Picture that Nollywood is the world's largest film industry, in terms of the numbers of films produced. This sector has contributed millions of dollars to the Nigerian economy, and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Crucially, it is one of the sectors that was added to the Nigerian economy, enabling the Nigerian economy to skyrocket to a half a trillion dollars. The Nollywood industry has enabled the Nigerian culture to be exported to the rest of Africa, and beyond. Now, other African countries are learning from this, and are also actively encouraging their creative industry to grow.
Kenya has had Lupita Nyong'o blaze the international scene, with her Oscar for best supporting actress in the twelve years a slave drama. Tanzania's Diamond, Kenya's Sauti Sol and Churchill, Nigeria's P-square, 17 year old Congolese Rachel Mwanza, once a street child, today the first African recipient of the Berlin
Film Festival Best Actress award; South African singer Lira; or a range of African young literary champions like Ondjaki, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or NoViolet Bulawayo are doing great works for African creative scene.
In 2010, the contribution of the entertainment industry to the world was $2.2 trillion, yet Africa accounted for only 1 percent of this total. Africa's growth of the creative industry is curtailed by the under investment in this industry. For instance, in the US there are 40,000 movie theaters; India has 20,000; China 13,000; but the whole of Africa has less than 1,000 which accounts for 1 cinema per million people. Such gaps signify an untapped potential for growth. If Africa hopes to gain from this newly emerging industry, it has to realize that creativity is the new money and the creative industry could employ far much more people.
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