Experts list conditions for supporting showbiz industry

The cream of Nigeria investment community, under the aegis of the Chartered Institute of STOCKBROKERS (CIS), on Thursday agreed on the need to support the nation’s entertainment industry for greater contribution to economic growth and development.
Lamenting a situation where the industry has been funded outside of the formal financial system stunted its growth they spoke of the need to give birth to a regulator for the entertainment industry to check the menace of piracy among others, just as operators must do more to raise its contribution to GDP above the current 1.4 per cent.

They agreed on the need for improved funding to guaranty better quality of films and music production with good content, but that the operators must make available reliable statistics to help planning, just as the capital market and the entertainment industry must understand themselves for the necessary synergy.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day annual STOCKBROKERS conference in Lagos, Director-General of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) applauded the Nigerian entertainment industry for being a good ambassador, helping to project the nation positively, at critical periods when she is hardly understood.

According to Oteh, “we have reputational deficit. The entertainment industry continues to project the country. The entertainment industry is an economically important sector even without (the necessary formal financial) support. It accounts for 1.4 per cent of GDP, provides lots of jobs… It is an industry that faces tremendous challenges which are nonetheless surmountable.

“There is the absence of a unified enabling law, regulation is important, with piracy, the traditional means of distribution has been abused. Content must now be digitalized, funding is a key area we can do better,” she said.
Continuing, Oteh recommended some funding models like asset-based lending, where banks in the U.S. have RAISED MONEYto fund Hollywood.

She also recommended another model called crowd funding, which has existed for over 200 years and used to finance the 2013 movie: “I wish were here,” just as she spoke of venture capitals listed on the exchange as another funding avenue.

For Albert Okumagba, President of the CIS in his welcome address, Nigeria’s entertainment industry has done considerable good for the economy with a media industry valued at $650 million, music industry worth $105 million and Nollywood at almost $590 million annual.

According to him, “it has been said that Nollywood employs more Nigerians than the government… the entertainment industry is rapidly evolving. The industry has strong potential to contribute significantly to the GDP of Nigeria, alongside other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.”
For this to happen, he agreed that proper structures and policies must be put in the right perspective to support the industry, adding that the conference is an opportunity for the entertainment industry to leverage on platforms provided by the capital market to realize its full potentials. This will then further expand the market and the Nigerian economy in general, he stressed.
Disu Holloway, Lagos State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola spoke of the need for the capital market players to understand the structure and workings of the entertainment industry. He added that the entry of the capital market into entertainment will bring about order and discipline in the industry thereby increasing the probability of investors earning returns on their investments.

See more at: Daily Independent