Huge potential remains unexploited in the entertainment business in Africa

The African continent has gone through a revolutionary turn in Entertainment business. The earliest forms of entertainment in our continent were traditional dances and storytelling which were a free show by then. But with the discovery of a lucrative industry in the sector along the years, these two now join a long number of emerging areas of interest to many artists like comedy and acting in Africa.

Many African economies are a growing economy and so are their entertainment industries. Many entrepreneurs have taken the bull by its horn as an unreserved potential exists in the entertainment business sector due its unexploited talent and market.

Africa presents an unchallenged area of exploitation in the entertainment sector driven largely by its immense different people from the south, east, west, north and southern Africa, all of whom have different cultures, countries endowed with natural scenery and wildlife which has attracted many international film makers.

Many pundits in the entertainment sector ascribe to a school of thought that despite all this opportunities in the entertainment industry, a bigger chunk of cream has flown a different direction (east) in terms of economic benefit due to lack of an enabling environment, pre-requisite skills and resources to promote the sector. But this is as common problem as to all other African problems in many industries that we are familiar with and so must face them.

The legislative reforms in many African countries are warming up to the sector which has seen many stakeholders work together for a better environment to support burgeoning of the entertainment industry.

Industry players in Kenya recognize the role of government in zero rating of film equipment in a bid to promote the area through reduction of production costs but at the same time fault the government on its inability to reinforce media coverage of local content.

Film makers are of the opinion that though the government has good intentions for the industry, it has not been keen enough to ensure that promotion of local content is enforced in the industry.

The reforms in the industry and market demands have further seen establishment of many Media Colleges and talent nurturing institutes like the Goethe Institute and the Alliance Francaise in Kenya and a good number of magazines in the entertainment industry like Pulse, the Insyder, UP magazine and The Filmbiz Magazine which are promoting entertainment business in the country and Africa.

According to a 2010 survey on audience consumer trends in Kenya, Majority of Kenyans  are not watching locally produced movies due to lack of awareness (28.3%), unavailability of locally produced movies (25.8%), prices charged for those movies (11.4%) and poor quality of locally produced movies (19.1%). The quality in this context is a combination of factors such as professionalism, quality of actors, language, the plot, scripting and type of the equipment which eventually has a bearing on the cost of the overall product and thereby determining its accessibility to the public.

This statistics indicate that marketing/ information flow on locally made movies is not sufficient, so movie producers need to step up their game.

The main strategies used by the film producers and marketers across the borders to increase the market for their products are improving the quality in production, packaging, outsourcing production and distribution, participating in awards and seeking funding from both private and other bodies.

Given the fact that significant number of TV audience in Africa appreciate local content, there is need to further strengthen this viewership by encouraging more TV stations to increase on local films content.

As a fond viewer of the National Geographic Channel due to my love for nature, something most surprising is that I haven’t watched a single production by an African director or African narrator despite most of these films and documentaries being shot here in Africa. Producers have clearly looked the other way in this sector.

The Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood experienced accelerated growth in1990s and 2000s to become the second largest film industry in the world in annual film productions, placing it ahead of the United States and behind the Indian film industry. Nigeria boasts of a US $250 million movie industry, churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month.

Nigerian cinema is Africa's largest movie industry in terms of both value and the number of movies produced per year. Thanks to the rise of affordable digital editing and filming technologies which have propelled the country's video film industry.

In South Africa the government has identified film industry as a sector with excellent potential for growth. Although South Africa's contribution to global output stands at a mere 0.4%, the local film industry is getting stronger all the time.

In 1995, when the country first became a viable location venue for movie and television production, the industry employed around 4, 000 people. This has since grown to around 30, 000 people, with further jobs and earnings created in film-related sectors like transport, hospitality and catering.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa's entertainment industry is valued at around R7.4-billion, with film and television generating more than R5.8 billion in economic activity each year.

And according to a recent economic impact assessment study commissioned by the Cape Film Commission, the industry has a direct annual turnover of more than R2.65-billion and contributes an indirect annual turnover of more than R3.5-billion to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The benefits of a burgeoning film industry are clear, especially when it comes to bringing in foreign exchange. Co-productions with international companies result in the direct investment in millions in African economies.

There is a stronger need now more than ever for stakeholders to put into action recommendations that are ever flowing in but never see light of the day. On a general note, there’s good entertainment business potential in Africa despite the minimal challenges which can properly be addressed given the rising number of professionals in the industry for a booming sector.

 

The writer is a journalist in Nairobi.

@JangaRule