Task force and conference to boost Kenyan film industry

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Submitted by IQ4News on Tue, 17/05/2011 - 11:13am

Nairobi, 17th May 2011: Kenya’s broadcast and film industry is set to get a major boost through a government initiative to promote the country’s underutilized creative content economy, to earn the country more in terms of jobs and wealth created.

The Creative Content Task Force, an initiative of the Kenya ICT Board, has been formed to spearhead the promotion of the residual capacity and economic potential of the sector.

Coinciding with the forthcoming AITEC Broadcast & Film Africa conference in Nairobi, the task force’s first initiative is the launch of an awareness campaign, Mzuka, aimed at sensitizing sector players, business prospects and investors on the residual capacity and the economic potential of the sector.

“Mzuka’s main objective is to create a framework for formal recognition of the industry and its sub-sectors”, said Michael Onyango, the Vice-Chair of the Creative Content Task Force, who is set to be presenting the campaign at AITEC’s Broadcast & Film Africa conference in Nairobi on 6th and 7th July.

The creative content economy, which includes the broadcast, film, music, art, publishing, advertising, animation and gaming industries, contributed an estimated Sh25 billion to the economy last year. But this amounted to just 1 per cent of the economy, compared to 5.1 per cent in Jamaica, 11.2 per cent in the US and 4 per cent in Latvia, according to Zimele Asset Management Company.

“Creative content has the potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of intellectual property,” says Sammy Muvelah of Zimele.

According to Mr. Onyango, it is this underlying potential that the task force is seeking to expose on the global arena.

It aims to make Kenya the continental hub of creative content within two years. As a first step, it is in creating a database of players, investors and stakeholders within the creative content economy over the next six months.

Creative Arts Sector

Confirming the immense capacity of the creative arts, the Creative Economy Report 2010, published by UNCTAD, shows the sector expanded in the face of a global recession.

While global trade in manufacturing and industry shrunk by 12 per cent, the knowledge-based creative sectors continued to expand, reaching $592bn and achieving an annual growth rate of 14 per cent from 2002 to 2008.

However, Africa’s total contribution in the creative economy is almost negligible. Only one in ten African countries have established performing and recording industries. Yet Nigeria’s film industry, commonly known as Nollywood, is now worth $250m to $300m, while Kenya’s film industry is contributing Sh65m, according to a Kenya Film Commission study done in 2008.

The Broadcast and Film Africa conference will present both at a Film Pavilion housing leading film makers from Nollywood and from Kenya’s own film industry, as well as an Animation Pavilion, together with more than 40 speakers presenting world class business strategies and technologies for the industry.

The creative content task force was formed at the behest of the Permanent Secretary of Information and Communications, Dr. Bitange Ndemo, after a visit by Yvonne Mwende, one of the creators of the blockbuster movie the Avatar. The movie made $2.9bn in sales.