BY CHIDIEBERE NWANKWO
At a time when the creative economy intersects with technology, the conversation at The Catalyst event, organized recently in Lagos, in Collaboration with CcHUB’s the Creative Economy Practice, could not have been more relevant. With its theme as “Future of Creative Innovation in Africa: Trends, Talent, and Technology,” featuring two brilliant panelists – Nigerian filmmaker, artist and creative technologist, Malik Afegbua and Head Of AnR/Talent management, Chocolate City Music, Osagie Onobun – the session harped on the need for African Creatives to latch onto technological innovations to navigate the digital age.
Speaking at a Panel Session, Afegbua noted the need to take deliberate steps towards employing the use of technologies, and establishing the creative industry in the sketch map of tech innovators.
According to him: “African Creatives need to start embracing technology, as many of these technologies do not include us yet, and we will need to catch up on it.
“This technology is still out of reach and very expensive. Thus, there will be a lot of self-financing to get access to some of them.”
Onobun, in his position pointed to some of the basic use of technology in the industry and called for a concerted effort at exploiting evolving technologies to further ease their jobs in the Creative industry.
“In the music industry, they already make use of many technological tools to make their job easier. Embracing technology eases many things, such as the use of data to make more informed decisions,” Osagie Onobun disclosed.
While also noting that the true measure of being creative is remaining true to yourself, your craft and not just inflating numbers, he lamented the poor implementation of intellectual property rights in Africa. “Legal enforcement for intellectual property is very poor in Africa, and there aren’t enough lawyers on this, so by default, we are on the losing end.”
Speaking on regulations and ethics of technology use, Malik Afegbua said: “There need to be ethical considerations regarding the use of AI. Many companies are hyperfocused on numbers and views, but value should be placed higher.
“AI is not here to take jobs. It will only take the jobs of those who do not know how to use it.”
The session formed a think-tank platform with attendees thinking more critically about the future of Africa’s creative economy and how Africa can prepare to own its space in that future.
