As creative industries develop across Africa, stronger intellectual property protection and enforcement frameworks are key to ensuring their continued growth.  The U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), hosted eight participants from Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria June 22 to July 3 through an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) to promote creative industry growth and support more robust intellectual property protection and enforcement in Africa.

Participants from Nigeria included Obi Asika, Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Arts & Culture; Co-founder of InkBlot Productions Zulu Oyibo; and Talent & Business Manager, YBNL Nation Entertainment, Alexander Okeke. Participants traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. policymakers and industry associations; Los Angeles to meet with industry leaders and professional guilds; and Atlanta to meet with production studios and local government.

Strong intellectual property protection and enforcement frameworks assure creative artists, inventors, industrial designers, and other rights holders that their works will be protected and that they will receive compensation for the use of their creations. Innovation, supported by a strong intellectual property protection and enforcement framework, can create and sustain jobs, generate higher wages across multiple integrated industries, and significantly grow an economy.

The IVLP visit builds upon the U.S. Department of State’s efforts since the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to support the growth of Africa’s creative economy.  Since the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the Department has hosted four creative ecosystem roundtables in Africa in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria to foster discussion on the importance of the creative industries and the support stronger intellectual property frameworks can provide. UNESCO, which published the first complete mapping of Africa’s film and audiovisual industries in 2021, supported the events.  The State Department also partnered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to host a fifth creative industry roundtable in Egypt in June.

The implementing partner for this IVLP was the Meridian International Center. For press inquiries, contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at ECA-Press@state.gov.