Tech4Dev Launches Creative Economy Tracker

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

The Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative, Tech4Dev, in partnership with the United Kingdom-Nigeria Tech Hub and UK International Development have launched the Nigeria Creative Ecosystem Report Dissemination and Creative Tracker.

The milestone initiative, unveiled in Lagos on Thursday August 21, spotlights opportunities and insights into how Nigeria’s creative economy —with focus on film, music, fashion and content creation— can grow, scale, and thrive globally.

Speaking at the launch, Ms. Oyinkansola Akintola-Bello, Director, UK–Nigeria Tech Hub, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), reaffirmed the UK–Nigeria Tech Hub’s commitment to the Nigeria creative sector’s growth.

She disclosed that the tracker will drive growth, innovation, and employment in Nigeria’s creative sector, noting that the initiative is part of a broader effort to support the digital economy in Nigeria and other partner countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Akintola-Bello also assured that the tracker will provide valuable data on the creative economy, enabling informed decision-making for policymakers, investors, and industry stakeholders.

On his part, Micheal John, the Senior Partner, Avaara Partners and former Country Manager, Tech4Dev, disclosed that for the first time ever, they are unveiling the Creative Digital Tracker as a pioneering tool designed to map opportunities, strengthen innovation, and provide actionable insights across film, music, fashion, and digital content creation.

He said by mapping the creative industry’s landscape, following an extensive research across seven pilot states through the Nigeria Creative Ecosystem Growth and Innovation Initiative (NCGEII), the Tracker, an open-source platform, will identifies gaps and opportunities for growth, investment, and innovation which will enable policymakers to develop targeted interventions, investors to identify areas for growth, and industry stakeholders to capitalize on emerging opportunities.

“We cover seven states across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones —Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Anambra, Kwara, Plateau and Adamawa— offering insights into the creative industry’s performance in each region. We brought together stakeholders and leading voices from film, music, fashion, and content creation for the dissemination of the Nigeria Creative Ecosystem Report and the launch of the NCGEII Creative Digital Tracker,” John said.

He explained that the launch marks the close-out of the Nigeria Creative Growth and Innovation Initiative, while the research study shed light on the evolving landscape of Nigeria’s creative industry, revealing both opportunities and challenges.

He added, “A lot of research had been done in the past, but none has actually taken the standpoint of the value chain, which means understanding how value is created, from creation/conceptualisation to production, to distribution, getting it into the hands of consumers and exhibition.

“Afrobeats across the world is top five of music genre consumed. We wanted to understand what it was like for the average creator. Where do you get the skill from? How do you come up with the idea? How easy is it for you to turn this thing into an actual product? And even after you’ve turned it to a product, are you able to distribute it? How do you collect money? What kind of technology do you use? What is missing? Do you need staff? And if you need staff, are you getting skilled staff?”

“At a macro level, If I understand that there’s a lot of infrastructure that is needed, can I co-invest with let’s say the Bank of Industry? Or CBN. To put in a PPP agreement and say, I will create a hub. Right, I would put my money to create a hub. This is how I would collect my money from the creators working in that hub over a period of, I don’t know, five years, three years, right? And so with this understanding comes with the appetite for risk, and with the appetite for risk comes investment, and with investment comes a track record and then comes skill.”

He also cited infrastructure issues and inconsistent data across states as some of the challenges encountered during the research.

In his vote of thanks, Joel Ogunsola, Founder and President of Tech4Dev, expressed his excitement about the support his organisation have received over the last one year from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office as well as from some States including Lagos, Kwara, and Plateau.

“Based on feedback and some of the suggestions that we’ve received, look out and watch out for some next steps in terms of what we’re going to be doing around this. Ultimately, I say a very big thank you to the team, Micheal and the rest of the team that also worked extensively on this. Super excited about what this will lead to in terms of starting a journey of really tracking where we are, what are the gaps and how far do we still need to go and ultimately what the future state will look like,” Ogunsola stated.