For the last three years, Fidele Habineza, a 25-year-old photographer and graphic designer, has been involved in the creative industry, albeit with uncertainty.

As things stand, there is no regulatory framework in his line of work to reduce his vulnerability to the market forces or support structures to assist him get access to finances among other services.

This, Habineza said, had turned activities in the creative industry into hobbies as opposed to reliable revenue generation activities.

However, the status quo is likely to change for Habineza and his colleagues following the development of a cultural policy that aims to harmonise and guide cultural initiatives in the country to promote the Rwandan creative industry.

The acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Culture, Emmanuel Bugingo, told The New Times that the government’s move was due to the role of culture as a foundation of the development of the creative industry.

Bugingo said this at the sidelines of the official opening of a two-day stakeholder workshop bringing together close to 100 players from the Rwandan and the Swedish creative industry at Innovation Village at the rooftop of Kigali public library.

The forum, which kicked off in Kigali yesterday, seeks to create interaction opportunities for players in the creative industry from the two countries with an overall aim to increase its role in national development.

The forum, dubbed "Sweden@Rwanda,” is organised by the Swedish Institute and the Embassy of Sweden in Kigali.

Bugingo said the government hopes the sector can contribute towards achieving goals highlighted in the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II).

"If you look at the film industry, fine art, among others, they employ many people and contribute to our EDPRS II targets of creating at least 200,000 off-farm jobs every year,” Bugingo said.

Policy impact

He said the creative industry requires support to allow talented people to further develop skills and generate income through their various skills.

"In the process of implementation of the policy we hope to create confidence in talented people and reduce their vulnerability in the market and fully exploit their skills to transform their creativity into business,” he added.

Among the changes the regulatory framework policy seeks to create is orienting all interventions to allow people in the industry access finance, get recommendations and get training to increase their knowledge as well as get a platform to network with other people around the world.

Other stakeholders on the policy include; ministries of Trade and Industry, Education, Youth and ICT, the private sector, civil society, among others.

Lamin Manneh, the United Nations resident coordinator, said Rwanda’s creative industry had increasingly grown, laying ground for innovation.

Manneh said culture, creativity and development would be included in the new global development framework being outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals to be launched today in New York, US.

The Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Sweden in Rwanda, Maria Håkansson, said the initiative by the two countries was based on an understanding that the two countries were small but with big growth ambitions necessitating the pursuit of multiple opportunities.

Sweden’s creative industry is estimated to have a contribution of about 5 per cent to Gross Domestic Product and creating about 200,000 jobs.

"Sweden and Rwanda are both small countries, and we share the ambition and desire to grow our creative industries to play a big role in the economy and contribute to job creation and exports,” Håkansson said.

"We wish to broaden the bilateral relations and use this opportunity for creative stakeholders from both countries to learn from and inspire each other, form collaboration and take action toward building a stronger creative industries.”

Tongai Maramba, the chief executive of Tigo Rwanda, one of the three telecoms in the country, said by his firm’s experience using ideas from the creative industry service providers would better understand their clients and come up with competitive products and services.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw