Why our creative economy is not growing fast enough

Last week, I reviewed the creative economy, which has been identified as one of the fastest-growing areas with the potential to create jobs for Kenya’s youthful population and significantly contributes to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

As I pointed out, while the industry shows a lot of promise, we are barely scratching the surface of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), as we are yet to fully tackle the major challenges of the industries.

The creative economy in Kenya has attracted a lot of interest at both policy and investment levels and there have been several studies such as the ‘Creative Economy Business Environment Reform’ study by the Department for International Development (DFID) that have been commissioned to understand the opportunities in the industry as well as the challenges.

There has been a significant effort from the relevant ministry and government agencies to understand the sector and put in place relevant and friendly policies to ensure Kenya’s youth benefit from this industry. However, the industry is still riddled with various challenges which I will discuss in today’s piece.

The first and most critical challenge identified by the DFID study is access to capital. The various industries within the creative economy require significant capital, which has locked out a critical mass of young people looking to get into this industry.

While there has been a lot of effort to guarantee access to capital for the start-ups within Kenya’s creative economy through grants, lack of capital remains a significant challenge as the industry is perceived as a high-risk sector.

As a result, young people in the industry are not accorded commercial loans and are forced to use their savings or borrow money from family, friends and sometimes loan sharks.

Art exhibition spaces 

Another significant challenge of the industry is the lack of institutions and infrastructure to support the industry. As of now, we do not have adequate art exhibition spaces, theatres and safe spaces where Kenyan creatives can showcase their work.

There is also the challenge of industry cohesiveness and a lack of strong industry associations that allow for collective bargaining.

Research has also shown that a majority of youth in the country’s creative industries lack adequate entrepreneurial skills.

Most of the outfits fall under micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and like other start-ups within the MSMEs, the owners lack basic entrepreneurial skills such as financial management, pitching, marketing, fundraising and human resource management to sustain their businesses.

One of the most successful film industries in Africa is Nigeria’s Nollywood. It has been noted that a key ingredient of Nollywood’s success is the acceptance of their content by the local Nigerian market – which is significant, given their big population. 

Lack of access to both international and local markets has been identified as one of the key challenges in the Kenyan creative economy, and research has shown that local markets remain a challenge due to a lack of appreciation of local content.

In the following columns, I will outline some ideas on how we can tackle some of the most pressing challenges in Kenya’s creative economy. 

Dr Chege is a media, innovation and technology researcher; [email protected]