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ChallENgES fOr afriCaNwOmEN ENtrEPrENEUrS iN thE PErfOrmiNg artS aNd dESigNEr faShiON SECtOrS
Challenges for Africanwomen
entrepreneurs in the
performing arts and designer
fashion sectors
Yarri Kamara
Introduction
The cultural and creative industries in sub-Saharan Africa in
recent years have captured the attention of policy-makers
who are increasingly aware of their real and potential
contribution to economic growth and employment. These
industries provide a conduit for creating employment and
generating income for women, as well as giving women
the space for creative expression; space that is not always
afforded to women in sub-Saharan African societies.
While there have been numerous women’s economic
empowerment initiatives established in recent decades in
Africa and, more recently, studies and initiatives in support
of African cultural entrepreneurship, few have specically
addressed women cultural entrepreneurs in Africa.
This paper focuses on the challenges that African
women cultural entrepreneurs face in the performing arts
sector – notably theatre, dance and music – and in the
designer fashion sector. The rationale for focusing on the
performing arts sector is double. Firstly, the participation
of African women in the performing arts sector is relatively
low. This is doubly problematic as it means that the
cultural economies of these arts are missing out on the
potential contribution of women, but also importantly that
cultural and creative expression in these arts is excluding
a signicant part of humanity. It is therefore important
to understand what factors are hindering women’s
participation in the performing arts. Secondly, the
performing arts sectors are notoriously time-intensive and
participation in these arts is often very public, exposing one
more acutely to any existing social stigma. These sectors
may thus present some special challenges that women
in other sectors do not face. The designer fashion sector,
on the other hand, tends to be dominated by women in
most African countries. It was chosen as a focus for this
study because there has been a recent explosion in the
African designer fashion sector118 which is fast-growing
and gaining world-wide renown to the extent that African
designers have now dressed the First Lady of the United
States, Michelle Obama (Ouédraogo, 2012). Unlike the
crafts sector, which is another cultural sector with strong
feminine participation and in which there are several
initiatives targeting specically craftswomen, few studies
118 Although the designer fashion sector is strictly speaking a
creative industry sector rather than a cultural industry sector, the
term ‘cultural’ will be used in reference to this sector, in order to
employ one all-encompassing term for the sectors that are the
focus of this paper.
have focused yet on African fashion, nor have there been
many support initiatives for this sector.
A cultural entrepreneur, for the purposes of this paper,
is dened as a cultural operator who through his/her
activities creates direct employment opportunities for
others through a for-prot or non-prot entity. As such,
a choreographer who establishes a dance company
is an entrepreneur. An actor who creates a non-prot
association to use theatre to educate and sensitize rural
populations on various social issues is an entrepreneur.
A solo artist who recruits and pays musicians is an
entrepreneur. And of course, a designer who establishes
a fashion house is clearly a cultural entrepreneur. Beyond
the entrepreneurs who have created entities, women in
leadership positions – choreographers, theatre directors
and creative directors who have not created their own
companies or fashion houses - have special signicance
in the cultural sector as they help shape the artistic
and creative gender-balance in their respective areas.
Female directors may create more challenging roles for
women, female choreographers may feature more female
dancers, female music promoters may work with more
female musicians, and so on.
The cultural industries in Africa are for the most part at an
early stage of development and are characterized by low
specialization of tasks, that is, the same cultural actor is
involved in several if not all parts of the value chain, from
creation to dissemination and promotion. In this context,
cultural entrepreneurs and those in leadership positions
often start out as creators (songwriters, playwrights, etc.)
or performers. Therefore, if there are general obstacles
blocking women’s participation in a particular art, then
by extension there are going to be fewer women cultural
entrepreneurs in that area. It is thus important to undertake
an analysis on two levels in order to understand rst, what
are the factors preventing greater participation of women
in the cultural sector in question, and secondly what are
the challenges faced by women cultural entrepreneurs.
This paper seeks to examine these two levels in order
to provide guidance to policy-makers and agencies
interested in supporting women in the theatre, dance,
music and designer fashion sectors in sub-Saharan
Africa. There is little existing literature on African women
in the arts, therefore this paper relies primarily on
feedback received from 61 cultural operators through
an email survey and interviews carried out in October
2013. The survey primarily aimed at collecting ‘voices
from the eld’, so as to better understand some of the
Fatoumata Diawara.
© Renee Missel
Regional focus: Africa
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issues and concerns in the sectors. It was not designed
to be a representative statistical survey, and the data
reported here should not be taken to be representative
of the African cultural sectors covered. The rst section
of the paper briey presents the characteristics of the
survey respondents. An examination of the participation
of women in the performing arts and designer fashion
sectors follows. The obstacles to women’s participation
are then reviewed before moving on to an analysis of
women’s entrepreneurship in the performing arts and
designer fashion.
The survey
characteristics
Respondents to the survey included 35 women and 26
men, totalling 61 respondents. The men were probed
only on their perception of the participation of women
in their sector – numbers, performance, obstacles to
their participation and potential support measures that
could be taken to improve the situation. Women were
questioned on the above as well as on their education
and training, successful or unsuccessful attempts at
cultural enterprise creation and the obstacles they faced
in running their enterprises. All respondents had the
option of remaining anonymous.
Responses were received from over 20 African countries,
and the distribution between English-speaking Africa and
French-speaking Africa was quite even. In terms of activity,
there was a strong representation of theatre practitioners
among respondents. 30 respondents hailed from this
sector, 10 from the dance sector, 10 from the fashion
sector, seven from the music sector and a further four
were involved in two or all three areas of the performing
arts. The respondents had a high level of professionalism
in the arts, with the cultural activity being the sole
professional activity and source of income for more
than 75 per cent of the women and only three women
received less than 50 per cent of their income from their
art. This level of professionalism is certainly much higher
than that which actually prevails in the sector, especially
if practitioners from rural areas are also considered.
However, the perceptions of this subset of professionals
is of particular interest because they represent in a sense
what the cultural sector wants to achieve – cultural
practitioners who can earn a living from their art. Several
respondents also had international careers, with some
based in France, the US and the Netherlands.
Respondents intervened in all main functions of the
cultural value chain, with the most common functions
exerted by women being (in order of importance)
direction, performance, administrative support and
creation. There were fewer women in festival coordination
and teaching, functions much more frequently exerted
by the male respondents. Women also did not frequently
intervene in the nance, production or distribution
functions, nor technical support. Most respondents were
creative workers, albeit also occupying support functions,
and there were few purely nance and production,
administrative or technical workers among respondents.
Women’s participation
in the performing arts and
designer fashion
Performing arts
Respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 5
the relative number of women present in their cultural
sector, 1 being a lot fewer women than men and 5 being
a lot more women than men. More than 75 per cent of
performing arts practitioners felt that there were fewer or
a lot fewer women than men, with roughly 25 per cent
of performing arts practitioners choosing the response ‘a
lot fewer women’. Only 14 per cent of respondents felt
that there were as many women as men and only 8 per
cent (or 4 respondents) felt there were more or a lot more
women than men.
These results are not surprising and corroborate ndings
in other studies, such as the report entitled ‘Women’s
Voices and African Theatre’, published in 2003 by the
non-prot organization Article 19, which notes that there
are several social barriers to the participation of African
women in theatre. Professional dance in Africa, in contrast
to dance in the West, is largely dominated by men, with
very few female dancers – indeed sometimes female
dance roles in African contemporary dance performances
are given to Western dancers. Paradoxically, however,
several of the pioneers of African contemporary dance are
women – Germaine Acogny, Irène Tassembedo, Robin
Orlyn, the late Beatrice Kombe-Gnapa, Kettly Noël, and
so on – however their inuence has not yet been able to
reverse the imbalance between male and female dancers.
In music, while most respondents feel that there are as
many women performers as male performers, they also
highlight the absence of women solo artists and women
in the other functions of the music sector – tour agents,
promoters, producers, and so on. Music Crossroads,
a programme in several Southern African countries
to promote youth interest in music and support young
musicians in launching professional music careers, has
had difculties attracting young women to the programme
(Chua, 2011).
In terms of women in leadership positions – directors,
choreographers, band leaders or solo artists, music
promoters and agency owners – about 15 per cent of
performing arts practitioners feel that there are several
women leaders in their eld, 30 per cent that there are
some, and slightly more than 50 per cent that there are
only very few. Only one respondent, from Malawi felt that
there are no women leaders in his eld. One observer
from Burkina Faso notes:
Women are often in the background with respect to
men. In music bands, they are often back-up singers;
there are few who play instruments. In theatre and
dance companies, there are very few directors or
choreographers. Women often occupy secondary
roles, even though recently they are becoming
more and more active in [cultural] administration….
In festival organization, women are rarely involved in
decision-making, they just execute decisionstaken.
–David, cultural administrator, Burkina Faso
Some women are optimistic about the advancement of
women as leaders in their sector.
They are now women who dare, and for some it is
working out.
– Lauryathe, theatre practitioner, Republic of Congo/
France
Things are going well in Cameroon, women are taking
their place – festival directors, company directors,
choreographers – despite the lack of funds.
– Massan, theatre practitioner, Cameroon
In terms of the quality of women’s participation in the
various cultural sectors, men practitioners were asked
how they judged the work of women in their sector with
respect to that of their male counterparts. Sixty per cent
considered the work of women as good as or better than
the work of most men. Only 8 per cent felt that women’s
work was poor, that is, denitely not as good as men’s
work in the sector. Some of the obstacles to better quality
work by women mentioned by men included less time
for rehearsals and less access to training than male
counterparts. Despite their generally positive evaluation of
women’s performance, about half the men in the survey
declare working only 50 per cent or less of their time with
women in their eld. Of course the fact there are fewer
women in the eld explains some or all of this. But it could
also be indicative of some underlying discrimination.
Designer fashion
Most respondents from the fashion sector were women,
which is in line with the dominant view that there are at
least as many women as men, if not more than men, in
this sector. Practitioners remark that in the sector, tailors
tend to be men but the designers are mostly women.
Furthermore, there are also several marginalized or
rural women involved in the production chain doing, for
example, specialized bead work. Eight out of the ten
respondents from this sector also felt that there were
several or some women in leadership positions in the
industry. Only two felt that there were just a few women
leaders.
Some in the industry remark that it is men who face
the greater social barriers to enter a sector considered
feminine by several Africans. The strong presence of
openly homosexual designers in the industry in Europe
and North America further creates negative connotations
for African men involved in fashion, due to existing punitive
laws on homosexuality in some African countries.
Some observers of the highly developed fashion industry
in Europe and North America note that even though the
sector there is predominantly female, women occupy only
a third of the top positions in the industry and the club of
artistic directors of the world’s top fashion houses is a
surprisingly male club (Shields, 2009). Therefore, as the
fashion industry grows in Africa, attention may need to be
given to preserving an equitable representation of women
in the leadership of the sector to ensure that the trend
observed elsewhere does not occur in Africa.
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Obstacles to women’s
participation
Performing arts
Women and men respondents were asked what they
consider to be obstacles to women’s participation in their
sector and, among these, which obstacle they judged
as being the key one. In the performing arts, the most
frequently cited obstacles by all respondents were the
difculty of combining domestic responsibilities with the
long or irregular working hours of their profession (71%
of all respondents), social stigma associated with the
cultural activity (67% of respondents), lack of skills or
training (55% of respondents) and lack of funding (53% of
respondents) – see Figure2. Women respondents also
gave considerable importance to discrimination from men
and sexual harassment as obstacles.
When asked which of the different obstacles was the
main obstacle, overall most respondents indicated
social stigma (Figure 3). However, women respondents
indicated domestic responsibilities more often as the
main obstacle – 32 per cent of women said this was the
key obstacle as opposed to only 14 per cent of men.
Lack of funding was indicated as the main obstacle by
16 per cent of all respondents and 21 per cent of women
respondents respectively.
Figure 3. Key obstacle to women’s participation in the performing arts sector in Africa
Women respondents onlyAll respondents
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Social stigma associated with cultural activity
Domestic responsibilities
Lack of funding
Figure 2. Obstacles to women’s participation in the performing arts sector in Africa
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Women respondents onlyAll respondents
Domestic responsibilities
Social stigma associated with cultural activity
Lack of skills or training
Lack of funding
Lack of initiative or self-confidence
Discrimination from men and harassment
Lack of role models
Demands of touring
Some of the main obstacles cited are examined in further
detail below.
Domestic responsibilities and childcare
Studies on women’s economic empowerment have
highlighted the relative lack of time that women have to
dedicate to economic activity due to the disproportionate
burden they assume for domestic tasks and childcare.119
The term ‘double work-day’ has been coined to express
the implication of this constraint for women. The
performing arts sectors are notoriously time-intensive –
albeit sometimes in sporadic spurts interspersed with
periods of unemployment for the underemployed – and a
lot of work takes place at night or even in the early morning
hours.120 The difculties of reconciling domestic and
childcare responsibilities are therefore all the greater for
women in the performing arts. And because of traditional
patriarchal division of tasks, African women performing
arts practitioners generally have an even greater burden
of domestic responsibilities than their colleagues in the
developed world. To give a vivid illustration the implications
of this situation: a professional dancer in training may have
to wash by hand all the laundry of a large household before
heading to six hours of physically gruelling dance training.
In a survey carried out in Zimbabwe as part of the ‘Women’s
Voices and African Theatre’ study (Article 19, 2003) almost
all survey respondents highlighted the difculties that
women in the theatre face due to their domestic workload,
119 See for instance OECD (2004) and CIPE (2011).
120 In an extreme example from the theatre sector, one male director
in Burkina Faso reportedly set rehearsal hours from 10pm to
2am in order to minimize distractions from competing activities
for himself and his performers, who included women.
leading many women to abandon their work in theatre once
married. The study noted that those that continue often
have less time to dedicate to rehearsal, training and so on,
and so may not attain the same level of professionalism as
their male counterparts.
As regards specically childcare, for African working
mothers this burden is often mitigated by extended family
networks as well as by relatively easy access to nannies
as compared to developed regions of the world. However,
female artists do not always have access to such support.
Firstly, because artists with low pay may not be able to
afford even the relatively inexpensive childcare options
available. Secondly, because families who may not approve
of the artist’s choice of profession may withhold support
with childcare as one survey respondent noted:
At the beginning [when my child was born] it was very
difcult seeing as my family had told me to make a
choice. And for me it was art that won.
– Annie, dance and theatre practitioner, Cameroon
Of the 27 women in performing arts surveyed, almost
two-thirds were mothers, half of whom have at least two
children. All women, including those without children, were
asked how difcult they thought it was combining work
in their eld with childcare. 14 per cent declared it ‘very
difcult’, 62 per cent ‘difcult’ and 24 per cent ‘not difcult’.
Women respondents from the dance sector did not tend
to nd having children particularly difcult compared with
women from other sectors despite the special challenges
that pregnancy and parenthood can pose to a dancer.
The study ‘Pregnancy and Parenthood – the Dancer’s
Perspective’ (Vincent Dance Theatre, 2009) undertaken
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in the UK, reported that dancers there felt that combining
their career with motherhood represented an enormous
challenge, describing feelings of insecurity resulting from
physical changes caused by pregnancy and birth and
concern as to how their career would affect their children.
Dance, like athletics, is dependent on the physical form of
the performer, and unlike other art forms it is difcult for
a dancer to attain professional prociency at a later age.
Continuing to dance during one’s 20s and 30s is thus
essential to the career of a dancer, and to a large extent,
to that of a choreographer as the latter tend to become
professionally established only after several years of
experience as dancers. African women dancers responding
to this study thus tended to highlight the importance of
dancers making motherhood a conscious choice with
judicious timing: either very early on in their career when
they are still at their physical peak and can catch up or
later on once their career becomes more established. Both
women and men survey respondents bemoaned frequent
unplanned pregnancies among dancers that lead women
to abandon the career.
Some of the reections that women shared on motherhood
and their profession in the arts are presented below.
I was lucky as I started work in the arts when my
children were already a bit big and they could bathe
themselves in my absence. I just took care to prepare
their meals and I did not [hand]wash clothes everyday,
so it was not so difcult to reconcile the two.
– Massan, theatre practitioner, Cameroon
As a musician, your music project is already your child.
And like a child, it grows. If your project has had time
to grow and mature before having a child then it should
not be too difcult to combine the two. In fact as a
band leader, you will be well prepared for motherhood,
as several aspects of that work prepare you to manage
family life. If however you try to launch your music
career at the same time as having children it can be
extremely complicated. Fatou, musician, Mali/France
It is not the children that are the problem. It’s the
husbands. If you have a supportive husband, it’s ne. –
Kettly, choreographer, Haiti/Mali
Social stigma
The performing arts are tainted by very strong social
stigma in Africa. While the stigma applies to both sexes
it is particularly strong for women. Survey respondents
complain that women dancers, actresses and musicians
are often labelled by society as sexually immoral and
assimilated to prostitutes and therefore undesirable for
marriage (see also for instance Article 19, 2003). At the
same time, survey respondents note that in African
societies there is strong pressure on women to get married
and have children, and a lot of women themselves desire
strongly this outcome. The weight of the stigma means
therefore that few women dare to enter the arts and among
those who do, several abandon the performing arts once
they decide to settle down and have a family. Practitioners
report that even male artists exert social pressures on their
companions to abandon their art: ‘no [male] dancer wants
to marry a [female] dancer,’ observes a choreographer. It
is perhaps telling that more male respondents than female
respondents in the survey considered social stigma as the
number one obstacle: 45 per cent of men as opposed to
21 per cent of women.
Getting married and having children is very important
for young women as it allows them to be respected
and considered by society. Yet people in the culture
sector, on the basis of stereotypes, are considered as
not being serious and sentimentally instable. This social
stigma blocks women’s participation.
– David, cultural administrator, Burkina Faso
Tradition and religion are factors that have a very strong
inuence on women here.
– Léonard, theatre practitioner, Togo
A report on theatre in Mali (Article 19, 2003) noted also that
audiences tend to confuse the character on stage with the
character of the performer and as women are frequently
cast in the roles of sex objects in plays predominantly
written by men, the negative connotations burdened on
female actresses become even stronger. In some countries
traditional art forms that preceded the modern performing
arts may also have had restrictions on the participation of
women. For example, the above-mentioned report explains
that in the traditional drama satire, Koteba, in Mali, only
men could be actors, and women’s roles were played by
men dressed as women. It was only with the reinstatement
of the Institute of Arts in 1974 that women were allowed to
perform on stage.
Women thus have to face even greater social pressure
than men in choosing to make the performing arts their
career choice. Unfortunately those that do take the leap
are often confronted with problems of discrimination and
sexual harassment as we will see below.
Sexual discrimination and harassment
More than half of the women surveyed considered
discrimination or sexual harassment by men an obstacle
to women’s participation in their sector. On a day-to-day
level, discrimination may consist in men expecting women
colleagues to clean up their dishes after common meals
during rehearsals. On a more problematic level, survey
respondents speak of the reluctance or outright refusal of
some men to be directed by a woman. Another study on
theatre in Zimbabwe (Article 19, 2003) notes that fear that
women colleagues will become pregnant and abandon the
profession can lead to them being passed up for training
opportunities overseas:
If a person is to be chosen for overseas training, it
always has to be a man, because women easily fall
pregnant [and] there will be no continuity and the
capacity acquired will not be used.
– Theatre practitioner, Zimbabwe
The phenomenon of sexual harassment is decried,
sometimes in veiled language, by the survey respondents
and appears to be a great source of frustration for women
in the sector.
There are a lot of unhealthy situations that women
artists sometimes face, and that discourages a lot in
the sector.
There are few women because the woman artist is badly
regarded by society. She is considered debauched and
frivolous. Even worse, the men in the sector who are
supposed to offer support to women artists do nothing
but abuse them by dangling fallacious promises, such
as trips, programming and dissemination of their work.
As a woman, it is difcult to deal with the whims of
some men who blackmail you before helping you or
giving you honest responses. It’s complicated!
We men, we don’t make things easy for women in our
sector. They are always considered by us as cakes to
be shared out.
Besides outright sexual harassment and abuse of power
by men, sector insiders warn that a woman also has
to arm herself against a more subtle risk. Given the low
presence of women in the performing arts and the intensity
involved in the work, particularly while on tour, some survey
respondents note that it can be tempting to start romantic
relations with work colleagues. Women in the profession,
as well as some men themselves, warn particularly against
this as they feel that it causes women, especially those in
leadership positions, to lose credibility in of the eyes of their
male colleagues.
While touring you are often the only woman among
a bunch of men and you can be touring for long
periods… Women must absolutely keep themselves
apart. Relationships within a band are extremely
difcult to manage. That is why some bands prefer to
be all male. – Fatou, musician, Mali/France
Lack of funding
Lack of funding is a notorious constraint in the arts, as
it is in entrepreneurship. Women respondents in the
survey tended to give greater importance to the funding
constraint than their male counterparts, indicating that
there are several women in the sector who would like to
launch initiatives and feel inhibited by lack of funds. The
desire to have greater access to funding is also a desire to
gain independence from men who tend to hold the purse
strings in the sector.
Better access to grants would help reduce the
manipulation of women that is very present. It is
humiliating and frustrating! It is mostly men who are
in the good positions, and so that’s where the money
comes from. We should not be at the mercy of macho,
incompetent and unprofessional men.
– Laury, theatre practitioner, Republic of Congo
Lack of skills and role models and low
self-condence
Women in the survey felt that it was common for African
women to lack self-condence as a result of the low
status that is accorded to them in society. One established
choreographer laments that she sees women come through
her school who, simply in their way of carrying themselves,
apologize for existing. Another male choreographer notes
that there are many excellent women traditional dancers,
but because they do not believe in themselves they do not
dare make dance a career.
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Aside from the general societal context in Africa that may
lower some women’s condence, there are also some
specic sector issues that can have a negative effect. As
we have seen above, women have less time to dedicate to
their art than men and must also in several cases go against
societal norms and pressures to exert their art, which can
result in a loss of support from their families. They may as a
consequence have less access to training in their eld and
therefore lack the condence of their better trained male
or female counterparts. As there are fewer women in the
performing arts, women have fewer role models who could
inspire belief in their own capabilities.
Survey respondents from the music sector note that one
particular skill that African women often lack and that may
sap their condence is the ability to play instruments. This
places obstacles to their becoming successful solo artists
or bandleaders as will be examined below later in the
section `Gender restrictions within industry`.
In theatre, one practitioner highlighted a specic
issue concerning theatrical texts. These texts, written
predominantly by male playwrights, have fewer roles for
women than for men, and the roles tend to be for young
women, whereas male roles cover all age groups. There
are thus fewer work opportunities for female actors; this
can push some women to give up on the profession faster
than their male colleagues would.
Designer fashion
Women in the fashion sector tend to face few gender-
specic obstacles. Though it also an intensive profession,
particularly for those running fashion houses, it can be
easier to keep regular work hours in this sector than in the
performing arts.
Domestic responsibilities and childcare
Some in the industry feel it is difcult to combine domestic
and childcare responsibilities with their profession, citing
the frequency of evening events that one has to attend to
as being particularly problematic.
Social stigma
While some stigma exists around the sector, it is based
on the perception of the sector as being one for school
drop-outs, and designers remark that in some African
countries, until recent years, they were often referred
to as ‘tailors’ rather than as designers. Gender-based
stigma in this sector, as previously mentioned, weighs
against men’s participation rather than women’s.
Lack of funding
The main obstacle to women’s participation highlighted
by practitioners is one that is sector-wide affecting both
men and women more or less equally: lack of funding.
It is the perception of most women respondents that
lack of self-condence is not a problem for women in
the sector. As one designer in Kenya puts it, ‘They are
condent, assertive and skilled.’ Situations, however,
may differ according to country contexts,and one male
designer and fashion award founder in South Africa feels
that women in the sector are lacking in condence.
It all starts with self-belief and the ingrained
perceptions discouraging women to not just design
but start their own labels still persist. As such, in my
opinion this is the constraint stopping them having
as robust an attitude as they could have regarding
starting their own businesses.
– Fashion designer, South Africa
Women’s entrepreneurship
in the performing arts and
designer fashion
Three-quarters of women surveyed were currently running
cultural enterprises (according to the large denition given
in the introduction). Roughly another 20 per cent had
attempted to launch an enterprise in the past, and only
10 per cent had never taken any entrepreneurial initiative.
The survey sample is thus a good source of information
for identifying additional obstacles that women face when
they want to go a step further and set up enterprises
in their sector. Due to the smaller number of relevant
respondents, this section will deal with the performing
arts and fashion sectors together.
Eighteen entrepreneurs hailed from the performing arts
sector and seven from the fashion sector. About two-
thirds of the entrepreneurs had at least some post-
secondary education or a university level diploma. 70 per
cent of the entrepreneurs in the survey had taken short-
term workshops lasting less than one year in their cultural
eld, but only 39 per cent had undertaken long-term
professional training in their eld (i.e. diploma or certicate
courses lasting more than one year). Often the long-term
professional training had taken place outside of Africa.
More than half had benetted from either apprenticeship
or mentoring in informal or formal settings. Most
entrepreneurs seem to feel that their training has prepared
them as well as, or even better, than most male peers in
their eld (this is also true for the non entrepreneurs in the
sample). Only two reported feeling unprepared.
Types of enterprises
The enterprises run by the women in the sample have
existed on average for eight years.121 The enterprises
in the performing arts range from outright businesses
– a music management business – to performing arts
companies, bands, festivals and to non-prot associations
with social or artistic objectives. Almost 70 per cent of the
entrepreneurs in the sample have launched more than
one enterprise. Often the rst enterprise is a performing
arts company or a fashion house and then after some
years the entrepreneur launches an endeavour that
serves the wider sector – a festival, a professional training
school or an industry association to defend the interests
of the sector or specically of women in the sector. In
some cases, entrepreneurs have launched a prot-
making entity to generate income for their less protable
artistic endeavour. A lot of the established artists in their
sector have launched three or even four enterprises.122
Irène Tassembédo, a world renowned choreographer
in Burkina Faso for example established her dance
company in 1987, her dance school École Internationale
121 It should be noted, however, that the survey did not collect
any information on the vitality of the existing enterprises. Some
of them might be inactive and therefore the average number
of years of existence is not necessarily an indicator of the
sustainability and the health of the cultural enterprises.
122 This calls to mind ndings on African entrepreneurship
that indicate that African entrepreneurs on average run six
businesses. A phenomenon that some business analysts say is
not necessarily negative. See http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/03/what-
africas-entrepreneurs-can/
Lanre da Silva in her studio.
© Lanre da-silva Ajayi
119118
ChaPtEr 3: CrEatiVity ChallENgES fOr afriCaNwOmEN ENtrEPrENEUrS iN thE PErfOrmiNg artS aNd dESigNEr faShiON SECtOrS
de Danse Irène Tassembedo in 2009, a restaurant with
live performance in 2009 to raise money for the school but
which subsequently had to close, and in 2012 launched
the Festival International de Danse de Ouagadougou.
Motivation for starting an enterprise
Women cultural entrepreneurs are strongly driven by
a desire to contribute to the development their sector.
88 per cent of entrepreneurs cited this among the two
key reasons for launching their enterprises. About half
of the entrepreneurs were also motivated by the desire
to realize their potential or create work opportunities not
available to them by investing in their own endeavour. In
the performing arts, this sometimes can be understood
as women seeking to make their own space in a scene
dominated by men. In the fashion sector, the nascent
state of the sector pushed some fashion workers to
launch their own business after their studies in fashion
as there were no other work opportunities for them in
their country. Of those in the performing arts, often a very
high level of creative energy pushed the women to seek
leadership positions (choreographer, bandleader and so
on) and in some cases launch an enterprise.
I worked in theatre groups and bands led by others
before. But I was not at ease. I felt I was only using 20
per cent of my energy. So in the end I decided to put
all my energy into an endeavour of my own.
– Fatou, musician, Mali/France
About a quarter of the entrepreneurs reported the desire
to pursue a market opportunity as a main motivation,
and this was a stronger motivator among fashion
entrepreneurs than performing arts entrepreneurs, the
market for performing arts being less visible and not
subject to normal market rules.123 Slightly less than
a quarter also cited as a key motivator the desire to
generate income for themselves. The acquisition of skills
and competencies through training also gave some
entrepreneurs the condence to launch an enterprise.
Obstacles faced by entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurs were questioned about the main
obstacles they had to overcome to launch their enterprise
and the main challenges they face for the survival and the
development of their enterprise.
123 In performing arts demand is often not expressed and supply
creates its own demand through audience education and
development. See, for example, Towse (2010) or Kamara
(2004) for discussions on the market specicities of the cultural
industries.
Lack of funding
For both start-up and development, nding funds
is the most frequently cited obstacle (Figure 5) and
funding becomes an even greater constraint once the
enterprise is launched. While some types of enterprises
(e.g. associations and performing arts companies) have
minimal start-up costs, others such as professional
schools and festivals need to pay for space and meet
personnel costs to get started. And of course the
associations and companies with low start-up costs will
need funds to implement projects and create productions
once they are established.
Fashion house founders need to be able to make at
least a minimal investment in equipment and fabric to
get started, though some are able to nance these costs
themselves or with help of their family networks. Funding
becomes more critical for business development, as
acquiring visibility through prime commercial space and
a top-quality website is a key prerequisite for growth, and
this requires signicant funds. Survey respondents also
note that good quality fabric and clothing nishings are
difcult to nd on the African continent and when available
can be extremely expensive.
Start-up or development costs could be met with loan
funding, however, a 2000 Banking on Culture report
(Hackett et al., 2000) on cultural enterprises in the
European Union notes access to loans for cultural
enterprises is limited, for reasons related both to supply
and demand. Demand for loans can be expected to be
higher in the fashion sector than in the performing arts,
and indeed survey respondents from the fashion sector
expressed a strong interest in loan nancing unlike that of
their counterparts in the performing arts. Accessing loans
Kettly Noël, Correspondences, 2009.
© Eric boudet
From a young age I was always creating
performances. At the age of 11, I wanted
to put together a dance show, and to do
that you needed a company. So I created
a company.
– Kettly, choreographer, Haiti/Mali
Figure 4. Reason(s) for establishing a cultural enterprise(s) in Africa
0 20 40 60 80 100
To contribute to the development of sector
To realize the potential of my skills
To pursue a market opportunity
Training convinced me to start
To generate income for myself
To pursue funding opportunities
121120
ChaPtEr 3: CrEatiVity ChallENgES fOr afriCaNwOmEN ENtrEPrENEUrS iN thE PErfOrmiNg artS aNd dESigNEr faShiON SECtOrS
for the designer fashion sector, however, remains difcult,
in part because the nancial sector knows little about the
sector according to some survey respondents.
Generating revenue
An obstacle linked to funding is nding enough customers
or an audience to generate revenue. This was cited by
a quarter of the entrepreneurs as an obstacle for the
survival of their enterprise.
The need to ensure enough revenue to pay regular salaries
is a pressure that weighs heavily on several performing
arts entrepreneurs. And given the project-based funding
common in the sector, this is not always achieved, leading
to high turnover of staff.
I feel under constant pressure to perform in order
to be able to pay my musicians to be sure that they
stay with me. I also have to perform, to continue to
be creative and write great songs, to keep the whole
machine turning – my agent, my producer, and so on.
So I never let myself rest.
– Fatou, musician, Mali/France
Lack of skilled workers and skills
development
The entrepreneurs from the survey also struggle to nd
collaborators with the appropriate skills. In the performing
arts, it is above all a lack of skilled cultural administrators
that is decried as this greatly affects the capacity to raise
funds. As the enterprise grows, a vicious cycle can arise:
the enterprise raises less funds because it does not have
a good fundraiser, and it therefore has less money to
recruit and retain a good fundraiser. As several cultural
enterprises are increasingly responding to complex call
for projects, the need for solid fundraising skills becomes
ever more crucial. And artist entrepreneurs complain that it
is too much to expect them to have both artistic skills and
administrative skills, so they need to be able to nd these
skills elsewhere. In some countries, university courses in
cultural administration exist, but survey respondents feel
that these do not always provide students with enough
practical skills and knowledge.
The way things are now, I would be ready to take a
loan, if it were possible, to pay a good administrator.
– Irene, founder of a professional international dance
school, Burkina Faso
In the fashion industry, the lack of good tailors can be a
problem, but most feel that the situation is improving as
the fashion industry grows.
Women cultural entrepreneurs also struggle to learn
the necessary management skills they need to run their
enterprises. Several of the fashion industry entrepreneurs
in the survey had university level training in business
or nance and so did not indicate this as a constraint,
though business skills are denitely crucial in the fashion
industry.
Access to resources
Access to infrastructure such as rehearsal spaces,
recording studios, workshops for clothing production
tends to be more of an obstacle at start up than for
survival and development. However, designers in the
survey point out that the inability to access space in
prime commercial areas to gain visibility with a target
elite clientele can limit the prospects for growth of fashion
houses. Businesses established at home, at a certain
point in their development also need to access ofce
space in order to gain in credibility and better be able to
employ personnel as highlighted by one music promoter
in the survey.124
Gender discrimination and self-
condence
Several women entrepreneurs also had to struggle with
lack of self-condence and discrimination from men. Self-
belief of course has been widely highlighted in business
literature as one of the most important qualities for an
entrepreneur to possess. Survey respondents note
that women entrepreneurs in the music industry, which
is described by music industry insiders as particularly
124 Women entrepreneurs across the world are more likely than
men to operate businesses from their home, and some studies
suggest this may be a constraint on the prospects for growth –
see, for example, World Bank, n.d.
‘macho’, have to be especially strong and condent, or at
least give the impression that they are.125
You are a woman more than a musician. The fact that
you are a woman affects everything.
– Myriam, rapper, Senegal126
It’s very difcult as a woman for the musicians in your
own band to have faith in you, even more so if you are
young. I was abandoned by several musicians, and
sometimes at the last moment – two days before a big
concert. This is what forced me to learn to play guitar.
And that is when male musicians started respecting
me… When I get up on stage with my guitar, I am
fearless.
– Fatou, musician, Mali/France
Gender restrictions within industry
The last testimony highlights an important obstacle for
African female musicians who want a successful solo
career. Survey respondents point out that few African
women musicians play instruments. In several African
countries, many local music instruments were traditionally
reserved for men, and women generally used only their
voices. Learning to play Western instruments is not yet a
common practice across Africa. There results a situation
whereby men can use their voice and play instruments,
whereas women can often only use their voice. The music
industry, however, according to survey respondents does
not accord much respect to vocalists, no matter how
talented they may be. African female musicians who
are just vocalists thus have great difculties to become
entrepreneurs, that is, solo artists employing a supporting
band, because the members of their band continuously
abandon if not outright sabotage them. Women vocalists
can also easily make a career in backup singing where
there is enough work to ensure a constant if modest
revenue stream; this can be a tempting alternative to
struggling to launch a solo career in what may be a hostile
environment.
125 This does not seem to be restricted only to the African music
context but applies elsewhere too. One successful American
female sound engineer notes that women who enter the music
eld face a boys’ club. ‘You have to have a lot of swagger. A
lot of swagger. If you don't, you won't be successful,’ she says
(Savage, 2012)
126 From an article by Kristina Funkeson, see: http://freemuse.org/
archives/475
Figure 5. Key obstacles in starting an enterprise, and key challenges for the survival and development of
an enterprise in Africa
0 20 40 60 80 100
DevelopmentStart-up
Accessing funding
Customers/audience to generate revenue
Accessing cultural infrastructure
Finding collaborators with the right skills
Dealing with prejudice against you as a woman
Dealing with your own lack of confidence
Learning skills to run your enterprise
Dealing with administrative paperwork
