Strengthening the Creative Industries for Development in ... - unctad

28 PART 3. CREATIVE INDUSTRIES POLICY REVIEW
necessity to focus on implementation and encouraged the creation of an Inter-Ministerial Committee
but stressed that it would be important to include all the stakeholders involved and not just the
ministries, but that the question of leadership would have to be very clear in such a situation. There
was general agreement that it is necessary to build more awareness about the creative industries
concept and specific results-oriented initiatives. The MIC expressed its willingness to take the
initiative and move forward on these issues especially since they are involved in financing and their
role is to improve access to international markets and they are also responsible for IPR issues.
Action: Support clusters of SMEs, enabling interconnected creative industries and the cooperation of
services providers, the sharing of facilities and know-how, as well as seeking financing together and
providing collective guarantees.
Working together means that confidence can be increased between creative industries and financial
institutions and thus make it easier to obtain loans and reduce costs for materials and equipment. Such
experiences are relatively undeveloped in Africa and are concentrated in neighbouring countries such
as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania. 75
Action: Support non-financial institutions in the area of technology, skill development and marketing.
If creative SMEs are to become vibrant and contribute to the economy, they need to be provided with
adequate support that enhances their capacities, for example in the preparation of sound commercial
business plans to be submitted for microfinancing facilities in commercial banks. Many projects are
rejected because of poor business plans despite the commercial viability of the project.
Action: A key component of this project is the capacity-building and training activities to be provided
by ILO, to assist artists and creators to establish their creative business in a sustainable way and
improve their entrepreneurial skills.
The encouragement of SMEs is crucial to the development of the creative industries in developing
countries. Many creative enterprises are microsized, and in many cases a sole independent artist or
creator covers all the various stages of the supply chain, from creation to the market. 76
Figure 9. Creative industry value chain
Source: UNCTAD/UNDP (2008).
In all the steps of the value chain, from the creative process to retail and consumption, secondary
economic fallouts are expected with the creation of employment. For example, creative industries
generate work opportunities for logistic and transport companies, when selling the creative products,
as well bringing economic spillovers to other sectors, for example, by sourcing cotton fabric for the
production of some art crafts, fashion, etc.
75 Financing SMEs in Africa, OECD Development Centre, Issue No. 7, 2005.
76 UNCTAD/UNDP (2008): 69, 183.