JAEBC
Japan Africa Entertainment Business Council
Connecting Japan and Africa’s Creative Economies
The Japan-Africa Entertainment Business Council (JAEBC) is a nonprofit platform dedicated to building strong, sustainable partnerships between Japan and Africa across the entertainment sector — including music, film, anime, manga, games, sports entertainment, and fashion. It was launched in 2025 to act as a strategic bridge between key industry figures and organizations on both continents at a time when Africa’s creative economy is entering a new phase of global momentum.
Our Mission
Africa’s creative industries signal a cultural shift emerging from Africa that is reshaping global entertainment. Meanwhile, Japan’s cultural exports such as anime, manga, and gaming continue to capture global audiences, yet engagement with Africa remains relatively limited.
JAEBC’s mission is to move beyond conversation and into collaboration — to catalyze real collaborative projects, investment partnerships, and shared business opportunities that leverage insights, resources, and networks on both sides. We strive to help Japanese content creators and companies truly understand, evaluate, and enter African entertainment markets with confidence and a clearly defined strategy.
What We Do
JAEBC offers a suite of activities and services designed to support its member companies in navigating and engaging with Africa’s entertainment ecosystem:
📩 Monthly Newsletter
A curated, contextualized digest of the latest trends and developments in African entertainment markets — from macroeconomic patterns to emerging creative players, investment activity, and new business models.
🤝 Exclusive Events & Networking
Quarterly seminars and gatherings featuring domestic and international guest speakers. These events serve as curated venues for relationship-building, knowledge exchange, and partnership development.
✈️ Business Trips & Studio Visits
Annual member-exclusive tours to Africa, offering first-hand exposure to leading studios, labels, tech hubs, and cultural enterprises. (Travel and accommodation costs are not included.)
💼 Executive Briefings
High-level strategic sessions for senior decision-makers and senior leadership, held twice yearly, to deepen market insight and accelerate the journey from ideation to execution.
Why It Matters
Africa is the world’s youngest and fastest-growing entertainment market — driven by widespread mobile adoption, a young and rapidly expanding population, and dynamic cultural production.
As such, JAEBC helps its member companies:
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Gain reliable, actionable insight rather than relying on scattered headlines or surface-level information.
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Build meaningful connections with industry leaders and potential partners.
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Move from interest to strategy and execution through structured guidance, peer exchange, and market insight.
Origins
The concept for JAEBC emerged around the time of TICAD9, when the core founding team invited leading African entertainment executives to Japan to share their growth journeys and explore collaboration with Japanese companies.
It became clear that interest alone was not enough. What was missing was a structured, ongoing mechanism capable of building trust, deepening mutual understanding, and translating dialogue into tangible business outcomes.
JAEBC was established to convert informal interest into sustained collaboration and long-term value creation.
Our Team
JAEBC is led by a group of seasoned professionals with deep experience in African markets, entertainment, investment, and creative industries, including founders and executive members with backgrounds in venture capital, media, brand strategy, and cross-border business development.
Local Partnerships
We collaborate with influential African creative leaders and organizations across media, tech, animation, music, and cultural entrepreneurship — from platform founders and studio heads to broadcast executives and community builders. These partnerships help deepen connections and expand opportunities for JAEBC members.
Get Involved
JAEBC welcomes individuals and organizations interested in driving Japan-Africa collaboration in entertainment and creative industries. Through membership, you gain access to high-quality information, trusted networks, and platforms that accelerate both understanding and execution in this dynamic space.
JAEBC
Japan-Africa Entertainment Business Council
Secretariat: Stagebank, Inc.
Japan Office: Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku
Nigeria Office: Ikoyi, Lagos
Contact: info@jaebc.org
Website: stagebank.jp/jaebc