Africa is the home of entertainment. The culture, passion and energy across the continent have always stood it out from others. It is only now been harnessed for the benefit of a burgeoning creative industry. 

Today, driven by its youthful demography, expanding internet connectivity, a growing array of connected devices, and massive investment, organized entertainment is thriving and flourishing in Africa.

African entertainers have taken things up a notch, delivering increasingly attractive and impressive quality and quantity of work. The biggest names in African music, movies and métier are known, recognized and respected across the globe. The potential is humongous. 

The largest players in the global entertainment and media space are all actively pursuing a bigger slice of the African entertainment pie. Spotify, Netflix, and Apple Music are all customizing content for local users and growing their presence in Africa.

The whole entertainment and media value chain is benefiting everyone, from video and music streaming services, scriptwriters and showrunners to producers, trainers and digital marketers. The entertainment industry is ripe for the next wave. 

This is good news. A report from consultants at PwC forecasts that the fast-growing Nigerian entertainment and media industry will earn $14.8bn in 2025, up from its current revenue of $7.7bn, riding on an 85 per cent growth of its internet access segment. These figures are a reflection of the trend across the continent. The growth is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. 

The industry however is besieged with a perennial problem, one that has defied efforts to rein it in – piracy. It is widespread in every country in Africa. The scant regard for intellectual property is a massive leak to the industry that needs to be urgently filled.

It doesn’t just steal from the industry, it smothers it limiting new investment, draining creatives and lowering the industry’s contribution to GDP. 

To move forward, piracy should be confronted head-on. Technology, relevant laws and regulations and close monitoring all have to come into play and align to combat this menace and free the industry to soar. 

Closely linked to entertainment, culture and media is tourism. African countries, with beautiful sceneries, welcome millions of tourists year round. 

According to data from Statista, “as of May 2021, the number of tourists that arrived in Africa from overseas added up to around 1.04 million, which was significantly higher than the 533 thousand international tourists who arrived in the continent in May 2020.”

“In 2020, the region recorded its highest monthly count of international tourists in January, at over 5.3 million. This was slightly higher than the number registered in at the same period in 2019.” 

Surely, Africa’s rich culture and entertainment can be the magnet that will pull millions of tourists to the continent. But for that to happen, the right infrastructure must be put in place.

Today is day one!