Africa’s Next Competitive Advantage: Cultural IP Structuring
Why creativity alone isn't enough — and how Africa can engineer ownership of its most undervalued asset class
The 20th century was defined by natural resources. The 21st will be defined by intangible ones. And nowhere is this more apparent than in Africa's global cultural rise.
Today, the continent's most influential exports are no longer limited to oil or cocoa. They are musical movements, cinematic stories, fashion trends, and sports icons. From Afrobeats and Nollywood to globally recognized athletes and cultural brands, Africa is shaping global narratives at an accelerating pace.
But behind this momentum lies a structural vulnerability: we are exporting cultural content while importing value extraction mechanisms.
African creativity is gaining global recognition, but without robust ownership structures around the underlying rights — whether in music, film, fashion, or sports — much of the economic upside is being captured elsewhere. Copyrights are poorly …