Kenyan Creative Content Task Force Launches Mzuka Awareness Campaign

The Creative Content Task Force in Kenya today launched an awareness campaign named Mzuka. It will help sensitize the creative sector,its players, business prospects and investors on the residual capacity and economic potential. According to analysts, the sector is worth Ksh 25 Billion which is a substantial amount of the Kenyan GDP.

Mzuka also seeks to establish Kenya as the hub of creative content generation in the region across the Africacontinent. The Task force has already set out a definition of the Creative Content industry in Kenya. It is the digital animation (visual effects & soundeffects), broadcast (TV, Radio and film production), visual arts, digital media (mobile apps and internet),publishing, gaming, performing arts and cultural expression.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications, Dr Bitange Ndemo formed the Creative Content Task Force in January 2011. The awareness campaign dubbed “Mzuka” main objective is to create a framework for formal recognition of the industry and its sub-sectors.

A key agenda of the Taskforce is creating a formal physical space for the sector’s players to be able to collectively harness the global creative economy trade, providing a platform for exchange of information, encourage collaboration through the registration of viable commercial units that service clients, locally,regionally and globally. The Taskforce is currently working on having the industry mainstreamed in the economy of the country and recognized as a key contributor to opening up the “new economy”, for thethousands of talented university and high school graduates.

Financial and Investment advisors, bankers were invited to the event, to give them an appreciation of the inherent economic potential of the industry.The Task force is also working on formal classification and mapping of all the current players in the local creative industry established, to help catalyze trade opportunities and accelerate knowledge and content sharing. The launch event involved stakeholders from the creative industry across all platforms includingbroadcasting, film, music, digital media, visual effects, events, gaming and publishing.

A nation’s socio-cultural growth and development is another major benefit associated with a vibrant creative content industry. If well nurtured, the sector can be used to foster social cohesion and provide a base for positive exploitation of the cultural diversity in Kenya.“Global exports of creative goods and services — products such as arts and crafts, audiovisuals, books, design work, films, music, new media, printed media, visual and performing arts, and creative services — more than doubled between 2002 and 2008, the report notes. The total value of these exports reached US $592 billion in2008, and the growth rate of the industry over that six-year period averaged 14%.”

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