For the 2025 Deal Room, EWA is inviting independent producers and directors with projects in pre-production or development, as well as filmmakers seeking equity, grants, or co-production funding.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) has officially launched its 2025 Deal Room, set to take place from 18th to 23rd November 2025, at the Livespot Entertarium in Lagos, Nigeria. Running as part of this year’s EWA programming, the Deal Room is a three-day accelerator followed by a Demo Day, aimed at equipping African creators and entrepreneurs with the business acumen, legal foundations, and industry access required to scale sustainable ventures.
Since its inception, the Deal Room has facilitated investments and connections that have raised upwards of $1 million for participating startups, such as “Esosa”, a travel-tech platform serving the African diaspora, “Taghub”, an AI-powered influencer marketing network, and “Synewave”, a revenue-sharing platform empowering music artists.
As Afrocritik earlier reported in our preview of EWA 2025, this year’s Deal Room has been extended to include filmmakers and to connect participants to a ₦25 million seed fund and to Africa-focused investors. In line with this expansion, the 2025 Deal Room is focused on “Accelerating Capital Access and Creative Innovation Across Film.”
In an interview with Afrocritik on the EWA 2025 programming, Darey and Deola Art Alade, co-founders of Livespot360, the creative company behind EWA, discussed the concept of the Deal Room as one of three impactful areas of the Entertainment Week Africa platform, alongside the Content Market and the Music Market, where actual business happens.
“If you have great ideas, we bring you in, then we get mentors to help you. Because sometimes, you have a great idea but you don’t know how to pitch it. So, you get coaching just before you sit in front of the funders,” explained Deola Art Alade, the Convener of Entertainment Week Africa.
EWA is a multi-sector creative summit with programming that spans film, music, fashion, and technology. Previously known as Entertainment Week Lagos, this year’s edition will be the first edition as Entertainment Week Africa, but its fourth as Entertainment Week. So far, the annual event has recorded over 50,000 attendees, 600 individuals trained, and 200 speakers.
The EWA Deal Room is designed to support founders and creatives, helping them access funding, refine investor-ready pitches, and scale their businesses. For the 2025 Deal Room, EWA is inviting independent producers and directors with projects in pre-production or development, as well as filmmakers seeking equity, grants, or co-production funding, to apply for the accelerator. Applications are now open at ewafrica.com/apply.