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I know you didn't ask, but let's talk about the common misconceptions of the creative industries.
For years, African countries, which are rich in cultural products, have been sitting on what could be one of the continent's most powerful economic engines: the cultural & creative industries (CCIs). According to the United Nations Centre for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Creative Economy Outlook, the global trade in creative goods and services has been steadily growing, with developing countries increasingly contributing to exports (2024). Yet, Africa's creative potential remains largely untapped, often side-lined in favour of extractive industries.
The intellectual property goldmine has been slept on. For decades, the world has undervalued Africa's cultural products, not because they lack intrinsic value, but because of a Eurocentric bias against non-Western intellectual and cultural achievements. This bias stems from the colonial legacy which minimises African advancements, portraying them as primitive or lacking in civilisation, whilst imposing Western aesthetics as the universal standard. The consequence of this is a perpetual blindspot in economic development policy discourses. As a result, Africa's creative industries are often not well regulated and this leaves a lot of room for exploitation.
South Africa's music history offers a striking example: countless black musicians in the 20th century were swindled into signing away their rights for a pittance, only to see their work generate millions for ehem… certain companies. Their names rarely made it into the mainstream narrative, but their influence shaped global genres. This is a practice that still continues today.
In the creative industries, the promise of superstardom is dangled in front of artists like a lottery ticket. Many artists are manipulated into signing away the rights to their work through the promise of overnight success. The 'one-big-break' myth keeps artists chasing contracts instead of building ownership, while exploitative intermediaries continue to profit. Believe it or not, this superstardom narrative is purported intentionally as it serves as a conduit for normalising mafia tendencies… I discuss this in future articles.
Another factor contributing to this blindspot is a regurgitation of extractive arts funding models by both public and private sectors. Year after year, we see the same tired template of sponsorship being used to 'support' creatives: the year-end function; the gala dinner; the once-off grant award; venues or events that pay artists in 'exposure' (if I had a Rand for the amount of 'exposure' I've been paid…) or; whatever it is that companies do to satisfy their thirst for cultural & creative industries grandstanding these days. These models continue to be redundant, no matter how much your 'marketing' budget is. UNCTAD notes that CCIs thrive not on short-term returns, but on sustainable ecosystems that support the creative economy over the long term (2024).
To unlock the full potential of Africa's creative industries, there are a couple of steps we can take:
Actually enforce existing intellectual property and labour laws;
Dismantle exploitative colonial-era practices still embedded in the system;
Root out corruption in cultural funding and administration;
Build robust infrastructure that supports both local and global market access.
The UNCTAD Creative Economy Outlook makes it clear: creative economies aren't just "soft" sectors, they are viable drivers of GDP growth, job creation, cultural diplomacy and trade potential (2024). If African countries take this sector seriously, we could see a shift from exploitation to empowerment, from resource extraction to cultural export. The world is ready to buy what Africa has always had to offer. We just need to own it first.
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