FG To Hold Creative Industry Financing Conference

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN

The Federal Government (FG) announced on Thursday it will hold a Creative Industry Financing Conference in a bid to create finance opportunities for the Industry.

Speaking at a media conference at the Zen Restaurant, Isaac John, Ikeja, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said the conference will usher the creative industry into the golden era short and long-term financing.

“We want to make the participation in the sector to be public and private sector driven. Before now, it was private sector driven. We want the industry to have a better access to finance and better distribution network for practitioners and investors to get good return on investment,” he explained.

The Creative Industry Financing Conference is one of the many conferences the Ministry of Information and Culture will be holding since the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office. Previously, the Ministry of Information and Culture has signed MoUs with Bank of Industry, Tony Elumelu Foundation and the British Council in other to boost the productivity of the Creative Industry.

“The FG has identified the creative industry as a sector we have to give support in terms of taxation and other tariffs. The government is concerned with providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Hence it has taken some steps to ensure ease of doing business. We have ensured that business registration is easier, we now offer visa on arrival, registration of properties and transfer of titles are better. Without these reforms, businesses cannot thrive.”

He further said FG has achieved 87% success in the areas states above. “We have to cut down title transfer from 77 days to 30 days; while business registration has been reduced from 55 days to 20 days. We have been advised to restrict ourselves to creating the enabling environment as the sector is largely private sector driven.”

The conference which will hold at the Eko Hotel and Suites on July 17 and 18 will have speakers like Jason Njoku, CEO, IrokoTV, Graham Spencer, senior vice president, EMS, Alex Ikosi, vice president, Viacom. The event is a collaboration between FG and TinkTank Media and Advertising.