Quantifying Creativity – The Creative Economy
Gold, oil and Cocoa are all rich minerals that soak and permeate our African soil, all of which are commodities that largely contribute to a country’s economy. The availability and almost abundant nature of these resources largely lend themselves to the growth of the Ghanaian economy. When it comes to quantifying these resources, they cannot be overlooked in terms they provide stability and growth potential of Ghana’s Economy. In fact, without these resources, a country like Ghana would find itself in a ‘tougher’ economic situation. Countries that are not blessed with these rich minerals must find innovative ways to diversify and boost their economies to join the global conversation. Some of these countries succeed by boosting tourism or becoming large manufacturing and trade hubs. In today’s world, you can clearly see the weight and impact of these economic drivers, they are visibly measurable and quantifiable and cannot be overlooked. There is however, one commodity that exists within Africa which is often overlooked. Not just the awareness of its quality and value but also its vastness, deepness, and raw and clean properties. The Commodity being referred to here is ‘Creativity’! Yep, you read that right, ‘Creativity’ runs deep, far and is widespread throughout the continent. Although creativity is not physically growing beneath the soil of the continent, it is vastly available amongst the natives of this beautiful continent. Africa has an overwhelmingly rich pool of creative human capital that we often fail to recognize as a major economic driver. This is because ‘Creativity’ is not something that is tangible, it is not physical, we cannot touch it unless until an idea is materialized into the physical world. We can however see it; experience it and we can feel it and at the tight time, produce it into valuable domestic and global assets.
So how do we measure creativity? What effective measuring tools can be used to quantify intellectual property or creative thought, and how do we measure a counties creative output and its certain impact on our economies. Gold is often quantified by weight, while its significant impact on our Economy is very evident, contributing approximately 8-10% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Oil is counted by the barrel and contributes approximately 4% to the country’s GDP. The Exportation of Gold and oil play a significant role in the success of our economies and industries and account for a noteworthy portion of the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Gold exports have often constituted around 30-45% of total export revenues for the country, while oil exports have in previous years contributed around 20-25% of total export revenues. That’s huge. In addition to that these sectors serve as a significant source of employment and attract a substantial amount of foreign direct investment.
So, before we build the creative calculators and scales and conduct comparative analysis, let us start by understanding who and what forms todays Creative Economy. What are their unique properties, characteristics, and value contributions? Thereafter we can determine its Total size, its position within Ghana’s GDP. Total Export Revenues, Total attraction of Foreign Direct Investment and total amount of Jobs created.
According to the UN, in an article published about the Orange Economy (Creative Economy)
“The creative economy are the creative industries which can be defined as the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. These industries include advertising, architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, computer games, electronic publishing and TV/radio.
When you look at the above list, especially as an African, You can’t help but notice that this list is made up of everything that our parents didn’t encourage as career options. Going for the conservative corporate Job always seemed to hold so much more value. But if we look at this list today, we will find an overwhelming amount of individuals and companies that are operating and thriving within these sectors. In Ghana and Nigeria, over the last 8 years, entertainment arts have taken center stage in the world. There is an increasing number of incredible artists, musicians who are producing and performing to Global Audiences.. There are Fashion designers who have built African Powerhouse Design brands like Christie Brown. There are Creative Content Producers who’ve worked with world renowned brands and personalities like Beyonce and the NFL, namely, Ekow Barnes and Tony Prince Tometey. There are so many amazing creative individuals making significant strides in their creative journeys while making noteworthy deposits into the Value Bank of our Economy.