Babajide Olatunji sold his first portrait for about $7. Seven years later, his charcoal renderings of faces with tribal markings sell for thousands of dollars.

This 24-year-old's success is part of a new global recognition of the value of contemporary African art.

"It's the new 'Scramble for Africa' - no longer for land, gold or diamonds, but for art," says Giles Peppiatt, who holds the only auctions of modern African art outside the continent, at Bonham's in London.