By Kelly Storom, Ntando Shabangu and Caryn Green
Since it was founded in 1988, Sibikwa Arts Centre has endeavoured to address the persisting reality of poverty, unemployment and inequality in communities across the country through arts and culture, promoting township communities’ vital role in preserving heritage, expressing cultural identity, and fostering community resilience. Artists in township communities often draw from rich traditions, blending them with contemporary influences to create vibrant and diverse forms of artistic expression. However, due to their socio-economic environment, which perpetuates issues of access and exclusion, township-based artists often face obstacles such as lack of funding, limited access to resources and training, and inadequate infrastructure that causes their economic exclusion from the mainstream economy.
The South African Cultural Observatory’s (SACO) 2022 report Economic Mapping of the Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa outlines not only the note-worthy economic value of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs), but its potential to address unemployment, precarity and poverty; indicating that the CCIs contributed R67 billion to the South African GDP in 2020. In addition, while the CCIs’ contribution to economic development is perceivably marginal, recent research considers that these industries are larger than they appear. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) found that upon closer observation, many sectors within the CCIs were much larger than what had been previously quantified, which is iterated in SACO’s 2022 report that reflects on the shortcomings of their research in the informal sector.
The Informal Economy
Informal operation and practice is the larger affect and consequence of limited access and resources for development. Some estimates suggest that a significant portion of South Africa’s artistic community operates informally, possibly ranging from 40% to 60%, or more. However, these figures can vary depending on the definitions used, the specific artistic sectors considered, and the methodologies of data collection. While the CCIs work towards growth, increased self-sufficiency, and sustainability, it is faced with an economic, political, and historical environment that does not enable this. As a result, creatives are more inclined to operate as freelancers and according to an online article by Akhona Nzuza associate professor at UNISA, “those in the sector are in fact encouraged to work informally and are deterred from directly paying tax”. Nzuza prefaces this with the assertion that “those operating in this sector do not have incentives to grow their small businesses, or develop the complexity of their offering, when the rare opportunity of well-paid temporary work comes.”
According to The World Bank, “the informal sector – labour and business that is hidden from monetary, regulatory, and institutional authorities – accounts for about a third of the GDP and 70% of employment in emerging markets and developing economies. While offering the advantage of employment flexibility in some economies, a large informal sector is associated with low productivity, reduced tax revenues, poor governance, excessive regulations, and poverty and income inequality. Moreover, firms in the formal sector that face informal competition are, on average, only three-quarters as productive as those who do not”.
Local Economic Development
90% of all businesses across the African continent are small businesses which are primarily ideated and perpetuated out of necessity, limiting the desire to scale, grow or innovate. These entrepreneurs often turn to entrepreneurship as a means of survival or to address pressing financial needs rather than being driven by opportunity, innovation or market demand. The Gauteng Township Economy Revitalisation Strategy: 2014 – 2019 and the Gauteng Township Economic Development Act (2022) aims to leverage and transform micro to small enterprises within the townships, stating that “government believes that township enterprises have a distinct and vital role to play in helping to create a vibrant, socially inclusive, labour-absorbing and growing economy”.
The Provincial Government recognizes the transformation of the township economy – through formalisation and strategic, legislative inclusion – as a crucial driver for the province’s economic development, aiming for township economies to contribute up to 30% of the province’s GDP by 2030. By capitalising on communities’ collective energy, providing infrastructure specifically for township economies, capacity building opportunities, and access to resources the Provincial Government’s ultimate outcome is to situate township communities as hubs for productive activities. A key strategy within these legislative frameworks, that considers the sparse and varied bases of knowledge and skill within the township, is that real economic impact is often achieved if township enterprises, based on their principles of cooperation and solidarity, are ‘clustered’ together to benefit from supply linkages and greater economies of scale. “Once the critical mass is achieved, there are opportunities for inter-trading, collective access to public, private and non-governmental procurement contracts and cost sharing of services, leading to further growth of township enterprises”. Furthermore, the strategic framework indicates that township entrepreneurs themselves do not produce most of the products and services traded, informing government’s objective to encourage township entrepreneurs to produce everything that is possible within and around the township space, given the infrastructure, skills and technology at their disposal.
The Entrepreneurial Development Landscape
The aforementioned legislative frameworks form part of – and are arguably motivated by global and national development agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals, African Union Agenda 2063, South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP), and the recently instated Government Ministry of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises; all of which indicate the need to promote higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation.
Thus, the training and development landscape has seen an influx of entrepreneurial development programmes afforded by government, corporates and civic organisations. These have made great strides in addressing economic development challenges, however, due to the lack of a multi-faceted and considered research-based approach, some of the overall intended outcomes of these initiatives have fallen short. This primarily because, while promoting entrepreneurship towards larger strategic development goals, there is a lack of focus on ensuring that business owners are implementing their learning and development with the necessary resources to optimize their operations for stability and growth. In addition, it must be considered, within this landscape, that while the call for entrepreneurial competency is beneficial to all, entrepreneurship is not a right fit for everyone and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs should be identified, cultivated and invested in.
To address this, it is proposed that training and development programmes should take on a wholistic approach while differentiating those for whom entrepreneurship is a viable and rewarding option from others who require the advancement of their professional capacity to navigate their industries. For professional development, key competencies include:
- Improved financial and business acumen,
- Increased exposure, participation and recognition in formal industry structures,
- Targeted professional engagement to build networks, and
- Ability to leverage their participation within the ecosystem.
To facilitate the advancement of opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, the same applies but requires more hands-on mentorship and investment that will better ensure their business’ potential to grow through income generating opportunities, create employment opportunities, and manage their sustainability. This includes:
- Access to capital investment,
- Hands on support in areas such as business management, financial literacy, marketing and technology adoption,
- Increased access to markets, and
- Support, mentorship and resources beyond the initial stages for sustainable growth and success.
The Sibikwa Arts Centre Uvuko Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship Incubator Programme
Sibikwa’s Uvuko Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship Incubator emerges from decades of capacity building and arts and culture centre development programmes in provinces across Southern Africa. The shift in the focus of the previous arts and culture learnerships to entrepreneurship incubators, was motivated by changes in economic, employment and enterprise landscapes, which, amplified by digital advancements and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, required creative and cultural entrepreneurs to develop and strengthen very particular skills and knowledge to navigate and overcome the different barriers to success, which include new ways of thinking about production, markets, income and partnership.
Focusing on micro enterprises founded and run by young people from township communities in the City of Ekurhuleni, the Uvuko programme promotes the connection of accredited training, networking and mentorship to business development, income generation and market opportunities to advance the capabilities of creative artists and cultural practitioners who are opportunity-driven; facilitating their establishment of viable and sustainable enterprise within the CCIs.
Since the establishment of the programme in 2022, two iterations have been delivered to expand the scope of and access to the creative industry and economy beyond major city spaces. In 2022, with the support of the Goethe Institut, participants successfully completed the programme and continue their professional journeys of developing their programming, generating income and investment for the perpetuity of their companies; providing excellent services and products to expanding markets. The 2023 cohort, supported by the Entrepreneurship Development Trust to complete the programme displayed visible progress in the management and development of theirs businesses: improving their administrative systems, enhancing their marketing strategies and several have increased their income generation.
Sibikwa believes that the last two iterations of the Uvuko Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship Incubator programme have built the foundation of the programme’s long term goal in its comprehensive and wholistic approach to programming and investment in each creative artist’s progress.