…Ananse Africa is a pan-African platform dedicated to empowering creative entrepreneurs by providing market access, digital skills training, and essential business support.
TUE NOV 18 2025-theGBJournal| The African creative economy is on track to unlock $50 billion in annual revenue and generate up to 20 million jobs by 2030, but its vast potential is currently limited by systemic market fragmentation and the absence of continent-wide coherent national strategies.
This was the primary finding from a high-level strategic webinar, “Canvas to Commerce: Redesigning Skills Building for Africa’s Creative Future,” convened by Ananse Africa, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, in collaboration with African Business and Botho Emerging Markets Group.
The event, which gathered policymakers, investors, and industry leaders, highlighted that despite the sector’s high-growth potential, less than 15% of creatives are currently active on digital platforms, limiting them to fragmented local sales. This gap represents a massive, and readily addressable, opportunity for public-private collaboration.
“The narrative of African creativity is changing from one of talent to one of economic engine,” said Samuel Mensah, Founder of Ananse Africa.
”Talent alone, however, cannot scale the required infrastructure. Our data reveals a significant policy opportunity: we need to formalize support for this sector.
Ananse Africa is ready to share its market insights and expertise to partner with governments across the continent, helping to build the critical pathways needed to transition millions of informal micro-businesses into scalable, export-ready enterprises. The $50 billion goal is entirely achievable with targeted partnership and investment.”
The discussion built on Ananse’s 2023/24 survey of more than 7000 responses from creatives, highlighting critical market gaps and opportunities for alignment:
Market Fragmentation: Less than 15% of African creatives are currently active on e-commerce platforms.
Inclusion Gap: Only 12 of Africa’s 55 nations have a formal creative economy strategy. This highlights a vast opportunity for governments to incorporate the sector into national economic planning and leverage its job-creation potential.
Gender Impact: Approximately 70% of creatives leveraging platforms like Ananse Africa are women, underscoring the sector’s vital role in advancing gender equity and youth employment.
Sector Transition: Fashion, film, gaming, and digital content now employ more youth across Africa than traditional manufacturing sectors.
Collective Call to Action
However, to capitalize on this opportunity and address the challenges, the speakers highlighted priority solutions centered on urgent, targeted investment. The collective call to action emphasized establishing intermediary hubs and incubators to bridge the talent gap with practical, market-connected training.
Furthermore, leaders stressed the necessity of localizing skills development, ensuring indigenous artisanship is preserved, valued, and transferred to the next generation.
Critically, to protect this commercial and cultural value internationally, there is an immediate need to formalize these skills through certification and safeguard them with robust commercial tools like Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
Ananse Africa is a pan-African platform dedicated to empowering creative entrepreneurs by providing market access, digital skills training, and essential business support.
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