#OP-ED: The Nigerian Creative Industries - Tackling The Challenges

In recent times there have been numerous reports about the relevance of the creative industries to the development of National economies.

It has been reported that world trade in creative goods and services is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy, doubling from 2002 to 2011, when it reached a record of US$ 624 billion. At the same time, developing countries averaged 12.1 per cent annual growth in the export of creative goods and services.

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark,  “The cultural and creative industries are important engines of economic growth. They generate jobs and income and contribute to individual and community well-being in both developed and developing economies”

In Africa, the creative industries have experienced immense growth in the past decade. An October  2013 Business Day article reported, Oby Ezekwesili, the former Minister of Education and former Vice President of the World Bank, Africa,  as valuing  Nigeria’s  creative industry potential at over N5 trillion with annual turn-over of over N500 billion- indicating that it could be a bigger asset than the country’s oil industry.

With all of the optimism being expressed, the potential of the creative economy is not without its challenges. In this post, I aim to highlight some options for tackling the challenges facing the creative industries; before that though, just in case you’re wondering “What, exactly are the creative industries?” and “Why are they important?”

The UK Government has had a head start in trying to define and map the creative industries; many countries such as New Zealand & Singapore have largely adopted their definition thus:

 “…those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property’.

I’m more inclined to the Australian’s definition of the creative industries as industries which are “Driven by individuals with creative skills and business goals and served by technology… with outputs that are “marketable products and services whose economic value lies in their intellectual property, leading to job and wealth creation”

The industry would include Arts & Crafts, Audio-Visuals (DVD, Film, Video Publishing) Design (Architecture, Fashion, Glassware, Interior, Jewellery, Toys) New Media (Recorded media, Software, Video games), Performing Arts (Music (CD, Concerts, Tapes, Theatre) Publishing (Books, Newspapers, Other Print) Visual arts (Antiques, Paintings, Photography, Sculpture). 

When you think about it, the creative industries as defined have elements of arts, science and business, embedded in them. From all the definitions however it is clear that there is a link between the creative industries and wealth creation.

One obvious challenge for the creative industry is the fact that they are usually driven by products and services whose real value is not as easy to calculate as other tangible commercial products.

Other commonly identified challenges include  the regulatory environment, low level awareness of intellectual property rights, limited public-private sector partnerships, poor access to finance, business development services and technology, inadequate entrepreneurship skills, and the concentration of media ownership.

In order to tackle the above challenges, I would recommend to the various stakeholders as follows:

Creatives Industry Practitioners

• Update your knowledge about intellectual property issues, beyond protecting them, to how it can be commercialized and licensed for impact. 
• Set up cooperatives that help to create systems for shared resources, this would be particularly valuable where they have complementary skills. This will also promote collaboration, which is an essential ingredient for creativity. 
• Pool resources to retain the competencies of critical business processes e.g communications, accounting, legal, admin; the creative without financial resources could enter a profit sharing arrangement with people who possess these competencies, the way an artiste would with a record label. 
• Find ways to plug into other industries, directly or indirectly.
• Engage at the level of policy.

 

Regulators & Policy Makers:

• In my opinion, Education should be included as a part of defining and mapping the creative industries- particularly in Nigeria, where reports are indicating a growing number of youth tending towards entertainment.  This would largely contribute to building the structure so needed in the Nigerian creative industries.  It could turn the apparent weakness of ‘too much entertainment’, to strength; think: Edutainment. 
• The Development of a regulatory framework in conjunction with creative industry stakeholders; a framework, which takes into consideration advancements and potential disruption in digital and media technology. 
• Encourage Public-private partnerships- particularly between creatives, government MDAs and private businesses, where the private sector provides the resources, to the creatives    based on incentives from the government- with the potential for profit making and brand building. 
• Diffuse Media Ownership- even though the rise of the internet and social media appears to have democratized media access, media ownership is still concentrated in the hands of a few, from traditional to new media.  For conscious development to take place, people need access to a range of views and opinions on the issues that affect them. Grant of licenses and acquisitions of media channels should be made subject to public interest test and must commit to promoting inclusion and fairness to all. 

Private Sector & Investors:

• Businesses should tap into the potential of the creative sector to enhance the appeal of their products and services. Economies are being driven by ideas and innovation, a lot of which the creative industries have. Products with high commercial value have been largely helped by strong product design and creative advertising.
• Investors in the creative industries must remember that it is a high risk, high return industry, due to its intangible and subjective attributes. They should minimize risks by creating self-sustaining hubs that attract pools of creative talent, and gradual level of investment and support based on demonstrated viability of the talent.  

 

In subsequent installments, I will be addressing other issues related to the Nigerian creative industries; in the meantime, your feedback is welcome.