By Enam Obiosio

The recent remarks by Nigeria’s Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Mrs. Hannatu Musawa, at the Creative Economy Week in Lagos, reaffirm a truth that the investment community has long recognised – Nigeria’s creative economy is not just an industry; it is an investment frontier. The minister’s assertion that the creative economy “gives hope to the future of Nigeria” captures a structural economic reality that investor relations (IR) professionals must now strategically translate into market language – opportunity, scalability, and impact.

From an investor relations standpoint, the creative economy represents a high-yield, low-barrier sector capable of mobilising youth talent, attracting blended finance, and driving inclusive gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Yet, this potential will only materialize when communication between government, private capital, and the creative value chain becomes investor-oriented – structured around visibility, governance, and confidence.

From Creativity to Capital Formation: Bridging the Information Gap

The creative economy is inherently people-driven and innovation-led, but its capitalisation remains weak due to the absence of structured investor relations mechanisms. MSMEs in fashion, film, design, and digital content often lack the documentation, valuation, and performance visibility that investors require.

An institutional IR approach can close this gap – through creative industry registries, periodic performance reports, and deal room platforms that convert creative outputs into investment-grade opportunities. The Ministry’s collaboration with global partners like the British Council should therefore integrate an IR communication framework that translates project outcomes into measurable investor confidence indicators.

Policy Signaling and Stakeholder Confidence

Mrs. Musawa’s policy pronouncements are valuable, but investor confidence grows not from rhetoric, but from consistent policy signaling. Each announcement must be backed by a predictable policy environment – tax incentives, intellectual property protection, export promotion, and transparent access to financing.

Investor relations, as a discipline, thrives on signaling credibility to the market. The Ministry’s ongoing partnerships with the UK and Canada should thus embed regular Creative Sector Investor Updates, similar to how the SEC or NASD would brief stakeholders. Such updates communicate continuity, transparency, and alignment with global creative capital flows – the very elements investors look for in emerging markets.

The Role of Diaspora and ESG Alignment

Nigeria’s diaspora represents an underleveraged funding ecosystem for the creative economy. An IR framework could channel diaspora capital toward creative clusters through Creative Investment Notes or Impact Funds benchmarked to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) goals.
These would not only attract responsible capital but also brand Nigeria as a destination for sustainable cultural investment – where creativity meets social impact.

In integrating IR practice, the Ministry can ensure that the creative economy’s narrative evolves from grants and aid to market-based investment, from sponsorship to structured finance.

Investor Relations as an Enabler of National Cohesion

Canada’s Trade Commissioner, Delane Boakye, rightly noted that unity is key in leveraging cultural diversity for economic growth. Investor relations offers the language and framework to turn diversity into a coherent national investment story.

Every creative region – from Kano’s dyeing industries to Lagos’ fashion and Nollywood ecosystem – can become a chapter in Nigeria’s Creative Economy Investment Prospectus. A unified IR narrative can thus reposition diversity as a comparative advantage rather than a fragmentation risk, tying economic inclusion to national branding.

Institutionalising Creative Sector IR Practice

To sustain momentum, Nigeria must institutionalise Creative Economy Investor Relations Offices (CEIROs) within the Ministry’s ecosystem – tasked with:

• Communicating project outcomes to investors and the public.
• Publishing periodic creative sector scorecards.
• Organising Creative Investment Forums in collaboration with NASD, SMEDAN, and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
• Training creative entrepreneurs on investor communication, disclosure, and governance.

Such institutionalisation ensures that creativity becomes bankable, reportable, and investible – the three pillars of modern investor relations practice.

Nigeria’s creative economy is indeed the “next big thing.” But for it to attract scale, credibility, and capital, it must be interpreted through the investor relations lens. The IR framework provides the discipline to move from inspiration to institution, from creativity to capital, and from policy intent to measurable investor confidence.

Mrs. Musawa’s call to harness the creative sector is therefore timely – but it must be backed by an Investor Relations Blueprint that aligns the government’s narrative with market expectations, integrates diaspora funding, and measures the creative economy not by its emotion, but by its enterprise.