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This paper aims to provide insights into the environment needed for advancing a digitally enabled circular plastic economy in Africa. It explores important technical and social paradigms for the transition.

This study adopted an interpretivist paradigm, drawing on thematic analysis on qualitative data from an inter-sectoral engagement with 69 circular economy stakeholders across the continent.

The results shows that, while substantial progress has been made with regard to the development and deployment of niche innovations in Africa, the overall progress of circular plastic economy is slowed due to relatively minimal changes at the regime levels as well as pressures from the exogenous landscape. The study highlights that regime changes are crucial for disrupting the entrenched linear plastic economy in developing countries, which is supported by significant sunk investment and corporate state capture.

The main limitation of this study is with the sample as it uses data collected from five countries. Therefore, while it offers a panoramic view of multi-level synergy of actors and sectors across African countries, it is limited in its scope and ability to illuminate country-specific nuances and peculiarities.

The study underlines the importance of policy innovations and regulatory changes in order for technologies to have a meaningful contribution to the transition to a circular plastic economy.

The study makes an important theoretical contribution by using empirical evidence from various African regions to articulate the critical importance of the regime dimension in accelerating the circular economy transition in general, and the circular plastic economy in particular, in Africa.

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.