Brenda Fashugba, Regional Lead for the British Council’s Creative Economy programme, speaks about the importance of the Creative Economy E-Learning Programme in helping entrepreneurs in the creative economy to manage their finances, market their products and communicate to customers.
The British Council is striving to support creative entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa through the Creative Economy E-Learning Programme, which helps bridge the gaps in knowledge to provide young South African entrepreneurs with the tools to build sustainable businesses that help uplift the creative economy in Africa.
We believe that entrepreneurship in the creative sector, just like in Technology and Finance, has an important and positive impact for the continent when providing jobs that are desperately needed. Particularly as there is no shortage of creative businesses to draw from in South Africa – we can see that exports of digitally deliverable services are growing fast (up to 4,6 billion USD) and are driven mainly by South Africa, who have the most advanced start-up ecosystem in Africa with between 700 and 1,200 active startups. However, there is an opportunity to improve the level of entrepreneurship within South Africa if more budding entrepreneurs had access to courses that bridge the knowledge gap. Currently the global creative economy is set to reach over $985 billion by 2023 and it is estimated that Africa contributes less than 1% to this total figure. Here, we see that potential entrepreneurs chance for Africa’s creative economy to grow.
To gain valuable insight and learning from the British Council with useful advice on are not only missing out on enriching their personal ecosystem, but also missing out on the chance to bolster Africa’s contribution to the creative economy.
We consider digital programmes aimed at equipping young entrepreneurs as the foundation to building a sustainable and thriving creative economy in South Africa. This is why we devised a free and easy-to-access course called the Creative Economy E-Learning Programme, a course with modules that help young creative entrepreneurs understand not only how to structure and run a business, but also how to navigate the business world around them.
There are three modules: first is the “Creative Entrepreneurship” module which provides young entrepreneurs with the practical foundations to kickstart their understanding of business, from creating an idea through to pitching an idea. The “Impact through Creative Entrepreneurship” module arms participants with the knowledge of how to make their business socially impactful, innovative and inclusive. Lastly, the “Creative Economy Policy” module walks participants through relevant insight for policy stakeholders which helps them to understand their impact within the creative economy and how types of policy can affect them.
South Africa’s creative economy is bursting with potential and vibrancy and the British Council understands that when more Africans are provided with the opportunity to showcase their dynamism, the greater the how to manage your finances, market your product, and communicate with your customers visit the British Council’s Creative Economy E-Learning Platform.
