Of all the commitments made at Creative Cnergy in April 2025, one sounded almost too small to mention. Gayton McKenzie, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, told us he would start meeting more regularly with Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, to align the policies shaping our creative economy. On paper, it was procedural. In a sector weakened by government departments working past one another, it was anything but.
A filmmaker feels that fragmentation quickly. An incentive may sit with one department, copyright with another, AI and digital policies somewhere else again. Yet those decisions land in the same production, often the same balance sheet. Creative work exists in one economy. The institutions around it tend to see only their piece of it.
That tension underpinned our first Creative Cnergy symposium in 2025. The Industrial Development Corporation, South Africa's national development finance institution, used Creative Cnergy to launch its R1 billion Youth in Film Fund for filmmakers under 35. CIBA, the Chartered Institute of Business Accountants, committed to creating financial literacy guidlines for creatives. Those commitments gave us something concrete once the room emptied.
After the symposium, we worked with CIBA to develop the Financial Mastery Guideline promised at Creative Cnergy. It takes questions around tax, record-keeping and irregular income and makes them usable. Completion meant the work could travel.
Originally published by African Business.