Obi Asika: Destination 2030 and Creative Economy

The key trends to look out for in 2024, on the policy side, you’ve got to look at the Destination 2030, which is the roadmap to the $100 billion creative economy coming from the minister of arts, culture and the creative economy. And we also have to recognise and check for the impact of having a full ministry and a seat on the executive counsel and the impact that has on the creative economy and creative industries.

We can also see a closer relationship between technology and the creative industry. We can see that the creative industry through the music industry, afrobeats, Nollywood, and comedy, is pushing Nigeria’s soft power worldwide, changing the image of Nigeria, socialising Nigeria in a new way, and enabling opportunities for Nigerian fashion, dance,  culture, art and literature. And all of these things, the gateways coming through Nigerian music, what I call afrobeats culture, and the continued growth of afrobeats culture, is something to watch out for and to see how all those other elements, Nigerian cuisine, Nigerian fashion, Nigerian DNA just continues to grow and spread worldwide.

The next is technology and creativity. Looking forward to seeing a closer relationship between Nigerian tech innovators and digital entrepreneurs, and the creative economy, to build new domestic platforms to enable growth, and scalability, open up new markets, and to sell. My conference  Omniverse is something to watch out for. We’re very focused on that nexus between the digital, the tech and the creatives, as key drivers for the Nigerian economy going forward.

Another thing to look out for is the impact of generative AI. We’ve already seen that with ChatGPT. I think this year, we’re going to begin to see it manifest even more, and it’s going to affect the creative industries. It’s going to affect producers, content creators, and all these platforms and I think we will see continued growth of the influencer economy. We’re in the Creator economy already. But the Creator economy and influencer economy are going to become even closer and they’re gonna grow even bigger and become even more important.

The last is the power of storytelling. I think, finally, maybe it is possible that Nigeria, having created a ministry now and really beginning to understand the DNA and the power of storytelling, understanding that the Americans’ last 250 years are about storytelling, the European domination of the world for the last 500 years is primarily driven by narrative storytelling.  To me, the future looks bright. It’s not going to be easy. But with the innovation, ingenuity and true talents of Nigerians, new platforms, and more digital opportunities, I think that it’s all now about creating authentic experiences and creating more products and more merchandise.