The Creative Industries and International Business Development in Africa

The rich history and cultural heritage in Africa have been arguably a missed opportunity, which the region is now seeking to leverage following many years of neglect. Evidently, a new direction of travel is warranted, especially as far as the creative economy of Africa is concerned. This chapter provides a background at-a-glance insight into what may seem like disparate fields – that is, international business and the creative industries – bridging them into a single narrative. This fusion is also, in a pioneering effort, taken from the purview of Africa.

This chapter provides creative industries as a sector of the economy that is largely dependent on audiences and in most cases, a shared experience in some form of intimacy. There is no art that does not require an audience – most activities in this space thrive on the energy of audiences. Consequently, our main focus in this chapter is to assess the impact of the restrictive measures around COVID-19 on the Creative Industries in Africa.

This chapter discusses some of the internationalisation (e.g. mergers and acquisitions, networks and strategic alliances) of household names into Africa – especially in the aftermath two simultaneous events – that is, the African Continental Free Trade Area and British exit from the European Union (Brexit) with or without a trade deal. This chapter also touches upon the need for inter-functional integration in driving forward Africa’s creative industries – notably the intersections between entrepreneurship and innovation within which business models in digital publishing and software development, as well as localisation of animation and games in Africa have been seen.

In this chapter, the discussion revolves around Africa’s engagement with the new Europe in a post-Brexit era – which, like AfCFTA, also became effective on 1 January 2021. The chapter discusses, on a broader level, Europe–Africa relations in the creative industries. Specific examples are drawn from the Commonwealth Agenda, and the France/German/Dutch relations at both the public and private spheres.

This chapter explores the creative industries in Africa from a digital perspective. This ranges from digital advertising, design, fashion, film and music production to digital publishing and photography. There have been quite a range of innovative developments in the global value chain, which are also explored such as the deployment of artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality. Everything Digital – Fashion, Film, and Music production and distribution – is considered in the chapter. It also paves the way for further interrogation of the legal landscape and intellectual property challenges in the creative industries – which is the focus of Chapter 6.

The main purpose of this chapter is to interrogate the regulatory environment in Africa by exploring trends and developments within key intellectual property rights agencies and highlighting some of the challenges revolving around contracts enforcement and royalty payments. In many developing countries, the performance and competitiveness of the creative industries have suffered from weak institutional capacity and a spate of copyrights infringement. This chapter highlights a few case illustrations drawing upon the World Intellectual Property Organisation surveys covering a selection of African countries between 2011 and 2020.

This chapter provides case illustrations at the sub-regional creative hubs from East to West, and North to South Africa. Starting off with a broad overview of creative hubs – notably African Tech Hubs, and how they have been at the forefront of culture and innovation on the continent, the chapter moves on to discuss a few examples from the Co-Creation Hub in Lagos Nigeria to the South African Cultural Observatory, Starplace Hub and Playable City Lagos. A Sectoral Journey in other Places & Spaces is also undertaken from the African Literature sub-sector to the Music and Fashion sub-sectors. Finally, a selection of Art Galleries and Cultural Centres such as The Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation and the Nike Center for Art and Culture and the Dak’Art Biennial, Dakar, Senegal are highlighted alongside the Kó Art Space, Lagos, Nigeria.

This chapter provides insights into country-level case studies on the creative sub-sectors such as the Domestic Tourism Development Strategy in Nigeria and the Year of the Return initiative in Ghana – showcasing architectural feats and innovative cultural artefacts. This chapter also features Burkina Faso (film), Djibouti (Animation and sustainable tourism), Kenya (animation and Arts), Nigeria (photography, film), Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.