A comparative analysis of economic impact studies

Indigenous cultural forms and the creative industries are the most important cultural sectors in African countries. Since publicly funded cultural institutions play only a small role here, creatives and cultural professionals of the continent have been hit particularly hard by COVID19 (see this interactive map on the economic impact on Africa's creative sector). Studies on its impact on the African Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS), Central African States (ECCAS), East Africa (EAC) and Southern Africa (SADC) have observed several reactions from public, academia, civil society and the private sector to deal with the situation. 

 

Some Governments have granted financial aid and relief funds. Kenya, for example, released about one million USD to sustain the creative industries during the lockdown while Senegal released more than five million USD. In Nigeria - the African giant with between 500,000,000 and 800,000,000 USD income generated per year by the cinema industry alone - the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has launched a Post COVID-19 Initiatives Committee for the Creative industry including professionals to assess the shortfall and suggest ways out. In Togo and Guinea, the respective ministers in charge of culture promised a series of measures after meeting with stakeholders of the sector.

 

At the level of civil society, several professional organizations have warned about the numerous threats to the cultural sector. The Association des Métiers de la Musique du Sénégal carried out an online survey whose results showed a loss of about ten million USD among all cultural sectors. In the Comoros, the Center for Artistic and Cultural Creation (CCAC) Mavuna organized a workshop in June to assess the situation. They managed to organize an online impact survey with the support of the National Directorate of Arts and Culture and UNESCO.

 

In the private sector, Joe Vision Production, a Namibian film company and owner of the Creative Industry Guide, conducted an online survey on the economic impact of COVID-19. In Morocco, the cultural company Ayna, producer of the Visa For Music Festival, was very active in the organization of debates and proposal of recovery strategies. In East Africa, KQ Hub Africa in Uganda and Heva Fund in Kenya, both cultural consulting firms, have conducted two completed studies. Heva Fund is carrying out the same study in Rwanda with a local partner.

 

Academics have also conducted quantitative studies and in-depth analysis. The South African Cultural Observatory, run by Nelson Mandela University, has published an economic impact study covering the second quarter of 2020 based on an online survey. The same quantitative methodology has been applied in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the author if this article, specialist of creative industries issues, from both the Catholic University of Congo and the University of Kinshasa.

 

From a qualitative perspective with intensive interviews, three Ghanaian academics (Prof. Robert Ebo Hinson, Dr. Nnamdi O. Madichie and Belinda Bediako Asiedu) under the label of the Center for Strategic and Defense Studies have presented examples of resilience from creative practitioners. They came to the conclusion that digital paid platforms constitute a viable alternative despite the fact that they cannot replace live events. In most cases, digital platforms during the last months served to avoid losing the fan base and to keep the relationship despite physical distance. Because this experience is new, the challenge ahead is the monetization of such platforms to make them viable and profitable to creatives. For example, according to France 24, Likyan TV was the first online platform in francophone Africa to have organized a virtual streamed paid concert in which the Congolese star Innoss’B entertained his fans. 

 

The itinerant research platform Circulador carried out a qualitative study in African Portuguese-speaking countries such as Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. It presents both the actors' resilience strategies and support measures from the respective governments.

 

 

Most of the online surveys were conducted between March and May 2020 to do an early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of various cultural sectors. For comparative purposes, it is much easier and practical to consider only quantitative studies here. However, some explanations provided will come from qualitative materials. Specifically, studies from the five countries Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya, Namibia and South Africa are taken into account, even if the different questionnaires were not based on similar questions.

 

It should be noted that the financial losses (turnover) regarding the creative industries are unbalanced between the countries for the second quarter of 2020: They range from USD 134,360.00 for Uganda to USD 1,493,639,269.27 for South Africa, i.e. respectively proportions between 0.002% and 1.7% of the specific GDP. The five featured countries combined make a total of approximately $ 1,530,745,270.80, of which South Africa as Africa’s second largest African country regarding GDP creates more than 90 percent.

 

The first sector most affected are obviously the performing arts, following the ban on events in these countries. The second sector is linked to the content industries (audio-visual, cinema, visual arts) in their traditional production and distribution format, without taking into account the contribution of digital technologies. 

 

Inspired by the Kenyan example with Heva Fund on the risk level of the cultural industries in the face of COVID-19, a matrix of impact analysis has been designed.

 

 

 

1. The predominance of the informal sector (53.3% in Senegal; 51.7% in Namibia, 80% in Kenya according to the respondents, an exception is South Africa with 35%);   

2. The significant number of freelancers whose resources cannot withstand shocks (68% in Kenya). In Uganda alone, nearly 700 artists are affected by the 3000 cancelled events. They face difficulties in resisting shocks and adapting to sudden changes;   

3. The small size of companies because bigger companies are likely more resilient than smaller due to better access to resources (financial, human, technologies, etc.). A big part of the creative businesses are very small (47% between 1 and 5 employees in DRC; 80% between 1 and 10 in Kenya). The fringed oligopoly of the cultural and creative industries between the public and the economic sector is meaningful here; 

4. The prevalence of part-time jobs and short-term contracts (30% of South African companies are ready to terminate fixed-term contracts; 58% of creatives in Kenya have part-time jobs). ;   

5. The mode of production and distribution requiring a high level of human interaction, especially for the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, visual arts, etc.).   

 

 

In the opposite direction, the studies shed light on the most profitable sectors: first the digital sector followed by live entertainment and audio-visual in the DRC; Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Cinema, Radio and Television, followed by Design, Communication and Fashion in Kenya. 

 

In terms of gender balance, in Kenya 43% managers in cultural organizations are women, compared to 12% in the DRC. One reason for this difference could be that the gender equality rate is higher in Kenya than in DRC (here you can find a comparison tool). Here and in other African French speaking countries, gender equality policies are only a relatively recent topic (art.14 constitution of 2006) compared to English speaking countries in the east (e.g. Rwanda) and south of Africa (e.g. Botswana). In South Africa, for example, while most men were kept in jails or hid in rebel zones during apartheid, women remained active in taking care of families, studying and working. Thus, there is a high proportion of women holding positions in politics, public services and businesses.

 

 

The pandemic has not only negatively impacted the creative sector in Africa, but has also exposed its shortcomings. Stimulus and relief plans have been proposed from those studies. The PMRCC -19 in the DRC focused on financing (short term) and investment (medium term); the Planning post Covid-19 in South Africa on technical and financial support, strategic planning and assistance to the business model change; revaluation of the value given to culture; and the COVID-19 Crisis Strategy Matrix for Kenya based on urgency, resilience and transformation. 

 

For researchers in Ghana, digital technology presents itself as "silver lining in the grey cloud (...) a blessing in the opportunity for the Creative Industries in Ghana to innovate by leveraging the digital space as they reimagine new pathways to upscaling the creative content for the future”.

 

 

• Association Des Métiers De La Musique Du Sénégal, Culture et COVID-19: quelles solutions? avril 2020.
• Circulador, Cultural pandemic. The impact of covid-19 in the cultural sector of Portuguese-speaking countries, May 2020.   
• Creative Industry Guide Namibia, The Creative Industry Holds Economic Impact Survey, May 2020.   
• Ebo Hinson, R. et al. , The Impact of COVID-19 on the Creative Industries in Ghana, May 2020.
• Heva Fund, COVID-19 resilience: creative industry options and strategies, April 2020.   
• Kq Hub Africa, COVID-19 and its impact on Uganda's creative industry, April 2020.   
• South African Cultural Observatory, Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the cultural and creative industries in South Africa: An early assessment, May 2020.   
• Nzeza Bunketi Buse, R., La créativité au cœur de la diversité. Impact économique de la COVID-19 sur le secteur culturel et créatif en République Démocratique du Congo, June 2020.