with the chance to eat genuine Nigerian cuisine and sample other countries’ dishes, attendees will be able to watch the Jollof Wars, a contest described as a “lively, friendly competition celebrating the iconic Jollof rice”.
Beyond the specifics of that battle, CANEX organisers the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) want to put African food – and its business – firmly on the map.
In particular, more needs to be done in getting the continent to extract the most value from the food it produces – both for export and within the continent itself. It is estimated that the continent spent $65bn exporting food from outside its borders in 2025.
As Afreximbank’s manager of creatives, Khanyi Mashimbye puts it: “African food products should fill up African shelves”.
Why Africa’s food industry should be doing better
The reasons for the imbalance in Africa’s food import and export figures are complex, including a lack of patient financing for entrepreneurs; uneven standards that make inter-country transactions difficult; imported packaging causing higher costs; and poor access to the global and continental markets.
But perhaps Africa’s most persistent challenge is moving away from a system under which food commodities are exported in their raw form rather than processed in Africa itself.
Africa “ships out the raw materials and then buys the finished product into the continent,” says Mashimbye, adding that when Africa’s cashew nuts get roasted, salted, and sent to a European store, it becomes a product “worth more than eight times” its initial value as the raw commodity from Côte d’Ivoire.
It’s a similar pattern for shea butter. Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire are major shea butter producers. Well known European food and consmetics brands use enormous quantities of shea butter as a crucial ingredient in their products – French cosmetics giant L’Oreal uses it as an ingredient in over a thousand of its products – but little of this value is retained in Africa.
Tunisia’s olive oil industry further illustrates this conundrum. While Tunisia figures prominently in the global sale of olive oils, a significant amount of its production is shipped to Europe, where, after some processing, it is sold under Italian and Spanish brand names. The Italians, especially, have created a high-value association that African products are yet to develop in the hearts of consumers.
Doing more in Africa
CANEX has sought to rectify since launching its gastronomy vertical in 2023. Initiatives include taking just under a dozen African food entrepreneurs to leading international expos, including Germany’s ANUGA and the United States’ Americas Food and Beverage Show. The entrepreneurs passed through a preparatory phase of capacity building just before getting introduced to the markets present at the global events.
Afreximbank is also working with the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) to harmonise food standards and safety across the continent, thereby making both intercontinental and intra-continent sales easier for local food producers.
Mashimbye says that even when there is capacity to does produce certain foods on the continent, “demand from local brands is not necessarily directed at African suppliers. There is limited support to onboard these products to African shelves, so we need to build a retail base in Africa that engages with African suppliers”.
“We will bring together, in a cooperative formation, the various food operators together so that they are able to aggregate for easier financing,” Mashimbye says.
The logic is that while one of Africa’s food entrepreneurs will struggle to access financial instruments, a collective of entrepreneurs can be expected to find fewer roadblocks in pursuit of the same goal.
A big weekend
CANEX says is expending its energies towards making the 2026 CANEX Weekend a valuable experience for all comers. There will be food exhibition stands for entrepreneurs looking to find a market among the event’s many attendees from across the continent and outside of it. Industry experts will be on the ground giving masterclasses. There will be also a junior chef contest with winners getting cash prices – and, perhaps, encouragement to stay in the food industry.