Entrepreneurship and the Economic Relevance of Africa's Creative Arts and Culture Industry in the 21st Century Global Economy

Abstract

For any career or vocation to become attractive in the 21st Century global market, it must have some enterprisingly enticing economic advantages that are capable of leveraging the socio-economic worth of the national life of the society. Interestingly, while the socio-cultural relevance of Africa's creative arts and culture industry in the contemporaneous global economy is hardly contestable, especially giving its traditional role as the midwife of the customs, traditions and culture of the societies, the gaping deficiency in the societies' efforts at exploiting the many latent economic potentialities of the industry is, however, very evident. This paper examines the entrepreneurship potentialities and other forms of economic relevance of Africa's creative, and performing arts and culture sub-sector, with especial focus on its potentials as a critical source of reduction in unemployment and underemployment, and ultimately, propensity for poverty alleviation as well as wealth creation in the Africa of the 21st Century. The paper relied on review of relevant literatures, focus group discussions, participant observations and one-on-one in-depth interviews in highlighting the potential economic, and entrepreneurial impact the arts and culture industry can have on Africa's development. It is hoped that the creative arts and culture scholars, job-seekers, practitioners, and other stakeholders of the industry, including the economic and education policy formulators in Africa, would find the research a veritable point of reference