Malawi’s award- winning shoe maker Chimwemwe Mwenyemasi has called on African creatives to build their businesses around their own cultural heritages for originality.
He was speaking at the Creative Africa Nexus Weekend (CANEX WKND 2026) currently under way in Lagos Nigeria, and expected to run up to Sunday, November 8.
“For years, I had wrongly thought that for my products to be accepted on the international market, then my shoes have to look like what the international market was offering and demanding. Then I asked my self: If I kept trying to look like everybody else, why would anybody choose me?
“I am African. I am Malawian. And that is not a weakness. That is my advantage. I went back to my roots. I started using Ntopwa print, the fabric our mother’s wear. I started using the colors of Lake Malawi, the blues and the sunset oranges. I started bringing Chewa and Ngoni patterns into my designs. And this changed everything,” said Mwenyemasi.
He added that, at the conference, brands would be remembered not only for their international appeal, but also for their originality.
The Masterclass Programme has been convened by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It aims to advance trade, investment, market access, and sustainable growth within Africa’s creative economy, and has brought together stakeholders from across the Global African Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs), including policymakers, investors, business leaders, industry experts, creative practitioners, organisations, and private sector companies.
The event will serve as a premier platform for export development, collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the showcasing of Africa’s creative excellence. The programme will also facilitate strategic business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) engagement opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including music, film, fashion, gastronomy and culinary arts, visual arts, technology, literature, sports, and other creative industries.
Since its establishment in 2022, CANEX WKND has grown rapidly in scale and impact. The second edition, held in Algiers, Algeria in October 2024, attracted more than 8,000 creatives, cultural enthusiasts and delegates from 81 countries; over 100 exhibitors; and generated more than US$500 million in deals.
According to the Executive Vice President of Intra African Trade and Export Development
Afreximbank, Kanayo Awani, the meeting has welcomed more than
10,000 delegates and over 200 exhibitors from across Africa and the global diaspora,
including creators, studios, investors, distributors, policymakers, and cultural leaders.
The programme has seen mwenyemasi blashing shoulders with some of Africa and the diaspora’s most influential cultural and industry figures. Participants include Nobel Laureate, writer and playwright Professor Wole Soyinka; Emmy Award-winning actor Uzo Aduba; filmmaker and actor Funke Akindele; actors Richard Mofe-Damijo and Thuso Mbedu; former professional footballers Didier Drogba and Jay-Jay Okocha; alongside leading figures from Africa’s music, film, fashion, sport and creative business sectors.
The event will also include performances and appearances from musicians and entertainers such as Davido, Fally Ipupa, Flavour, Libianca and Charlotte Dipanda, reflecting CANEX WKND’s combination of industry engagement with live cultural programming.
Beyond the headline names, the programme places a strong emphasis on the business of Africa’s creative economy.
On 6 November, a high-level conversation titled “One Market, One Culture: Building the Creative Economy of Global Africa” will examine the steps required to convert the growing global influence of African culture into stronger creative businesses, exports and investment. Speakers include Professor Wole Soyinka; ministers responsible for culture and the arts from Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Rwanda; International Finance Corporation representatives; and from Afreximbank.
