Harnessing Africa’s Creative Industry: Community, Collaboration and Cultural Exchange
Africa’s creative industry has emerged as the most powerful driver of economic growth, social transformation, and cultural exchange for the continent. Its rich heritage, diverse traditions, and vibrant artistic expressions have captured the world’s attention, and continues to unlock immense potential for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation recognizes and champions the transformative power of the African creative industry and its development, believing that it holds the key to unlocking sustainable economic growth and prosperity in all 54 countries across the continent.
In this piece, we explore the key role of innovation, entrepreneurship, and cultural exchange in harnessing Africa’s creative industry and propelling the continent toward a prosperous future.
Unleashing Innovation:
Innovation lies at the heart of the African creative industry, paving the way for new ideas, products, and experiences. From fashion and film to music and design, African creatives are continuously pushing boundaries to redefine traditional norms. To foster this spirit of innovation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation provides budding creative entrepreneurs with access to mentorship, training, and funding, empowering them to transform their creative ideas into viable businesses. This promotes the required culture of innovation that positions Africa as a hub of creative excellence.
Empowering Entrepreneurship:
Currently, Africa’s creative industry is catalysing the creation of jobs, poverty alleviation and economic inclusion in communities across the continent. However, many talented Africans encounter barriers in accessing capital, business skills, and market opportunities. Part of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s commitment is to empower African entrepreneurs so that they can address these challenges head-on. Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, African creatives are equipped with the tools and resources they need to bring their ideas to life through access to a non-refundable seed capital, business management training, mentoring, and networking opportunities.
Fostering Cultural Exchange:
Africa’s creative industry offers a unique window into the continent’s diverse cultures, traditions, and stories. Through their work, African creatives act as powerful catalysts for cultural exchange, enabling the rest of the world to share the continent’s narratives and perspectives. The Tony Elumelu Foundation recognizes the importance of preserving and celebrating Africa’s cultural heritage while embracing modern influences and global trends. By supporting initiatives that promote cultural exchange such as exhibitions and collaborations, the Foundation fosters cross-cultural understanding, stimulates dialogue, and strengthens the bonds between Africa and the rest of the world. This intercultural exchange not only enriches the creative landscape but also contributes to Africa’s global reputation as a vibrant and dynamic continent.
Creating Sustainable Ecosystems:
To harness the full potential of the African creative industry, the Tony Elumelu Foundation plays a vital role in building sustainable ecosystems that support the growth of budding creatives by facilitating collaborative initiatives, encouraging investments from public-private sector players, and advocating for supportive policies. The Foundation works governments, industry stakeholders, and the civil society to ensure the creation of an environment where creativity and entrepreneurship can thrive, by deploying initiatives that address intellectual property protection, access to finance, infrastructure development, and skills enhancement. By building robust ecosystems, the Foundation ensures that Africa’s creative industries continue to flourish, creating jobs, fostering economic resilience, and driving social development.
As we look to the future, it is essential that we recognise the importance of investing in Africa’s creative industry, as it is the key driver of the continent’s economic growth and development. We all need to play our roles in harnessing the power of Africa’s creativef, the benefit of all.
Meet some of our Creative Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs
Michel Nkuindja is a 2015 TEF Alumnus who is driving Africa’s narrative through video games. He is the founder of Noohkema Game Studios, a creative studio that specializes in the production of real-time 3D content.
The goal of Noohkema is to utilise video games and interactive media as the best and most effect medium of changing global perceptions of Africa while preserving its cultural identity for the next generations. They are able to achieve this through a range of services that include 3D Visualization and prototyping, Edugames, Immersive Real-time architectural visualisation, Realtime Renderings, 3D Animation, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, Strategy and Design.
Working together with architects, property developers, interior designers, product developers, construction companies, selling agents, advertising agencies and artists, Noohkema Game Studios can effectively illustrate design concepts and brings them to life.
Michel is creating aesthetic African themed games to a global audience through high-quality games with amazing and engaging mechanics.
One of his latest games, Afro Warriors: Battle for Power, has a rating of 4.8 stars on the renowned Google Play platform. It’s heavily inspired by the Africa’s rich history, culture, and mythology. The game features a combination of 2D fighting and full 3D graphics and simplified Swipe+4 button controls with fast-paced gameplay. It has over 500,000 downloads with positive comments and remarks by its players from across the world.
Michel employs innovative strategy, design, and technology as fuel for his storytelling engine and is taking the legendary stories originating from Cameroon and other parts of Africa to different parts of the world.
Chioma Ogbudimkpa runs a fashion business known as Redbutton which focuses on the production of workwear for female professionals, fusing African aesthetics, eco-friendly materials, and art from all over the world. With every piece, the brand places emphasis on African stories, powerful women, and sustainability. Because the African woman is vibrant, the designer creates a balance between colors and texture, in interpreting strength and sophistication. Essentially, Redbutton seeks to project rare design innovation and modern African culture to the rest of the world. The brand’s tailoring is done in Nigeria and sold globally via redbuttonng.com and other local and international retail stores.
