A lot of the conversations at the second edition of the MBO Capital Management Film Financing Conference circled back to distribution and infrastructure, and the lack of in Nollywood. These challenges came up across the 3 panels and fireside chat, returning to the same point. Films are being produced at a steady pace in Nollywood, the audiences are willing, and platforms exist across cinema and streaming, but the system that connects production to audiences in a predictable, scalable way is still uneven.
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This gap makes financing a more complicated conversation in the room. Because once distribution is uncertain, funding films becomes a higher-risk adventure. You are no longer just asking how a film gets made, but how it travels after it is made, and whether that pipeline is structured enough to return value to investors.
MBO Capital Management has since announced itself as a willing party to taking on some of that financial risk since it entered Nollywood film financing in 2017. MBO Capital operates as an investment firm across multiple sectors of the Nigerian economy, with creative industries sitting inside a broader portfolio approach. In film, its entry point came through structured partnerships with production companies, backing projects under a slate financing model that spreads investment across multiple films instead of treating each title as an isolated risk.
Some of the early projects included The Wedding Party 2, New Money, and Moms at War, all tied to Inkblot Productions and part of a period when cinema releases were still the main driver. By 2022, they expanded to films like Brotherhood and Gangs of Lagos, connected to Jade Osiberu’s Greoh Studios and arriving at a time when streaming platforms were becoming more central to distribution.
The more recent slate, stretching into 2025, reflects an even wider spread of collaborations and distribution outcomes. Nemsia Studios titles like Project Assault, Suky, Thicker Than Water, Say Who Die, Finding Nina, Ms Kanyin, and The Fire and The Moth; First Features projects from Michaelangelo Productions (coproduced with Natives Filmworks) Colour Me True, The Lost Days; BRS Studios’ three-film slate with Shirley Frimpong Manso’s Stitches as the first release on the slate that includes Iwa Akwa and Dambe.
Single titles like 3 Cold Dishes (Asurf Films), Osamede (Gold Lillies Productions) also received backing from the firm. As part of the 2025 slate, MBO Capital partnered with other African institutional investors to raise the 4 million dollars in funding for the Esiri Brothers’ Clarissa.
The films show a financing model that has moved across different production companies, genres, and release strategies while maintaining a consistent structure behind the scenes: defined budgets, experienced producers, and distribution pathways considered early on in the process.
Speaking at the conference, the executive director of Investments at MBO Capital, Adekunle Adebiyi, noted that the total investment in the film industry in 2025 amounted to 5 billion naira, further disclosing that the firm has plans to double that figure in 2026.
For filmmakers looking to get funding from MBO Capital, the entry point is through investment decks submitted to its investment team. But beyond access, the criteria are clear: projects are expected to come from producers or directors with a credible track record, backed by realistic budgets, globally resonant stories, and importantly, with distributors who have already shown they can deliver returns on previous films. The future for MBO Capital in Nollywood also holds a place for financing infrastructure, but for now, their sights are set on funding films.
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