Creative industries yet to be fully exploited

Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday December 17, 2014 18:57

 

Though a host of factors were identified to be stunting the growth of the creative sector, lack of exposure of local items to both national and international markets was said to be an eye sore.  The Creative Industries Sector committee of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) workshop heard recently.

The industry needed to be monetised in order to attract much more talented individuals in the sector, said Lesiga Segola, who is the committee chairperson. 

“If you can’t make money out of culture people won’t see its relevance,” Segola said.

The former principal curator of the National Museum said organisations such as Brand Botswana had a mammoth task of correcting the mentality many locals harbour of shunning locally produced products. He argued that the ‘Made In Botswana’ tagline had to be communicated constantly and thoroughly so as to achieve buy-in and ownership.

Ways of developing the creative industries were needed to maximise more especially the participation of young people in the industry to curb the prevalent unemployment headache, according to Segola.

“The most key aspect of the creative industries is the ability to create self-employment,” he said on the sidelines of this workshop.

He urged young people to make use of the diamond beneficiation scheme through taking up courses in jewellery design currently on offer at Oodi College of Applied Arts and Technology.  The uniqueness of the country for instance warranted a rich cultural tourism hub that is yet to be exploited, as the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) is much more focused on wildlife tourism, according to renowned performing artist, Gao Lemmenyane.

He said synergies with establishments such as BTO, Brand Botswana and the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre for the promotion of cultural tourism, which still lags behind were critical. 

“Partnering with such organisations would help in pushing the mandate of this committee,” he said. The National Human Resource Development Strategy of 2009 is driving and enabling sectors identified as the Creative Industries, together with nine others.  The objectives of the committee’s workshop were to discuss and share information on issues relating to the sector.