Full Title: ‘One flower alone carries the wisdom of time, bouquets promise hope’ - Capacity-Building for Cultural Enterprises

It is increasingly clear, that authentic expressions of creativity– both traditional and innovative – need more than nurturing talent to exist.

Despite the wealth of talent and rich cultural heritage that exists in Sub-Saharan Africa across the whole range of cultural activities, the majority of African nations remain largely marginal players in the cultural industries sector. Large-scale cultural enterprises are few and far between, and a large number of microenterprises operate alongside SMEs, often occupying the lower ends of the value chain and fail to attain economic viability.

Numerous studies have stated the importance of the craft sector in employment and wealth creation but new research is needed to evaluate the impact of skills enhancement and enterprise development on social cohesion, community development, local identity and capacity building in the broadest sense. The available statistics focus primarily on the production and consumption of cultural goods that can be priced in the market. This perspective under-represents or completely excludes many of the cultural and social benefits. In fact the data may be said at present to be as much a process of discounting as of counting.

How does the design and development of cultural enterprise promote healthier, more productive and satisfying lifestyles?