Mainstreaming “side events” — A call to arms for the “Orange Economy”

Side events seem like discourses on the fringes or margins rather than the mainstream, hence this article seeks to make the case for mainstreaming side events.

Orange — the new Black

In setting the context as to what the “Orange Economy” means, this summary by ConnectAmericas may well be the go to site. As documented on the site:

According to the book “The Orange Economy, an infinite opportunity”, written by Felipe Buitrago Restrepo and Iván Duque Márquez, and edited by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it is possible distinguish between creative goods (visual and performing arts, crafts, audiovisuals, design, new media, etc.) and creative services (architecture, culture and leisure, research and development, advertising, etc.).

The highlight continues thus, “In 2011, exports of creative goods and services reached 646 billion dollars; but services grew 70% faster than goods since these transactions are increasingly being made over the Internet.”

Africa to the World

So, at the CHOGM side event hosted by the University of Kigali in June 2022, guests included the honourable Minister of ICT (Rwanda), Paula Ingabire, alongside representation from the Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network (CBWN), GSMA and Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) among others.

In my presentation I unpacked the contents of my recently published book “The Creative Industries and International Business Development in Africa,” which takes an unorthodox approach to showcasing the trends and challenges of the contemporary creative economy with a view to positioning the sector for a global audience.

Drawing upon the categorisations of the Creative Industries Federation, the book interrogates, and highlights, the challenges, and opportunities of the creative industries in Africa.

Discussions across the chapters document the changing landscape of the sector, capturing insights from the global value chain to everything digital — from arts to publishing, fashion, film and music production and distribution. Further insights are discussed around recent events such as the take-off of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the exit of Britain from the EU — with the latter event reinvigorating the Commonwealth Agenda and renewed interest in Africa’s creative industries.

Closing thoughts

With a “side event” hosting thought leaders from a former Vice Chancellor to a government Minister, and other stakeholders of global repute, it is obvious that the misnomer or misrepresentation of “side” as “fringe” may well be misleading.