Ghana's creative and music industries on the brink of significant growth

When we hosted the 2022 Global Citizen Festival in Accra, the people of Ghana welcomed us with incredible enthusiasm and vigor. You embraced the Global Citizen movement and helped us produce a world-class event that had a significant impact, engaging local artists, vendors, agencies, crews, and more.

Today, wherever we go, people still share stories with us in airports, on planes, and even at other concerts, proudly recalling their experiences of witnessing such a memorable and historic event at Accra’s Black Star Square. The lasting impact of the 2022 campaign is a major reason why we and our team members have returned to Ghana for numerous meetings in recent weeks.

Simply put, we are gearing up to announce our next series of world-class concerts across Africa, with the second Move Afrika: A Global Citizen Experience tour returning to the continent, focusing on creating jobs and fostering economic development within the creative economy.

Building on Move Afrika’s success in Rwanda last December, we're currently discussing with various partners and government officials, including in Ghana and other African markets. While this year’s host nations are still being finalized, we are eager to return to Ghana at the right time to support local nonprofits further and partner together with your local live events and creative industries to stage another world-changing event that will bring international artists to Ghana and showcase Ghanaian talent on the world stage.

Nearly two years on, we remain committed to amplifying and promoting the incredible work of countless organizations and individuals across Ghana. This month, the UN in Ghana announced that since their 2022 Global Citizen commitment, they have vaccinated over 1.2 million children through routine immunizations nationwide.

The 2022 Global Citizen Festival campaign also drove significant investment into Ghana's local economy. According to the Ghanaian government's post-event economic analysis, it boosted the economy through production spending, hotel bookings, transportation services, advertising, security, and more. It also attracted over 5,000 travelers from South Africa, Nigeria, and the USA and employed more than 1,000 Ghanaians, including artisans and event workers. Hotel occupancy soared to 75 percent, up from the usual 50 percent, and the global broadcast audience reached over 100 million viewers, showcasing the very best of Ghanaian excellence to the world.

Behind these statistics are real human stories, including those who benefited from training and upskilling opportunities in production, crew work, sound, lighting, and security. Investment in event infrastructure has led to transformative, long-term investments and created new job opportunities for many participants, with other large-scale music events following in our footsteps to the stage in the magnificent Black Star Square.

Building on the 2022 experience, Global Citizen launched Move Afrika last year, a groundbreaking initiative to establish a large-scale, long-term international music touring circuit across the African continent. The first event, Move Afrika: Rwanda, occurred in Kigali last December. It was headlined by Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Kendrick Lamar and featured African artists Zuchu, Bruce Melodie, and more. This live event at the BK Arena employed over 1,000 Rwandans and engaged 75 percent of the local crew and production staff, emphasizing skills development and international event training. Additionally, we hosted side events to engage the breadth of local creatives in Move Africa, including fashion, food, film, and local artisans, who helped create our bespoke set design. We look forward to returning to Kigali later this year.

The investment case informing our vision for Move Afrika is clear: Africa’s creative and music industries stand on the cusp of significant growth if they are able to receive the level of investment required to scale. In 2023 alone, according to the latest IFPI Global Music Report, the African music industry saw revenue growth of 24.7 percent, making Africa the fastest-growing region for music revenues for the second consecutive year. Music and creative economies, more broadly, have the potential to generate exciting new industries and job opportunities for young people and help the continent achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through driving economic development.

Currently, the African market remains largely untapped by the global music touring industry, with a few high-profile festivals here and there but nothing consistently creating sustainable jobs and businesses across the continent long-term. As it has for Latin America, the creation of a large-scale, international music touring circuit across Africa, implemented with the right long-term partners, will be game-changing for Africa. For example, Brazil now hosts more major global productions than most parts of North America, having operationalized and invested in their vision 20 years ago, resulting in transformative change for local communities.

We believe Ghana is primed to participate in and lead this opportunity and growth in a major way. With the right partners and at the appropriate time, Global Citizen would be thrilled to join with the people of Ghana again to create more jobs and drive investment across the entertainment industry and for the people of Ghana. For our part, we will never forget the message Ghana sent to the world at the 2022 Global Citizen Festival: Accra. You showed us that Africa has so much to offer and build towards. You demonstrated what active global citizenship looks like. It has left us humbled, grateful, inspired, and looking forward to our return.