In alignment with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, “The Africa We Want,” the Africa Creatives Alliance (ACA) is poised to become a key catalyst for transforming Africa into a global powerhouse by harnessing the immense potential of the continent’s cultural and creative sectors.
This groundbreaking alliance will empower cultural and creative entrepreneurs to fully contribute to Africa’s development and integration goals. The ACA, in collaboration with a diverse consortium of partners, including the African Union, UN-Habitat, MoTIV Africa, Inuka Ongoza Africa, Artisans of Innovation, British Council, AfriLabs, Save the Children, Innovation Village and others, officially launched at the inaugural Africa Urban Forum. This landmark event represents a significant stride in leveraging the power of Africa’s creative industries to achieve socio-economic growth and enhance continental unity.
“Building on our experiences with MOTIV and partnering with similar initiatives across the continent, the Africa Creative Alliance is a big bet coalition aimed at unlocking the vast potential of Africa’s creative economy. By 2050, one in four people will be African, making our continent a key growth market. With over 70% of the population relying on the informal economy and facing a massive job creation challenge, Africa’s future lies in its untapped human potential,” said CK Japheth Founder & Team Lead MoTIV Africa.
The Africa Urban Forum (AUF), established by the African Union Commission and its member states during the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Public Service, Local Government, Urban Development, and Decentralization (AU-STC No.8) held in Cairo, Egypt in August 2022, addressed the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid urbanization in Africa. The AUF serves as a continental platform aimed at fostering an inclusive and holistic approach to unlocking the potential of urbanization across Africa.
The urban context is important to view as a tool in the context of the Culture and Creative Industry development because of the catalytic function of the Culture and Creative Industry density, if it is leveraged through supportive clusters, incubators and hubs, optimizing costs, knowledge and expertise. The wider ecosystem in terms of policy and other sectors are also present and at arm’s length.
“The activation of creative economies should not be rocket science. However, it is complex due to several impediments where the perception of a divide between culture and economy creates a huge gap and constitutes the biggest blockage which is in people’s minds. We need to know our elements, orchestrate them, apply them, raise awareness. We must master collaboration to get there and liberate ourselves from siloed agendas,” said Johanna Kouzmine-Karavaïeff Culture & Creative Industry expert, Founding Partner Artisans of Innovation.
The Creative Economy in Africa is a dynamic but under tapped engine of GDP growth and employment, with enormous potential to drive the continent’s socio-economic transformation. The global impact of cultural and creative industries generates annual revenues of almost US$2.3 billion (about $7 per person in the US) and creates nearly 30 million jobs worldwide, with a significant portion of these jobs held by youth aged 15-29 (UNESCO, UNCTAD). The broader culture and creative sectors account for 3.1% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 6.2% of all employment (UNESCO).
ILO estimates show that overall culture and creative industries accounted for 1.4 per cent of global employment or 46.2 million jobs in 2019. The same report indicates that in 2019 Asia and the Pacific accounted for the largest share of global media and culture employment, 52%, while Africa accounts for 9%.
“At AfriLabs, we believe in the power of collaboration and innovation to unlock the potential of Africa’s creative industries. The Africa Creatives Alliance is a bold step towards creating a unified ecosystem that will empower creatives across the continent. By connecting hubs, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we can ensure that Africa’s creative talent thrives and contributes significantly to our continent’s socio-economic development,” Anna Ekeledo Executive Director AfriLabs.
Global data and research underscore the transformative potential of the creative economy in boosting export earnings and creating job opportunities. The same opportunities apply for Africa’s youth and accelerating socio-economic development. However orchestrated focus must be applied for arriving at activating creative economies across the continent.
Rita Ngenzi, Founding Director of the Africa Creatives Alliance, emphasized the critical need for a coordinated effort to build robust Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) ecosystems across Africa. “While we have vibrant pockets of CCI networks and events across the continent, a unified, continent-wide ecosystem remains elusive. The ACA will bridge this gap by drawing on best practices from across Africa, facilitating knowledge transfer, and fostering the collaboration needed to advance Africa’s cultural and creative renaissance,” said Ngenzi.
The launch of the ACA marks a significant step in harnessing the power of Africa’s creative and cultural sectors for development and integration goals. In the process of harnessing the power of Africa’s creative and cultural industry for development and integration goals, it is important to understand what it means and to raise awareness of how cultural and creative industries can best be streamlined into various programs and policies. It must be done in a manner that ensures intrinsic development of the cultural and creative sectors, while also obtaining results in other sectors and development areas.