Government announces $1m venture capital to boost creative economy

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who represented Acting President Yemi Osinbajo (left) and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at a two-day creative industry financing conference in Lagos…yesterday

The Federal Government has announced a N1 million venture capital to boost the creative economy.Acting President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this yesterday at the opening of a creative industry financing conference in Lagos

Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said practitioners “don’t need direct government funding, but support to access the fund.”

He explained that the industry currently contributes about 1.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), adding that more could be done to actualise its potential of between four to five per cent.

Osinbajo also said there are plans to have tax breaks that would attract more investment in the industry, as well as interventionist schemes to boost the economy.The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the conference, which was jointly organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the Think Tank Media, is “to take the creative industry into a golden era of smooth access to short- and long-term financing.”

He said: “From my interactions with industry stakeholders since assuming office, one issue that has stuck out is the lack of access to financing. Instead of lamenting over this, we have decided to tackle the problem headlong, hence the decision to host this conference.

“I have no doubt that at the end of the series of events, we would be able to come out with the way forward that would surely boost the industry.”The minister stressed that 20 people, with each investing $50,000, are expected to make up the required amount, adding that five people had volunteered to invest $50,000 each.

He also expressed the hope that more investors would come, saying the $1million venture capital would provide the seed money needed for young and talented Nigerians to set up creative businesses.

Mohammed said: “All these efforts are geared towards transforming the industry into a creative economy, so that the country’s creative talents could create more jobs.”

Among the topics discussed at the two-day conference are “Government’s Role in Funding Creative Industry, “The Bank of Industry Experience,” “Fundamentals of Financing Film, Television and Music Production,” as well as “Film, Television and Digital Distribution.”