Creatives Connect Afrika: Bold statement for Africa’s creative economy, stakeholders
…As AfCFTA, Black Star, ATP debut festival in Accra
The ‘Africa Rising’ phenomenon cannot be at a better time than now as the continent prepares to showcase the best of its culture, fashion, music, film and tourism in a first-of-its-kind gathering.
From November 24–26, 2025, the continent will debut the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Forum and Festival on Tourism, Creatives & Cultural Industries.
The highly anticipated three-day event will be hosted in Accra, Ghana, under the theme “Creatives Connect Afrika”.
It is also an exciting development for Africa’s creative economy and creatives as the pioneering event, the first under the AfCFTA, will most importantly, offer veritable platform for the continent to engage in meaningful discussions, address barriers, and identify practical solutions to unleash the full potential of her tourism, creatives, and cultural industries.
Again, the event is promising, considering the calibre of the organisers: the AfCFTA Secretariat, Black Star Experience and African Tourism Partners (ATP).
While the AfCFTA Secretariat, established in 2020, administers and implements the AfCFTA Agreement, shaping Africa into a single market and positioning the creative industries as a driver of growth, jobs and cultural exchanges, the Black Star Experience, on the other hand, is a strategic initiative under the Office of the President of Ghana, designed to position the country as Africa’s leading cultural, tourism and creative hub. The African Tourism Partners is a Pan-African tourism advisory, strategy and investment facilitation firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Read also: One Nation Reggae Festival: Sierra Leone on global spotlight for music, culture, tourism
With all the above, Africa is in for an exciting festival this November.
Already, the three organisers have set out with pre-festival activities including the launch of the event across the continent starting with Ghana, the host of AfCFTA and the festival.
So far, there have been roadshows in Tamele, Kumasi and Accra, all in Ghana, while the Nigerian-leg of the roadshow took place on October 31, 2025, at Mövenpick Hotel Ikoyi, Lagos.
At the event, which was graced by Nigerian creative industry stakeholders, the organisers explained the rationale for the festival, the programme lineup, amid clearing the air on grey areas for the Nigerian audience.
In her opening remarks at the Lagos event, Emily Mburu-Ndoria, director, Trade in Services, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights, and
Digital Trade, AfCFTA, noted that the Nigerian launch is a milestone moment for all as tourism, creative and cultural sectors of Africa, which span film, music, fashion, design, digital content, hotels and restaurants, tour guides, tour operators and other tourism services, are not just industries.
“They are the heartbeat of our economies, the custodians of our heritage, the storytellers of our shared identity, and a driving force for inclusion and innovation,” Mburu-Ndoria said.
“They represent our past, reflect our present, and, most importantly, are shaping the future of this continent”.
Explaining the rationale for the focus on the creative industries, she noted that under the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Services, tourism and cultural services are among the sectors prioritized for progressive liberalisation. According to her, the above is no coincidence, as these sectors offer vast potential to contribute to economic growth, job creation, innovation, inclusion and social cohesion.
“They also serve as powerful bridges that connect Africa to itself, and to the world, through the universal languages of culture, creativity, and storytelling”.
Offering more reasons on AfCFTA’s focus on the creative industries, Mburu-Ndoria noted that Africa’s creative and cultural economy is one of the fastest growing in the world.
“Africa’s film, music, and fashion industries alone account for billions in potential revenue and millions of jobs for young people and women. Nollywood, South Africa’s film sector, the rise of fashion hubs in Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria, and the global impact of African music are testimony to the transformative power of these industries,” she noted.
Offering details of the upcoming festival, the AfCFTA director noted that the programmes are exciting and are designed with ambition and purpose. “It will feature panel conversations with policymakers, creatives, and investors.
“It will include exhibitions showcasing Africa’s film, music, and fashion. It will provide training and masterclasses for young entrepreneurs, as well as business matchmaking opportunities to foster partnerships and investments.
“It will celebrate our culture through fashion shows, concerts and various cultural performances,” she disclosed.
She also acknowledged partners in the festivals: Africa Tourism Partners and the Black Star Experience Secretariat, whose collaboration and vision, she noted, have been vital in bringing the festival to the point of actualization.
She also did noted forget the role of the development partners, private sector actors, and cultural practitioners, whose commitment and creativity will shape the journey of the festival forward.
Also speaking at Lagos event, Kwakye Donkor, CEO, African Tourism Partners, disclosed that ATP is partnering in the festival because of its passion of bringing the continent together despite the differences of her people and countries.
“We believe that if we pull that together, there is a lot that we can achieve as a continent,” Donkor insisted.
Instead of complaining about challenges, Donkor posited that Africans should look at their pockets of excellence and celebrate, and one of the key pockets of excellence in Africa, according to him, is the creative industry, hence the reason for the November festival to further amplify the sector.
“We live, we sleep, and we live creatively. When we are happy, we dance, when we are unhappy, we still dance.
“In Ghana, funerals become a celebration of life. In Nigeria, the same. Weddings are the same.
“But when these events are taking place, there is always the cameraman. After the cameraman, we see people dressed up, particularly our own men. It is an opportunity to show our fashion, whether we are happy or unhappy,” he said.
Donkor disclosed that the three pillars of: film, music, and fashion, permeate through our life on a daily basis, not only on the screen, while the cameras keep rolling.
On the reason for the collaboration, the ATP CEO noted: “What the AfCFTA and ourselves have come up to is to make sure that we amplify the impact and appreciate the people who are part of this process, who are making it, and making it bigger. And this is our soft power as Africans.
“And for that reason, we would like to work with you to make sure it happens”. Going down the memory lane, Donkor noted that the festival initiative started three years ago as part of ATP’s African Tourism Leadership Forum in Gaborone, Botswana, and has now, like a child, grown to become a full-fledged festival.
He expressed his excitement to witness the fruition of the idea into an initiative and now a festival, hence he has a reason to invite the Nigerian audience to Accra to also witness the festival actualize.
On the part of the Ghanaian government and people, the upcoming festival is worth every single support due to its huge benefits to the country and continent at large.
In his remarks at the launch, Rex Owusu Marfo, coordinator, The Black Star Experience, one of the three partners in the festival, disclosed that his organisation is the President of Ghana’s initiative, with a mandate to rebrand Ghana through culture, arts, and tourism.
According to Marfo, the partnership in the festival is timely as it alings with the mandate of the Black Star Experience.
“The strategic partnership between the Black Star Experience Secretariat and the AfCFTA Secretariat represents a landmark fusion of cultural influence and economic policy,” Marfo said.
The Black Star Experience, according to him, fits into the festival because of the overall objective of empowering Africa’s creative sector.
Speaking further, he noted that the collaboration seeks to transform the continent’s vast creative potential into tangible economic prosperity, leveraging the power of African artists.
On why he thinks the festival will be successful, he noted that his organisation is the organising body for the Black Star Experience, a prestigious and impactful centre based in Ghana, centred around African music, arts, and business. It draws a global diaspora audience and services as a powerful platform for networking, celebration, and economic engagement, hence Marfo assured that his outfit will work in collaboration with others to make the maiden edition of the festival a success.
Marfo, a copyright advocate, noted some of the benefits of the gathering to include: Formalising the informal and training a significant portion of Africa’s large informal sector into a formal, bankable economy.
It also included moving creatives from being solely artists to becoming savvy entrepreneurs who understand trade, finance, and intellectual property (I risks.
From the Nigerian end, Kingsley Uranta, CEO, Channels TV, Nigeria, commended the initiative, saying that is the platform Africa needs to grow, while Dare Art Alade, a Nigerian music icon and creative entrepreneur, applauded the organisers for the loudable initiative and assuring support.
Okorie Uguru, president, Association of Nigeria Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET); Emmanuel Ele, CEO, Six Regions Hotels; Victor Enwezor, a tour operator; and Lucky George, director, African Travel Commission Ghana, all spoke well about the festival and urged for its sustainability.
As the continent awaits the festival and the organisers put finishing touches to their preparations, AfCFTA hopes ro achieve four things at the end of the three-day event, according to Mburu-Ndoria.
They include: strengthening Africa’s integration agenda; providing capacity-building and skills development for filmmakers, designers, and musicians, equipping them to compete globally; facilitating investment and partnerships and celebrating Africa’s rich cultural diversity and creative excellence.
