ISSUE 48/DEC2022 - Flipbook - Page 22
Africa’s Most Influential Women | EVERYDAY HEROES
pitch to an investor, how to put a deck together, how to
do a five-year business model, etc.
All these are important elements to a successful
creative and cultural industry career. And we are doing
our part in helping it thrive.
However, the Creative and Cultural
Industry, which in your upcoming
book you call “The Orange Economy”;
is still not regarded at the same
level as, for example, the FinTech
sector. Is there enough support from
important institutions and from African
governments, to make the industry the
next “unicorn”?
I think institutions such as Afreximbank and the AfDB
are doing extremely well in their individual way, to
push the industry forward. But I think there needs to
be broader and even joint efforts to include African
governments, development finance and the private
sector, for the industry to really reach its full potential.
The reason why I say this is that, for instance with
IFFAC, we’ve made it very easy for governments to
support the industry through the development finance
institutions and the grants programme, and technical
assistance programmes to help with incubation and
acceleration. We have therefore created a port of a
Grants Fund, where they can put the money and we
show them clearly how it is being deployed, through a
solid reporting and monitoring mechanism, as well as
impact measurements.
In short, we have created a scientific and robust
method of investing, and an ecosystem of financial
vehicles, that can bring in government funding, and
what that does, is that it de-risks the investment for
the private sector to come in. With our method, we’ve
demystified the perceived risk of investing in the
creative and cultural industries, and hopefully people
are listening to us. Development banks should be
enhancing the work we’re doing.
Can you briefly let us in on the “The
Orange Economy” the book.
The full title of the book is actually “Ghana: The
Orange Economy”. In it I talk about the explosion of the
creative and cultural industries in Ghana for the past
decade. The premise is really about taking a look at
what has happened in the past decade, which is also
the time that I have been actively engaged and working
in the industry and I am in a position to see how the
momentum has evolved over time and the direction
we are heading into. And there’s a lot happening,
which I wanted to showcase in a book, because I’ve
seen it from then and now. It also justifies the reasons
why I’m interested in investing in this industry — the
Orange Economy.
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New African Woman
l Dec 2022
Your passion is clearly very strong. But
your background is actually in science,
why are you so passionate about this
industry? Where does the fire come from?
That’s so true! You know with my background in
science, I could have gone anywhere else like into
Artificial Intelligence (AI), the energy sector, or even
into Climate Change. But why the creative industries?
I think it is because creativeness runs in my family.
My mother studied theatre arts at university, but ended
up working in the government as a civil servant; my
brother is an artist and very good at drawing, but
he never took it up further; my grandfather was a
pharmacist but played music instruments; my uncle
was an architect but he played in a band. So I come
from a scientific family but with very creative brains as
well. It was always inevitable that I would get into the
creative industry, especially when I realised that no one
from my family capitalised on their creativity. That was
a problem for me. And my scientific brain was like,’
find a solution’.
And that’s how I got to be where I am. Of course, I
have had many struggles on the way. But I am very
passionate about what I do, both with AFF and now
IFFAC, and I will keep going.
What keeps me up at night is when I see the impact
I am making bear result.. Although I know that not
everyone appreciates or sees it that way.
And also seeing Africa’s rich culture being benefited
positively, is a very uplifting feeling.
Roberta, thank you for this insightful
conversation, but before I let you go to
help with the homework, you have to
answer our staple question. In your own
words, describe who is a New African
Woman?
Oooo! That’s a good one. A New African Woman is
free-spirited. She is innovative. She is not afraid of
the boundaries that are placed on her by society. She
can make her own decisions. She can ably support
herself, her family, her community on her own, and
on her terms. She does not allow the challenges in her
personal life or business dictate and affect her future.
She is bold and confident.
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CREDITS
Photographer: Gilbert Asante @gilbertasante
Photography Assistants: Ayamga Yinde-Naaba
George Krofa Amoako
Stylist: Viennty @viennty
Make Up Artist: Nana Yaa @peaches_facebar
Hair Stylist: Owusua @cheeryhairtodaygh
Location: Villa Monticello Boutique Hotel