Kick Starting

Kickstarting a creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper
Dr. Derek W. Nicoll Nov. 2009
Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper
1.0 Introduction
Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. Kofi Annan Fmr. United Nations Secretary General
1.1 The press love entrepreneurs like lottery winners their story is often one of rag to riches. This makes for compelling biographies which circulate to build expectations and dreams. From a more calculating perspective visions of an entrepreneurial enabling economy often provide the focus of governmental policies whose core aim is to foster alternative routes to employment, diversification and development of economies. In some cases, the aim of such programmes enticing and supporting entrepreneurial activity is to remedy the lack of sufficient jobs to absorb young people into the labour market. 1.2 Within the context of the economy of Lesotho this is a moot point. Lesotho is one of the worlds least developed countries, with very high unemployment. Large scale unemployment in Lesotho has been more or less the norm for the last two decades. The number of people now living below the poverty line in Lesotho is estimated around 60 percent.1 The most negative impact on social capital formation has come as a result of the impact of HIV/AIDS. The epidemic overlaps the question of poverty having had a devastating effect on
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Asian Development Bank Kingdom of Lesotho: multi-sector country gender profile agriculture and rural development north east and south region (ONAR) November 2005 [source; http://www.afdb.org]
extended family structures. It is estimated that currently close to a third of the Basotho people are infected with the virus. It has destroyed families and communal traditional ways of living that for many years have provided a buffer against poverty. In a worst case scenario, as the numbers of socio-economic dependents begin to outweigh the number of contributors, the social capital of traditional systems will become increasingly eroded. More than half of the population is less than 18 years old. There is a superabundance of young people leaving school looking for work or for further education, and currently only 4% move from secondary to tertiary education. There is a certain irony in discussing the need for universities to connect directly to the external world outside their doors and windows, and in particular to the economy. The central role of universities has long been to train students and to prepare them (directly or not) to the professional activities they will later deploy. Should not we understand this as the central means through which universities connect with society? With respect to HIV/AIDS awareness many governmental and international agencies are involved in social marketing and promoting HIV/AIDS awareness. For instance, in 2005 UNICEF and the government embarked on an interactive educational HIV/AIDS roadshow designed to increase HIV awareness among young people. The roadshow provided entertainment such as talent shows, poetry, sports and dance, as well as life skills activities and educational tools. Poverty and vulnerability in Lesotho are also associated with undue reliance on agriculture. Natural resource impoverished, with the exception of water from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (which is channelled to South Africa) and small deposits of diamonds, the only other exportable natural resources are sandstone, diamonds and clay, the latter being processed into bricks and ceramic tiles. The land has high environmental vulnerability (droughts, soil erosion and climatic change), and this detrimentally impacts subsistence farming - the mainstay of Basotho nation with 86 percent of the resident population aged 15 years and above engaged in its practice. Agriculture accounts for 15.9% of GDP and its main products are corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock some of which are exported along with wool and mohair. The private sector is the second highest employer constituting 30.0 percent. Many Basotho are employed as workers, both in factories and shops ran by a newly emerging class of Chinese entrepreneurs. Activity in this sector is mainly concentrated in the fledging garment industry, which also generates one of the largest sources of revenue generated within the countrys borders. Employment in private households is 22.2 percent. Very low proportion of the population is absorbed by the government with 5.5 percent, and the parastatals with an estimated representation of 1.6 percent.2 The single biggest contributor by far to Lesothos GDP is the revenue generated by the tariffs of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which consists of Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa. Electricity is also produced for the South African economy ($24 million annually). The economy has also traditionally been dependent upon mainly male migrant workers to South
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Bureau of Statistics (2009) National Statistical System of Lesotho Statistical Reports No 9:2009 2008 INTEGRATED LABOUR FORCE SURVEY PRELIMINARY RESULTS REPORT
Africa, originally to work in the farmlands and then to work the mines. However remittances back home have declined as the need for migrant labour has reduced (from 101,262 in 2006 to 52,450 in 2007). The reality of the economy of Lesotho is that nearly all direct foreign investment goes into garment manufacturing and this sector domestically employs almost half of those who are employed at all up to 50,000 employees, most of them women. Its landlocked geography within a much larger economy coupled to the fact it shares common commodities namely capital and labour with South Africa means that Lesotho is always going to face a challenge to sustainable employment-creation if it depends solely on agricultural and industrial forms of production.3 Domestically, manufacturers have the problem of a relatively small market, although clothing, furniture, and some food products can be profitably sold. However, South Africa has mature industries boasting economies of scale and which also boast extensive established distribution chains which can undermine rationales for development in these sectors. Imported commodities include food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products. An obvious interest is to improve capacities to produce these commodities domestically. Adopting either the glass half empty or half full perspective this suggests opportunities for entrepreneurs, who can harness or provide for things that are lacking or introduce new products and services, or lack of opportunities for job hunters. 1.3 Lesotho has received economic aid from a variety of sources, including the United States, the World Bank, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Germany, and the People's Republic of China. Total U.S. aid to Lesotho is over $10 million, including humanitarian food assistance. The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Kingdom of Lesotho signed a fiveyear agreement in 2007 which provided US $362.6 million aimed at reducing poverty and increasing economic growth. The Compact is focused on improving the provision of water supplies for industrial and domestic use, improving health outcomes and removing barriers to foreign and local private sector investment. Ireland is also main provider of development assistance to Lesotho. In 2007 they provided 9 million in bilateral development assistance was provided to Lesotho. The Irish bilateral programme focuses on five sectors: HIV and AIDS, Education, Health, Rural Water and Sanitation, and Governance. UK assistance - 6.2 million is chiefly divided thus: 27% in to strengthening governance, 24% into education, 19% in programs assisting growth, 10% into social services, 1% into research and all other programmes 14%. The new EC development cycle (2008- 2013) under the 10th European Development Fund allocates 136 M of programmable funds to Lesotho. The main focus is placed on human development ( 27.2 M) and infrastructure ( 38.8 M) given the need to strengthen Lesothos very fragile economy and combat such extremely high poverty levels. In addition, General Budget Support ( 53 M) is foreseen. General Budget Support will aim
Lundahl, M., McCarthy, C.L., Petersson, L. (2003) In the shadow of South Africa: Lesotho's economic future Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
at strengthening public finance management systems and policy reforms in the areas of education and health. 1.3 Diversification takes place in order to overcome risk and seasonality in natural resource-based livelihoods, but it also reflects the failure of agriculture to deliver improving livelihoods in the postliberalisation era. With a dire need to diversify its markets, Lesotho has an imperative to create and support new horizons of employment for its youth. This rallying call is not new; it echoes what has been realised and voiced for decades and hints at underlying inertias that prevent growth. And Lesotho is not alone, despite efforts to diversify their economies; 86 of 144 developing countries still depend on commodities for more than half their export earnings.4 Diversification will see Lesotho less vulnerable to external shocks, such as the food crises, the global recession, and natural disasters such as drought, floods etc. 1.4 Unemployment will continue to rise because few new jobs are being created, while at the same time, due to the young population of school leavers, the labour force continues to increase by approximately 25,000 youth entrants each year. With only some 4% moving to tertiary level education it is imperative that these 4% are at least exposed to the idea of creating sustainable industries with the prospect of hiring [and training] lesser qualified and capable peers. 1.5 In a recent report Keiichi et al (2005) suggest the country should; seek diversified economic activities by creating other industries to attract FDI.5 They go on: It is time for the government of Lesotho... to expand education to produce a more skilled labour force which will be the main actors of future economic development.6 The creation of a proactive human capital represents a genuine challenge, Lundahl, et al remark that: A crucial category of skills lacking in Lesotho is that of a cadre of entrepreneurs and managerial manpower that can find and exploit export opportunities.7 The reviews of de La Mothe and Mallory (2006) emphasise the widespread significance of local innovation initiatives involving local institutions, regional and national governments and multinational agencies in constructing advantage. Projects such as the World Bank funded Private Sector Competitiveness and Economic Diversification Project aim to do just that. The aim of this project is to improve efficiency of the public sector to create an enabling environment for the private sector to develop, as well as expand market access for the latter. 8 However, the focus so far has been bolstering the garment manufacturing industry and retrenching mine and dam workers who are currently unemployed. 1.6 In Lesotho, the globalisation of garment production started earlier and has expanded more than that of any other factory. There is a constant demand for clothing globally, and global companies and brands have, particularly in the last 50 years, transferred their blue-collar production activities from high-wage areas to low-cost manufacturing regions in industrialising countries. The garment industry is the most globalized industry in the world. Today it straddles
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Source: UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics [http://stats.unctad.org/handbook/] Keiichi, O, Nomura, S. Lim, J.Y. (2005) 'Macroeconomic and Demographic Settings toward education Development in Lesotho' Journal of International Development Studies, Vol. 13, No.1. July, P.61 6 (ibid) p.64 7 (Ibid) p.125 8 Economic Review, Central bank of Lesotho, March 2007 [source: http://www.centralbank.org.ls/publications/]
the semiotic world of Nike swooshes, logos and consumer identities of the post-industrial North and West with cheap labour and input into the fragile economies of the South and East. The first relocation of garment manufacturing for instance took place from North America and Western Europe to Japan in the 1950s and the early 1960s. But during 1965 and 1983, Japan changed its attention to more lucrative products like cars, stereos and computers and therefore, 400,000 workers were dismissed by Japanese textile and clothing industry. The result of this spawned the second stock transfer of garment manufacturing in the 1970s - from Japan to the Asian Tigers - South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. With the development of these economies towards advanced industrialisation and post-industrialisation attention diverted to other locations less developed with the lure of cheap labour. Lesotho's garment manufacturing started in the early 1980s, with South African investors attracted by the incentives offered by the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC), and the trade embargoes imposed by the international community against apartheid. By the late 1980s the industry saw significant investment from industrialists who originated in Taiwan, entrepreneurs brought valuable capital, skills, and knowledge of the international textile market. Ownership and management of the garment industry in Lesotho is now dominated by South East Asians who now control in the region of 90% of the industry and employ 97% of the labour. These industrialists operate in a global context, well rooted with clear established supply chains, and well able to service the requirements of the USA market while sourcing their raw materials in the Far East. In a sense they epitomise the notion of globalisation. To grow this global business they have harnessed information and communication technology and practices in terms of operating their business across borders and indeed continents in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency of their networking, supply-chain management and logistics.9 1.7 The more recent growth of the industry in Lesotho has been largely built on the preferential trade opportunities created by the US African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the partnership between the government and the private sector including labour to take advantage of this global market. Proactive engagement by the Lesotho government including improving the business environment, enhancing investment incentives and an aggressive investment promotion campaign has seen the industry thrive. Lesotho is known as the jeans capital of Africa, producing 26 million pairs of denim jeans a year at eight factories as well and 6 000 tons of denim fabric at the Formosa Mill. The industry also turns out 70 million knitted garments, mainly cotton, every year at 28 factories. There are also a number of manufacturers of woven garments, including industrial work wear and chefs uniforms, chinos, constructed trousers and shirts. Lesotho has two embroidery firms doing contract work for other manufacturers, and one company providing screen printing services. The garment industry uses Agricultural products (Cotton into cloth), Industrial manufacturing (cloth into clothes) and Information age technology; computer machine controls, telecoms and digital ordering systems.
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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Overview-of-Bangladesh-Garment-Industry&id=367773
1.8 Whereas it was once considered that advantage was derived from resources, favourable locations, proprietary process and technology, advantage has changed largely due to the nature of business in the global, interconnected world. Being landlocked does not prevent Lesotho taking part in the digital networked global economy. Through its dual local-global role, the university seems to be an apt organisation that acts as gatekeeper, i.e. to absorb global knowledge (technological, but also market-related) and translate it into the local context. (Lagendijk and Rutten, 2003, p.218) The opppsitie is also ture in that the university should act as an amplifier for local, or indigeniuos knowledge where it works and take this to the local, regional and global levels. Bella Thomas argues that people are increasingly tuning in to locally produced programs rather than exports from Hollywood. She quotes scholars who cite surveys of prime time scheduling around the world, revealing that domestically produced programs almost always top the ratings during peak viewing hours, with U.S. imports filling the off-peak time slots. Other specialists agree that the image of the West at the centre of the communications industry, dominating the developing world periphery, is mistaken. They argue that each region based not only on geography but also on common cultural, linguistic, and historical connections has its own internal dynamics and global ties. Agrarian societies supply agricultural and mineral resources, industrial societies provide cheap labour, and information societies contrastingly, rise to dominance based on the new ways they create and exploit knowledge (Toffler and Toffler, 1993).10 This knowledge can be knowledge of markets, knowledge of where to find certain materials, knowledge of the latest fashions, and so on, it is not restricted to where but to what you know, and how you know where to look. Just as agriculture remains largely distributed, certain geographies support the mass growing of certain fruits and vegetables than others (i.e. wheat, rice, potatoes). Similarly, industrial production demands infrastructures of road, rail, shipping, as well as dependable electric and water supplies. Knowledge depends upon networks and distribution of relevant know-how, expertise and skill. Who is to supply this except universities or independent research institutes? Doing their job properly, universities considered as knowledge hubs, as entrepreneurial universities, as innovation system integrators or whatever term will be adopted for such entities should not only passively respond to demand, but play a part in actively shaping the economic reality of the future. This means not only supplying industry with well tutored and trained graduates, but also recommending to industry and government which way to go, and tutoring them on new avenues of thinking and education and business such as how design is good for new business. Students, academic staff, government and industry partners within a locale should be able to challenge the quality of the learning environment and the support they are getting, and should also be able to take intellectual risks and sometimes pursue interests at a tangent to the main curriculum. From the student perspective it should be obvious that they cannot really do any of these things unless they have been reasonably diligent, attended most of the classes, done the background
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Toffler, A., Toffler, H. (1993), War and Anti-war: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, London: Little Brown & Co.
reading, and tried proactively to seek out help and advice. It should be equally obvious that to do this, students need access to well-funded and well-managed resources, and the support of expert and helpful teachers. For industry and government partners there should be a dedicated office, within or external to the university with a panel or committee comprised of staff cogniscient of the limitations and advantages of such partnerships. Limkokwing has an industry advisory panel which aims to provide industry feedback and criticism into programs and projects. Government and the public sector, and not-for-profit should also be represented so as to have input and to learn of developments where intervention at policy level could assist generation, protection and growth. When all these things are happening in concert, the result is higher education imbued with what we might call 'quality'. Technology and new information and communication technology tools have brought radical changes for the creation and distribution of digitalized creative content and new business models has meant new roles for creators, new forms of content, interactivity and lower entry barriers. This is the window of opportunity for developing economies. The enhancement of communication system and networking has, for instance, played a key role in the development of the garment industry. It can with respect to others, opening new vistas, creating new identities for local products and services and new activities that can add value domestically and abroad. In order to move up the food chain from pure production to design and creativity, some garment factory owners are now understanding they must shift from the mass production model to shorter bespoke runs, and even vertically integrate to include producing and managing their own brands. Globalisation is almost certain to demand higher levels of resource and structural consolidation, leading to an inevitable explosion of activity in the creative industries sector and its business dimension in the years ahead. The cultural and creative sector refers to aesthetic, identity and copyrightable goods, services, and intellectual property including branding building and lending identity to products and services, even entire countries. It embodies a wide array of practices and activities that make and circulate sounds, words, and images, or a combination of the above. The notion of third stream of activities or third mission of universities developed from their research activities scientific and materials based (new devices or cloths, components, etc. That enhance look and functionality) or otherwise socio-cultural (understanding people and their needs and aspirations, with a view to satisfying them in a unique way). The notion of creative industries should not be thought of as only an afterthought to when a strong industrial base is developed. Rather, it should be thought as a powerhouse of ideas and creative products that can reorient the directions of both industrial and agricultural efforts by repackaging, re-branding and re-inventing, at global, regional, country, and local levels. We hold there are vast opportunities for Lesotho here, including its garment industry.
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What happened for the garment industry we wish to see happen for the creative industries, in that, necessary support for its gestation and initial growth are provided from the government and aid agencies. In turn, the creative industries have the potential to boost and revitalise and extend existing businesses, including the garment industry, and also give rise to new forms of business activity in Lesotho. Education in Lesotho has been criticised, however, an estimated 85 percent of the population 15 and over is literate - one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, largely due to significant effort on behalf of the Government of Lesotho and its development partners in improving primary and secondary education over a relatively short period of time. However, some commentators view that Lesothos education system today suffer from a hang-over set in place during colonial times. ...training for Basotho was largely directed toward the limited opportunities for employment in government administration and in churches as teachers and catechists. There were few opportunities in trade and business and even fewer in commercial agriculture. The requirements for government and church employment was basically a knowledge of English and Arithmetic and examinations strongly emphasised these skills and neglected the development of technical and commercial skills. (Task Force Report; 1982: 3)11 The significance of the funding responsibility and the activities of the colonial government in the country required the staff of appropriate standard especially in the civil service. This spills over in criticisms of the National Universitys curriculum and general ethos which is viewed as remaining elitist and outwardly looking focusing on the acquisition of a western type of education driven by western values.
We hold that creative industries represent niche areas for competitive advantage and can above all leap frog the stages of development. As we understand markets and talent are now truly global, and this requires a very different way of thinking and responding. It requires a different approach in order to be successful and this is also part of what this new sector can bring. In order to find, let alone exploit opportunities entails that one must have drive and motivations; one must know what to look for, how to look for things, and where to look. The cultural/creative industries sector is distinctive in that it has several transaction networks and income streams. The sector generates income from the sale of goods (e.g. merchandise sales), the provision of services (e.g. professional fees), and the licensing of intellectual property (e.g. royalties). All of these represent
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Ministry of Education 1982. The Education Sector Survey Report of the Task Force. Ministry of Education: Maseru. Cited in Muzvidziwa, VN & Seotsanyana, M. (2002) Continuity, change and growth: Lesotho's education system Radical Pedagogy (4(2) [source: http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/]
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opportunities to diversify the economy of Lesotho and put it on the world map as an origin of a number of distinctive products, services and opportunities. 1.9 It is the time to open debate and dialogue regarding the prospect of diversifying Lesothos economy. This time with respect to accommodating new techniques, mind sets, technologies and new opportunities to participate globally. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an overview to interconnected themes which focus upon the promise and challenge of kick-starting small and micro creative industries - industries that can compete globally but also pull together to service local needs. These themes include creativity and innovation, entrepreneurship, business incubation, business clustering, developing linkages between transnational companies and SMEs, the changing focus and nature of the University with its relation to industry and wider society, new types of organisational and intraorganisational structures and the notion of developing economies. In the past the University was the place for both educating the elite and preparing the future through fundamental research. And a professorial elite was the sole one to be in a position to decide what to do and to judge of the quality and relevance of what was done. There is a certain irony in discussing the need for universities to connect directly to the external world, and in particular to the economy. The central role of universities has long been to train students and to prepare them (directly or not) to the professional activities they will later deploy. Should not we understand this as the central means through which universities connect with society? Going beyond teaching and research, the University Third Mission - services to Society - has at least 3 dimensions: a non profit - social approach; an entrepreneur focus; and an innovative approximation. Economists have noted that the only true sustainable competitive advantage stems from the knowledge, skills and performance of people operating within an organizational culture that favours and fosters such attributes. The biggest challenge is encouraging and motivating, along with financing, incubating and facilitating. Recent national and regional innovation policies have both catalysed and compounded the entrepreneurial tendency in higher education, redefining the traditional roles of universities. While academic debate has for some time addressed the importance of universities to regional economic development, more recent literature has focused explicitly on how universities engage directly with (regional) economies. Many of these ideas such as entrepreneurship and innovation are fuzzy concepts that have been given multiple meanings. This document is a background paper and not an action plan, but it should form some of the terms of reference (TORs) that can furnish discussions and idea generation sessions both within the university and in idea generation sessions we engage in with outside agencies. Within the university it should galvanise thinking regarding how we can maximise the learning potentials of industrial linkages in our continuing efforts to enhance teaching and learning. Constructed advantage is not only increasingly valuable, but is, by definition, open to influence and construction by local actors. What de La Mothe and Mallory (2006) show is that constructed advantage is a process of building on and expanding social capital skills, organisations and networks, They recognise a need to engage local industries, university instructors, higher
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education leaders, not-for profit organizations, youth groups. and that creating communities and economic advantage is a 'full contact sport' and not a dry policy making exercise. For innovation and growth to occur, a region or a city needs collaborative relationships. The constituencies involves global knowledge an awareness (best case examples, universals), local knowledge and networks and support infrastructures. For industry it should show how the university can be utilised as a creative resource as well as a steady source of quality staff better prepared for helping achieve their business goals. For government, we are also concerned with the nurturing and developing of a new breed of young Basotho entrepreneurs who will boost the economy and uplift society. This includes the teaching of creative and entrepreneurial literacy as well helping promote other financial and informational support infrastructures that can help graduates realise new business. Having good ideas, and being motivated to act, are not the only ingredients to kick-starting an entire new industry sector. It will need economic support and investment, both from local and international sources. This document draws upon proactive examples of how it may work, considering examples from elsewhere such as the rest of Africa and beyond. 2.0 Literacy 2.1 The use of the term literacy traditionally refers to an ability to interpret and use written and vocal language. If one looks a sign that says; or listens to a person screaming: Danger, do cross this line, mines! If one is illiterate or if it is written or screamed in a foreign language then how one act in manner appropriate for the environment? This example only serves to highlight the crucial nature of literacy to behaviour and action. It permits and fosters mutual understandings, and gives rise to, amongst others things, abilities to challenge, criticise and critique, propensities to praise and plaudit, and negotiate, choose, assimilate and adopt. Literacy enables one to participate in knowledge societies or communities of practice. When Gutenberg first laid paper to inked typeface, there were almost no rules of grammar, they had yet to be realised that is, invented. The same was true for the motorcar it only really came into its own, when tarmacadam road networks were laid festooned with repair and petrol stations along their ways. Similarly, when television diffused as a technology a whole new major spin-off industry co-evolved to support it those were the fields of broadcasting and production, which spawned their own technologies and techniques specialised to cater for, and enhance the new medium. In the beginning, television shows appeared as radio broadcasts but with pictures. People stood quite static in front of the microphone. A whole new way of thinking about and viewing entertainment i.e. production techniques and graphics ways of moving the camera and processing its signals, had to be born. When these new languages or vocabularies of production were diffused, then new ways of viewing or interpreting them as an audience were developed. The developer or producer, as well as the audience and consumer became locked in a
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symbiotic relationship where advances in techniques and style become synonymous with expectations and taste.12 Knowledge as a whole is not something that exists in some places and not in others. Knowledge is everywhere but its value can change relative to local exigencies; literacy depends upon knowledge of vocabulary and syntax, and its use and usage, as much as it does in terms of people being able to relate stories and accounts of things and happenings in the world. Some knowledge is local and some is regional and some is global. Some is universal and some is specific. In The Practice of Everyday Life. De Certeau argued that the derided consumer culture was more complex than it had appeared to Adorno, Malraux and others. Consumers adapt mass culture to their own designs and needs, thereby creating their own forms of cultural production instead of absorbing mediadispensed cultural forms and meanings. Being literate is taken as an index to the capacity of people to act and make informed decisions regarding both design of new products and services and their consumption. Literacy benefits both individuals and their communities. Learning to read boosts self-esteem and provides important new skills. In Africa, farmers discovered that they began getting better prices for their crops when it was evident they could read and write. Literacy then, is a key tool in making the workforce efficient and more easily trained. Due to high literacy this is not a problem in Lesotho. There are other kinds of literacy. "Focal vocabulary" is a specialized set of terms and distinctions that is particularly important to a certain group; those with particular focus upon certain experiences or activities. So Eskimos have been said to have many words to describe snow, the Nuer tribe of Sudan have dozens of names for cattle largely due to them being sensitive to the cattle's particular histories, economies, and environments. Artists may also have many distinctions of paint, and the biologist many names for the micro constellations of moving particles under the microscope. Most careers and trades, and academic and scientific disciplines, even management studies, have a specialised vocabulary which one must learn to be fluent in the field. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu provided a sociological rationale for the failure: high culture has codes that remain unintelligible to those who werent socialized to decipher them, and therefore all the Houses of Culture in the world wouldnt make any difference. In order to communicate and conceptualise in a given field of expertise it is necessary to be literate in it. In some cases one must develop talents to translate from one field to another, as in understanding entrepreneurship in terms of local capacities to understand such a concept, or translate the technical jargon or langues into laymans terms so that a client to can understand what you can do as a designer or producer. One can say then, that the term literacy has come in the knowledge age to be applied to a much wider range of discourses so that today we hear of computer literacy, environmental literacy, legal literacy and video literacy. The meaning of literacy used in these contexts extends the
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One of the drivers of economy of the creative industries. Many products rely upon a never
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notion of creative, interpretative and expressive processes involved in the writing and reading of texts. For example computer literacy basically means having computer skills, environmental literacy means having environmental awareness, and legal literacy means having knowledge of the law and the confidence to use this knowledge. These forms of literacy can be partially composed of technical words, but it means much more, it means a kind of fluency with the fundamental ideas or building blocks which comprise and characterise the knowledge domain. One could imagine that many experts and consultants which are brought into development countries under aid packages and donor assistance are there to teach various literacies, whether in agriculture, HIV prevention, or gender issues. Literacy in this sense relates strongly to the U.Ns preferred notion of capacity building help in developing a certain skill or competence.13 2.2 The use of the term video literacy is particularly interesting and a case at hand. It means not only developing the skills of analysing existing videos and films to disentangle the messages which are being conveyed (e.g., how women or poor people are being portrayed); in some cases it also implies people coming to control the processes by making videos and films of their own reality, reflecting their particular world picture and concerns. In these cases, literacy is used as a metaphor for use and control. (Visual literacy would seem to be different, for there is a process of decoding and interpreting symbols involved here in a way which is absent from these other cases). 2.3 At the Limkokwing University many forms of literacy is taught, in fact all the above are emphasised. However, in addition to those mentioned above two new forms of literacy may be added. The first would be creative literacy namely the ability to think critically, to engage in problem identification and solving, search and locating and to employ inventive, ingenious and innovative thinking to the environment that is everyday reality. As de La Mothe and Mallory (2006) put it, economic advantage in todays knowledge economy is based not on what one has (the material factors of industrial production) but on what we think and do. In other words, knowledge is now a central factor of production. It involves knowledge creation (from universities and business), the economic rise of intangible goods and services and exchange of knowledge for example through crosssector research collaboration. We want to see problems turned not only into solutions, but elegant, sustainable and positive outcomes. A doctor can treat symptoms without identifying or understanding the root causes and the patient still dies. Being process orientated and not product driven is cited by Mathew Frederick (Frederick, 2007) as the most important skill for a designer to develop.14 The process should be
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To be precise the scope and scale of capacity building would represent a very high degree of literacy in the given field. Capacity Building is much more than training and includes the following: Human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively. Organizational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organizations but also the management of relationships between the different organizations and sectors (public, private and community). Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organizations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities. (Source: http://www.gdrc.org/uem/capacity-define.html)
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Frederick, M. (2007) 101 things I learned in Architecture School Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
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one of understanding the language of consumer-user needs and requirements, the relation between solution and contexts and environments of use, and the knowledge and strength of the designer to come up with a plentiful of good solutions. Design as a discipline now addresses a wide range of issues from health to food, energy to tourism to travel, we should examine how design principles can be applied to help achieve the goal of sustainable living, or a lifestyle that preserves and protects natural resources. 2.3 The second may be termed as entrepreneurial literacy which would mean the ability to read or seek out and exploit opportunities through the rallying of resources and good ideas (being able to understand and respond appropriately when opportunity calls). Innovation is a necessary condition of entrepreneurship. It is about making information and knowledge available and about educating local actors in the art of observation and design thinking to make local challenges , local opportunities for design and enterprise. Entrepreneurial opportunities can emerge from major scientific breakthroughs, but also from more mundane applications of existing solutions in new contexts. Being able to understand opportunities and being able to create the tools and conditions whereupon they can be exploited is necessary component of this kind of literacy. Developing new ways of doing things is a powerful form of innovation. In doing this, we need to consider the broader implications of our business model. Bundled together and specifically, how to identify, define and solve a problem and how to market the solution - we hold that we will equip our students with the right ensemble of cognitive tools and practical skills that will not only enable them to follow their chosen careers, but also keep an open mind to creating the businesses shaping their careers in the future. But this will need help and funding. It is not easy to do business in Lesotho. In 2008, it was ranked 123rd out of a possible 181 countries on the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Rankings. Observers ascribe this to an outdated regulatory environment and inefficiencies in the processing of documentation critical to starting a business. According to the report, it takes 28 days on average to register a business and 73 days to start a business in Lesotho. 3.0 Education is but the beginning 3.1 Speaking on the development of post-industrial education Refsign (1992: p119) outlines that modern schooling has four definable functions: 1) Education: Reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and other general skills (the various forms of literacy mentioned above). 2) Socialisation: Training responsible citizens and members of society that are wellmannered, caring and aware of their societys central values such as the work ethic and gender roles. 3) Selection: Channelling and distributing talent through the labour market through a series of examinations; and
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4) Depository: Safekeeping and holding the young until they are ready for the labour market and especially until the labour market is ready for them. 3.2 McVeigh in a critical piece which highlights weaknesses within the Japanese tertiary education system shows a distinct emphasis upon the last three elements to the detriment of the first basic function outlined above. Japanese industries desire to train their new recruits themselves rather than relying on educational institutions to prepare students as staff. They prefer to shape employees in-house to better and more specifically fit the job. Our perspective on education at Limkokwing is much wider, proactive and open. We seek that our students are exposed to real life situations, and making them worldly-wise regarding the industries in which they will locate after graduating. This differs from say, the technical school or polytechnic style of training in that what we offer is not a generic training such as when a plumber or bricklayer learns the basics of his trade by emulating what he will do on the job. Our graduates must be able to respond to tasks they will face and also the reality of the social milieu and knowledge environments in which they will work. In order to respond appropriately to working life challenges they must understand the contexts in which they will operate, in terms of both the opportunities and the threats. Change, as we know, is not always change for the better, and as such change also breeds uncertainty, anxiety and also opportunity. We have hit the 500 Year Delta where the five-hundred-year-old Age of Reason segues into something else. At this transition we experience extreme change. Our businesses, even our lives, are rapidly subjected to intangibles: unpredictable influences played out in a domain where effects diverge wildly from expectations.15 3.3 We seek to equip its students for such a life world, one of much greater uncertainty and complexity, a world marked by more than the surety that there will always be bricks to lay, folders to file, meals to prepare, drains to be unblocked, and cars to fix. This is likely to involve: frequent occupational, job and contract status change; global mobility; adaptation to different cultures; working in a world of fluid organisational structures; and wider responsibilities in family and social life; and greater probability of self-employment. Whether these traits are evident or felt locally or whether they reflect the wider global market does not matter. This reality should guide and inform innovation of products aimed at those markets, making anything produced relevant for the wider world. This is also associated with a need to prepare students for a world of lifelong learning, beyond the temporal boundaries of the academic programme, and ability to adapt and cope with change. They must also focus upon the generic processes and methods involved in local and regional business, that is, the exigencies of local and regional business. What exactly are the barriers to enter markets? Which is the best way to make profits, which are the best products to sell, in which manner should we sell, and so forth? 3.4 Education is never an end in itself; it is only ever a beginning, the beginning of what now must be a lifelong process. This is because knowledge needed to do certain jobs changes
15
Taylor, J. and Wacker, W. (1997) The 500 Year Delta: What Happens After What Comes Next New York: Harper Business.
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According to a recent survey something like 30 per cent of the American economy is driven by businesses set up by graduates.16 While encouraging for the proposal outlined in this document, it should be noted that across cultures and societies this figure will vary considerably. For instance the equivalent figure in the UK is a mere 8 per cent and this begs the question: why? 3.5 This disparity can largely be attributed to perceptions of risk. It is simply seems more secure to be salaried than to plough headfirst into self-employment or a new start-up. Returning to the example of Japan, a country who most view as synonymous with hi-tech and innovation, it is surprising that they place the lowest G8 country on the international list for graduate start-ups. But then again we may note that Japan is the home of proverbial the salary man with his neverending commute on the Japanese subway, his job for life in the large corporation, and his view of educational institutions as crches for grown-up kids.17 3.6 A passive view of employment may be fine when jobs are varied and abundant, but few in the developing world possess choice regarding whether to start their own business or not. Even their choices regarding which businesses they can start are severely limited. In many cases they become entrepreneurs by necessity. If they are not, they and their families will not eat. They invest what little they have to pull together the resources in order to make a little profit each day. Indeed, while rags to riches stories will always make compelling reading they more often than not represent the few rather than the many. And it is against this stark development reality, that we propose kick-starting a new industry sector in Lesotho which utilises new creative thinking and new talents and new technologies.
4.0 New models of knowledge generation, new kinds of universities 4.1 In the Cox Review of Creativity in Business, commissioned by the UKs Department of the Treasury, former Design Council chairman Sir George Cox proposed a number of ways in which higher education could play a bigger role in ensuring that designers, entrepreneurs and business leaders speak the same language.18

Universities and small businesses should work together more closely. Higher education courses should better prepare students to work with and understand other specialists. Centres of excellence should be established, where multi-disciplinary courses combining management studies, engineering and technology and the creative arts are taught.
But the domains of education and business have traditional boundaries and different cultures. The UK-based academic Alan Gibb (Gibb, 2005) identifies cultural differences between academic
16
17
Source: http://www.ncge.com/home.php In modern use, the term carries associations of long working hours, low prestige in the corporate hierarchy, and absence of significant sources of income other than salary, wage slavery, mundanity and unoriginality. 18 Source: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/coxreview_index.htm
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environments and an entrepreneurial environment. He notes that academia, particularly business schools, values order, formality, transparency, control, accountability, information processing, planning, rational decision making, clear demarcation, responsibilities and definitions, but that entrepreneurship thrives on informal, personal relationship, trust building, intuitive decision making, somewhat overlapping and chaotic feeling world of the entrepreneur.19 Gibb is critical of a model that depends on the development of entrepreneurship education within the context of business schools and advocates locating it within the contexts of disciplines where the pedagogies and practices for entrepreneurship will be shaped by disciplinary practice. Gibb suggests that the status of teaching for, rather than about, entrepreneurship needs to be given enhanced status in higher education institutions. In a sense he echoes that which has been echoed in various popular debates regarding how business school training such as MBAs etc. can become more innovative, and how design school training can become more entrepreneurial in its outlooks.20,21 4.2 With the development of the knowledge economy' in many advanced industrial nations, there has been a growing interest in regional innovation systems and the role that universities might play in these. One result has been the demarcation by government actors of specific spaces for the creation, transfer and transformation of knowledge. Such spaces have been given various names, such as smart regions', science cities' and innovation corridors'. Whilst the associated policy rhetoric has much in common with the earlier interest in science and technology parks there are also clear distinguishing differences. More recent policy initiatives have sought to foster industry clusters within these spaces to contribute to economic development and diversification and link this to economic, social and cultural regeneration. This follow Cooke (2002) when he observes several recent facets of regional innovation and economic development policies which involve (1) degrees of intervention by local governance to promote private-public interaction; (2) weak regional foresight (institutional envisioning, learning and monitoring), and; (3) knowledge based clusters, which he comments need to involve localised governance with markets much more to the fore as drivers of the potentially radical innovation process.22 Limkokwing University of Creative Technology has continually reinforced the idea of a university which embraces the scholarship of relevance and integration of knowledge and a sharing with, and learning from, the wider community including public and private sectors. For innovation and growth to occur, a region or a city needs collaborative relationships (de La Mothe and Mallory, 2006).23 In Lesotho, the working relationship between the public sector and the business sector is largely that where business is merely a supplier of services to the public sector. Due partly to the fragmented nature of both its representation and activity the public sector has not been able to
19
Gibb, A. (2005), Towards the Entrepreneurial University: Entrepreneurship Education as the Lever for Change, NCGE Policy Paper 3, NCGE, Birmingham. 20 Business Week Aug. 1, 2005; Creative Tomorrow's B-School? It Might Be A D-School Business schools are hooking up with design institutes or starting their own [source: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_31/b3945418.htm] 21 See also [ source: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/AutoPdfs/DesignCouncil_2882.pdf]
22
Cooke, P. (2002). Knowledge economies, globalisation and generative growth: implications for policy. National Economic Review 50, 21-38 23 de La Mothe, J., and Mallory, G. (2006). Constructing Advantage: Distributed Innovation and the Management of Local Economic Growth. Prometheus 24, 23-36.
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recognise the role of the private sector enough to find it necessary to collaboratively plan and implement development programmes. There are few cases where Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects have happened. Even in these cases, the projects that have been implemented are not a result of any recognisable joint planning and discourse on development between the two sectors. The result is a situation where things happen more by default and chance rather than by design. Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1997) are even clearer regarding this when they propose their view of a triple helix of industry, government and university. Three institutional spheres (public, private, and academic) which formerly operated at arms length are increasingly working together, with a spiral pattern of linkages emerging at various stages of the innovation process, to form a triple helix. This has at its core new modes of knowledge production, new entrepreneurial actors (the entrepreneurial university), and a novel triple helix' form of university-industry-government inter-relationship (Gibbons et al. 1994; Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff 1997). Limkokwing has encouraged cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial projects and has actively pursued wider responsibility for the personal development of students and staff, particularly with respect to future social, career and lifelong learning experiences. Seeking to align universities more closely to industry and policy agendas underscores what many commentators on the new roles of university are to society. We wish to see the creation of Smart Partnerships linking students, academics, citizens, business, investors and Government. Service Design is emerging as a new design discipline, and is showing strong results in both private and public sectors. Service Design delivers innovation through the holistic design of customer experiences that occur across touch-points and over time. It brings a different perspective to established service disciplines such as service management and service innovation, and both complements and catalyzes them. We do, however, recognise that there are often considerable barriers to building effective collaborative programmes, particularly differences between values in academia and extraacademic environments however we want to begin the process of consolidation and alignment now. The management languages, structures and infrastructures of the traditional higher education institution are a factor, but the importance placed on cultural rather than commercial achievements in academic contexts is of equal importance for a fully formed, rounded educated population. We have a range of processes that help us mediate and manage the relationship. The incorporation of economic development into the mission of universities and the further integration of the knowledge infrastructure into systems of innovation are shaped differently in various countries. 4.3 One of the symptoms or indeed drivers of first the knowledge-age and now the creative is that knowledge production a key component of any modern research-led institution is shifting. Examples of this are captured by Gibbons et al. (1994) when they make reference to a Mode 2 of knowledge production which sees knowledge-creation moving to a more exaggerated focus upon context-driven, problem-focused and interdisciplinary investigations and projects in university research and knowledge production. This differentiates from the traditional university model or Mode 1, which is academic, investigator-initiated and discipline-based. Mode 1 is aimed at creating papers, whereas Mode 2 involves multidisciplinary teams brought together for short periods of time to work on specific problems in the real world. The notion of problem solving
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research was central to the elaboration on the new production of knowledge by Gibbons et al. (1994) and their now famous mode 2. Mode 2 proponents see thus the drivers of new research efforts mostly into societal and economic problems, and the university as one knowledge producing agent taken into wider innovation processes. Problems that can come from social, economic, or technology-related issues in the community or in industry, a more complete description of the differences between both modes is outlined below: MODE 1
Conditions of knowledge production Conditions of knowledge valorisation Purpose of knowledge Grounded within rules and practices of an academic discipline Academic discipline as a single collective stakeholder Advancement of disciplinary knowledge
MODE 2
Grounded in context of application and expectations of external clients Multiple stakeholders, both within and outside the academy Solving of practical problems as they arise in social context Trans-disciplinary, project-based teams Multiple sites: universities, corporations, government agencies, think tanks, activist organizations, consultants etc. Multiple criteria (contribution to economic productivity, social cohesion etc.)
Mode of knowledge production
Individuals or discipline-based groups
Where knowledge is produced
Traditional sites: universities and research centres
Quality control mechanisms
Internal mechanisms (e.g. academic peer review)
Source: Gibbons et. al., 1994.
4.4 Marginson (2006) has argued that globalization and the rise of global league tables for universities mean that those institutions aspiring to global research university status should not go down the path of applied, locality-based and industry-focused research, as global research indicators remain largely driven by what can be termed Mode 1 priorities (i.e. publishing academic papers).24 Although this debate has largely occurred in the science and technology arenas, Ang (2004) has noted its relevance to the humanities in general, and cultural studies in particular, where knowledge production has become much more widely distributed, taking place in many more types of social settings, and involving many different types of individuals and organizations [and] to the extent that universities continue to provide quality graduates, they undermine their monopoly as knowledge producers. (Ang, 2004: 479)25 Mode 2 knowledge is generated within a context of application. Thi s is different from the process of application by which pure science, generated in theoretical/experimental environments, is applied; any technology is transferred; and knowledge is subsequently managed. The context of application, in contrast, describes the total environment in which
24
Marginson, S. (2006) University Rankings, Government and Social Order: Managing the Field of Higher Education According to the Logic of the Performative Present-as-Future in M. Simons, M. Olssen & M. Peters (eds.) Re-reading education policies: studying the policy agenda of the 21st century. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers 25 Ang, I. (2004). Who Needs Cultural Research? In P. Leistyna (Ed.), Cultural Studies: From Theory to Action Malden, MA: Blackwell pp. 478-483
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scientific problems arise, methodologies are developed, outcomes are disseminated, and uses are defined. (p.179)26 In many ways the shift from mode 1 to mode 2 consolidates the shift from an information age dominated by technologies of storage and retrieval, to a knowledge age. Knowledge has been defined as; information that is organized, synthesized, or summarized to enhance comprehension, awareness, or understanding. That is, knowledge is a combination of metadata and an awareness of the context in which the metadata can be applied successfully . 4.5 Purposeful education, informed through Mode 2 style of design and business research, would enhance students entrepreneurial efficacy through providing them attitudes, knowledge and skills to cope with the complexities embedded in entrepreneurial tasks such as opportunity seeking, resource assembling, and leading the business to success (Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007).27 Similarly, in design projects it would have students conducting much more open-ended research in communities or a sociological and ethnographic nature to discover which problems people are facing in everyday life locally, opposed to text book examples which may refer to lives and lifestyles in distant places in Europe or America (wherever the textbook was written). The types and kinds of thinking it aims to inculcate in the student are more problem-solving and overall creative.
Closed ---------------------------Knowledge Acquisition ------------------------------- Open
Fragments information Fill in the blanks Separates facts Produces formulas Creates lists points (on a map) Concretisation Training How to respond Memorising Facts are arbitrary
Connects information Write a sentence Relates facts Forms patterns Creates networks area (on a map) Abstraction learning How to think critical thinking Facts are linked
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Nowotny, H., Scott, P. and Gibbons, M. (2003) Mode 2 revisited: the new production of knowledge Minerva 41:, 2003. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 179194 27 Wilson, F., Kickul, J. & Marlino, D. (2007). Gender, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial career intentions: Implications for entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(3), pp. 387-401.
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GOAL: reproduction of knowledge
28 Modes of Knowledge Acquisition (after, McVeigh, 2002)
GOAL: manipulation of knowledge
4.6 The table above outlines some of the differences between the more traditional examorientated styles of education, with its emphasis on the reproduction of knowledge, and the more fluid form characteristic of the more modern takes of education which are more projectorientated and relying upon ones ability to manipulate and generate innovative and ingenuous solutions than simple processes of regurgitating facts. The two styles can be polarised according to how creative a subject-domain may be, such as the manipulation of knowledge, being more applicable to arts and design disciplines, while reproduction of knowledge being more applicable to rule-based and theoretical studies like maths, accountancy and management which outlines heuristics and rules regarding how to step-through problems.
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4.7 The two styles outlined above have also been contrasted in other ways, such as the left-hand column being more right-hand brain orientated, or atypical of the style of learning required by undergraduates over post-graduates (i.e. Blooms taxonomy). The contrast has even been flagged up in work by trans-cultural psychologists such as Richard Nisbett and even stretches to comparisons of thinking styles between Orientals and Occidentals.30 Nisbett sees a fundamental differences in that Asians consider phenomenon, such as westerners tend to see dislocated individual objects (i.e. more related to the right hand column), whereas Asians see only connected, situated relationships between things (more the left hand column).31 4.8 Like many polarisations and typing of psychological phenomena, it is typically a blend of the two opposites that work in favour of a balanced approach in learning, and of balanced teams whose raison d etre is for dealing with creative and innovative projects and problem-solving. Knowledge creation should be part of problem-solving. Knowledge informs decisions, but there still remains a significant challenge in converting knowledge into purposeful action. We clearly need to remember facts, and to be useful we need to be able to able to apply them in situated
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30 31
McVeigh, B. J. (2002) Japanese Higher Education as Myth New York: M.E. Sharpe Nisbett, R. E. (2003) The Geography of Thought New York: Simon and Shuster What is interesting about this study is that no comparisons with African students to either occidentals or orientals have so far been made.
Coffield, F (2008) What if teaching and learning really were the priority? London: LSN
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contexts of application. This perhaps how we at Limkokwing follow an approach to learning in the future blending the best of East and West. 4.9 In fact, education enhances entrepreneurial efficacy of students through providing experience of mastery, role models, social persuasion and support by involving them in hands-on learning activities, business plan development, and running simulated or real small business (Fiet, 2000; Segal, Borgia & Schoenfeld, 2005).32,33 In order to do this such blending must occur. 5.0 The model 5.1 The new opportunities that are being created by changes both in the way that business is undertaking research and development (R&D), and in the way that universities are opening their doors to new forms of collaboration with business partners, are characterised by various kinds and levels of interaction aimed at benefiting both parties. However, there may be a prevailing view is that entrepreneurship is separate and distinct from creative practices learned in academic contexts, that in college and university students only learn their occupational skills, and develop their craft and intellectual potentials. There is a view that they dont or cant practice the level and intensity of effort which is typically needed in the commercial world. Less apparent is the work that has gone into developing new approaches and pedagogical ideas which aim to make a Limkokwing education more industrially oriented and business focussed. 5.2 The provisional model we are adopting has our students interacting and interpolating with the local business community in a number of ways, scoped and scaled, both during their studies with us and beyond. The higher education institution is well placed to facilitate networks allowing academic, professional and policy-making communities to engage at local, regional, national and international scales and can provide cost-effective work and a chance for industry to play a role in honing the type of people and skill sets they wish to employ. Broadly, some of these interactions are as follows: Capacity building improving the capability of students to think and express themselves creatively with entrepreneurial flair so that they can locate and develop opportunities for themselves if self-employed and for their companies if they are employed. Policy dialogue increasing regional dialogue between civil society organizations, the state, and the private sector for better policies and strategies to overcome barriers to entry for the creative industries in general, and more specifically, our graduates in starting and sustaining their own businesses Fostering an enabling environment creating conducive environments through facilitated networks for start-ups whether this is financial, resource or knowledge based.
32 33
Fiet, J.O. (2000). The theoretical side of teaching entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing. 16(1), pp. 1-24. Segal, G., Borgia, D., & Schoenfeld, J. (2005) The motivation to become an entrepreneur International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 11 (1), pp. 42-57.
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Grant making sustaining a regionally owned, coherent, and accessible source of financing for young Basotho creative industries entrepreneurs engaged in development and implementation for a period of 2 years. Facilitated networks are distinct from the personal networks developed by students and graduates. They embody a wide range of interdisciplinary knowledge and will be available when students are ready. There is a fair amount of self-governance in such a system; it must develop its rules. We are particularly interested in creating situated learning through exposure to real -life projects - projects delivered in close association with industry partners. In this model of thinking, aspects that are often marginalised in other kinds of project work become more significant. Discussions aim to focus around issues such as the specific business skills needed to place products, including market and design research, sales, financing and investment and intellectual property; working to timetables and deadlines that more closely resemble real-world situations, such as fast-track deadlines or working within fluid situations; working in teams in unfamiliar roles and with different responsibilities and challenging unfamiliar task situations. Students should not believe that learning and working in these situations compromise their opportunity to be creative. However, they should be aware that in their working life most of their projects will be driven by exacting clients and their briefs that will curtail their choice of subject and how it will be precisely depicted, and by when it must be completed. In other words their creative efforts, unlike the fine artist, will be constrained within guidelines and deadlines not of their own making. 5.3 We aim to foster institutional structures which develop more effective links with the creative and support agencies, in particular local creative business and local communities. Students and graduates will hopefully benefit from mentoring schemes and other forms of work-based learning are critical to developing effective entrepreneurship education. They also suggested that higher education institutions should consider forming business partnerships with graduates starting creative businesses. In addition to being able to call on the institutions technical expertise and physical resources, alumni graduates will be able to offer their experience to students as mentors and contributors to the teaching programmes. 5.4 Ours is a model of entrepreneurial learning which begins modestly i.e. small, precisely targeted projects - and culminates in selected students being given the opportunity to start their own business or to join with others who have started pioneering already. There are a number of touch-points where external organisations, the university and students can always come together meaningfully to create value. Industry talks and debates Site visits Indusity projects Students Placements Industry supervision on the LEAP programme
It is worth here to describe each component in depth to allow for a view to the systemic nature of the programme being put forward here.
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5.5 Industry Talks and Debates We continue to appreciate visits from outside agencies where practitioners and others, including government officers, address our students on a variety of matters. Talks can be extended in a number of ways beyond just question and answer sessions. One possibility is to get various industry practitioners together with students into teams where they can debate issues regarding topical subjects. 5.6 Industry and site visits Visits to the locations relevant to the study can spark off new ways of thinking about the subject. Even familiar places visited with a critical eye can reveal some things possibly not at first realised. An example here would be taking fashion students to observe consumer behaviour in a mall. While they themselves may be very familiar with the location (as shoppers themselves), going there, being there, as part of a research project shifts the mind to observe a different set of features and behaviours that can provide substantive insights. The traditional place of visit is the manufacturing unit, however an office, a mall, a hospital, or hotel can be just as informative providing people have time to stop and explain their function and role. 5.7 Business and Design Research Getting students involved in business and design research is crucial to building the fundamental skills they will need in a successful career. In fact they can research their future careers through research. This is useful as one global opportunity which is in assent is knowledge process offshoring - KPO which involves business processes that require domain expertise and high-end talent such as MBAs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and other highly skilled professionals. It requires moving away from simply executing standardised processes to carrying
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out processes that demand advanced analytical and technical skills as well as some decision making. Some of the destinations from where KPO services are being provided are India, China, Russia, Canada, Israel and the Philippines. Typical users of KPO services are Market Research and consulting firms, investment banks and financial services institutions, and corporate planning departments of large Fortune 500 companies. These services can also be easily used by small and medium-sized enterprises due to the project-based nature of the work. Good business plans rely upon good quality knowledge of the environment or market in which a new business or product line is going to sit. Similarly, the more in-depth knowledge one has of the environment in which a new design will situate will have a chance to create a more informed design which better suits its purpose. One does not want to reinvent the wheel, so research can highlight work that has been done on similar problems before. Doing research on firms in their chosen career path also carries the significant additional benefit to students as they learn more about the challenges and opportunities they will face in the future. Knowing the exigencies of the workplace conditions in the workplace, number of employees, how tasks are allocated and distributed, the typical projects and workflow patterns etc. - will inform more realistic chances of successful placement where the student can state what they will do for a firm on placement, rather than asking what the firm what from them.
These stages can then translate into a series of stages or events. Diagnosis: working with a client (e.g. a mayor and his or her team) or with a larger group to diagnose the problem/or issue, or what aspect of an issue to focus on. Where there is a very clearly identifiable client for the process this is best done in a contained way. It might lead to work
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on: how to use a large abandoned building or piece of land; how to better integrate migrants into the life of the city; how to create jobs during the downturn; how to improve standards of care. Design: a second stage aims to maximise creativity and options. This can include scanning for examples from other regions and countries; applying creativity methods in mixed groups, with frontline staff, users, experts and others. Pilots: a third stage or set of stages then tries to narrow these down into models that can be tested or prototyped, with close involvement of whichever organisations are likely to be willing to fund or otherwise support them.
We would expect the subsequent stages focused on sustainability, scaling and systemic innovation to comprise a different cast of actors. However in some cases where there is a sophisticated and enthusiastic client or set or partners, some attention should be paid to these issues earlier on. As an example research on the experience that a product or service or process has is increasingly understood as important to understanding how innovation can add value to many people.34,35 everybody has experiences on a daily basis. Whether they are good or bad depend on many factors, many factors which can be influenced by design. Experience can be broken down into various dimensions each of which can serve as the subject of research.
Experience is largely a process, rather than a fixed thing in time and space. Being process orientated means that our students are focussed upon positive outcomes not only superficial solutions to superficially understood problems.36 Being focused on experiences and processes
34
35
Aarts, E. H. L.; Marzano, S. (2003). The New Everyday: Views on Ambient Intelligence. Amsterdam: 010 Publishers. Diller, S., Shedroff, N., and Rhea, D. (2005): Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. New York: New Riders Press 36 As such we encourage them to follow Frederick (2007) when lays downs the following heuristics regarding approaching problems. 1. Seek to understand a design problem before chasing after solutions. 2. Do not force-fit solutions to old problems onto new problems.
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means that our students can design products, processes and services for others which enhance daily life, whether one is at the top of the economic pyramid or at the bottom then can take the local to the global and vice-versa. They can make the universal in to the specific and vice-versa. The above can be applied to business models or plans as much as it can be to architecture or even movie making.
5.8 Indusity projects One of our students had the honour of having his design chosen to be worn by the King on his birthday. There is bristling opportunity to take an opportunity such as this a lot further. Under the Industry-within-the-University (Indusity) concept students can be witnessed partaking in industrial projects. We recommend that as far as possible, without radically interrupting the curriculum, projects and assignments should be based upon gathering local intelligence about the product, and service lifestyles of local businesses. The challenge is to find feasible development options that take into account their specific realities and in particular their scarcity of skilled labour, lack of basic infrastructure and very low levels of foreign direct investment... Business and design, its planning and decision-making should reflect local needs and local realities. And so there is a need to align with the auspices of indigenous knowledge (IK) research should help to militate against top-down development strategies, those emerging from the likes of the U.N. and other N.G.O.s. They have been accused of being out of touch with on-the-ground diverse cultural values and knowledge, and often following diverse independent development agendas with no overarching organising structure. For instance, many NGOs follow where the aid money and grants are opposed to really taking on board the needs of communities and regions. We seek to incorporate an understanding of local socio-cultural contexts within which know-how and practices are set. These cultural factors determine to what extent the people who possess the knowledge are willing to share it and place it in social domain. 37 A major endorsement for IK initiatives in the context of participatory development is that these will likely facilitate more successful interventions. Ad hoc projects include not only the fact that we can create ideas or prototypes for businesses, but the fact that we have a vibrant population of 2600 young Basotho who can be researched in order to find their opinions or attitudes towards policies, experiences and products. As citizens of the future, their voice is very important.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
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Remove yourself from prideful investment in your projects and being slow to fall in love with your ideas. Making design investigations and decisions holistically (that address several aspects of a design problem at once) rather than sequentially (that finalize one aspect of a solution before investigating the next). Making design decisions conditionally- that is, with the awareness that they may or may not work as you continue to a final solution. Knowing when to change and when to stick with previous decisions. Accepting as normal the anxiety that comes from not knowing what to do. Working fluidly between concept-scale and detail scale to see how each inform the other. Always asking what if...? regardless of how satisfied you are with your solution.
Mokyr, J. (2002) The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy , Oxford: Princeton University Press
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The existence of several constraints limits the impact of young dynamic entrepreneurs. An environment that is more conducive to entrepreneurship would foster the creation of a broader range of businesses, which planned properly would serve to support each other as well as the aspirations of their owners. Diversification is necessary for the economy of Lesotho and is welcomed by the government. It is widely know that in their programme offerings Limkokwing University brings to developing countries is something different. 5.9 Student Placement Work experience and placements persevere as the main way in which young entrepreneurs can learn and usefully gain one of the quintessential components that many employers are looking for - experience. There is no substitute for it. If we compare different learning contexts (family, secondary school, training courses, university and work experience), previous work experience is the most important way in which young entrepreneurs in Latin America and East Asia gain their expertise. It will work for students in Lesotho and other parts of Africa as well. We must begin planning early to effect student placement. Lesotho is more impoverished than the likes of Botswana to absorb students in placements. It takes resources in order to place students, both within the university and within the firms they are placed. We must strive to understand this. Also, how students join firms, what they actually do when they are there, and how they leave should be with the minimum of disruption to operations and minimal use of management and other resources. In order to help firms plan this sufficient research should be done on prospective clients firms, and some form of negotiation entered into prior to them taking up placement (including students doing sufficient research into their prospective firms to the extent that they may be able to suggest their own project within the firm, if this were deemed acceptable and appropriate). 5.10 LEAP The Limkokwing Enterprise Accelerator Platform (LEAP) is an alternative to placement in outside firms and agencies. Rather in this model students are involved in projects which are based within the university, using university resources, but placed under commercial working conditions. Supervisors are invited from industry to check that operating procedures and conditions are indicative of the commercial environment, and may also lend advice, comment and criticism regarding the task-at-hand. Students can work in in-house brands and units such as Wings Cafe, Wings Print and develop generic business skills and acumen. 5.11 The proposal The proposal being put forward here is that we enrol Government to aid us in the creation of external business incubation units. These can be viewed as a next stage approach to Limkokwing internal business units, where only the most proven students are given preferential funding, free or low rental, free or low-cost secretarial services and free or subsidized internet access for a period of up to 2 years, all in order to incubate and grow their business.
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The funding for this could come partial through donations from local industry (i.e. Telecoms Company), through Government, and from foreign donor aid (via Government solicitation). 1) By the time students have graduated they will have conducted projects and assignments which indentify the present state of local and regional business and its readiness to absorb creative industries input. This will imbue them with awareness regarding the skills market, and possible competition/opportunities. This can become an integral part of students coursework increasingly as they advance through their programmes, and form part of our academic assessment, even in the early semesters of the students journey with us. Such knowledge, in case study form, can be additionally be integrated into our teaching making it more locally relevant. A proactive programme of industry speakers, and follow-up debates where students tackle head-first the difficult questions and problems which concerns them, and work out and explore, through dialogue and debate, sustainable solutions together. Approaching semester 5 and their placements, students will fully research the industries they would wish to be placed in. They would identify precisely how, within the prescribed period allotted, that they intend to bring value to those they are placed with. Therefore, they need to understand by this phase the product and service development lifecycles of these firms, as well as distinguishing operational features that may mitigate a successful placement and learning outcome. By doing so, they can better improve the quality of the placement experience, and in doing so; improve their saleability to the firms involved. It is in the nature of entrepreneurship learning that technical and instrumental knowledge needs to be situated before students can fully understand how it is applied appropriately. Those who are not placed but join the LEAP programme, or in internal innovation incubators, should understand that they are to be judged not upon the success of their skills-based contribution, but also upon their grasp of group and business process and method. Put simply, we wish to inculcate in these individuals an ability to sell fish profitably in the market place if they cannot realise their ambition to be a multimedia designer in the present whether this is due to lack of local opportunity or due to global downturns. They should be fully cognisant of the generic nature i.e. the process and method of business, rather than be totally consumed by where their interests lie. This is the kind of soft skills and mobile intelligence we must inculcate in our students against a backdrop of uncertainty and change. All students can apply to join the external incubator scheme; however places will be severely limited and therefore competitive. Students, individually and/or in selforganising teams can submit proposals and business plans. A committee will critique and evaluate proposals and plans, and they will make recommendations regarding those they feel present the strongest case and have evidenced most motivation and drive during their studies at Limkokwing. In the end it will come down to individual applications, ingenuity of business plans, concepts and models, and individual appraisal of motivation. It will also be based upon the evolving needs of the sector as it develops.
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2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Skill sets and ideas will plug-in modular style to bolster business units, and orientate the general direction of the creative industries cluster as a whole. We will sustain the businesses for a period of two-years. Six monthly reviews will dictate whether firms are performing or not. Areas of weakness will be identified and addressed. If for any reason a business fails, or cannot become self-sustain after Y2, then it must make way for new businesses, or new combinations of new young entrepreneurs.
6.0 Where are they going? Our expectation We can reasonably expect a delimited number of options for our students on graduation. They will mainly fulfil positions in: 1)
Existing businesses in Lesotho. Here it is expected that they resurrect, revitalise and
otherwise augment existing business processes. They will take new skills and knowledge and match this with technology to improve the propensity of business to compete on local, regional or global markets. Existing business in neighbouring South Africa. Our graduates must be able to compete in the skills market of our larger and more technically sophisticated neighbour. They must, at the very least, possess the skills set which will guarantee them fair competition in the more established skills market of South Africa. Create new businesses in Lesotho. A significant challenge lies in front of us to create the creative industries sector in Lesotho. The pioneers of this should be our students, perhaps working in collaboration with others including government, scientists and technologists from other universities, and in complementary clusters with each other.
2)
3)
6.1 In order to realise point 1 above it is crucial that we identify the nature and state of existing local business, and, with the assistance of students and staff through targeted and tailored research projects and assignments which were mentioned earlier we move on to identify how design thinking and business process reengineering can add value. We must identify business processes including: Product and service development lifecycles, and; Value and distribution chains for all kinds of local industry.
The work here will include improving the sustainability of existing businesses as well as exploring how to revitalise failing or depressed industries. 6.2 In order to realise how our students can best integrate with the South African skills market we must understand something of the present brain drain which exists, taking young graduates from Lesotho to South Africa (and beyond). We must also something of the needs and requirements for our students skills and knowledge their saleability - within the South African skills market. Issues to be addressed here are: Where is the largest concentration of creative industry activity in S.A.? What is the scope and scale of their operations? How is their present requirement for human capital being met there?
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6.3 This being said the main focus of this document is to consider how best the development of creative industries cluster for Lesotho can come to be realised by Limkokwing graduates. How can we best support our students not just within the timetable of classes, the prescribed period of a Bachelor degree education, but beyond? Not just within the walls of the classroom, and the fences of the campus perimeter, but beyond into the regional and global market and work places. 6.4 Ultimately, alumni drawn from all three areas will form a network learning organisation. It can be seen how alumni working in multimedia in South Africa can inform those working in multimedia within Lesotho. New knowledge gained from revitalising local industry, could lead to new spin-off companies and lessons applicable elsewhere and so on.
7.0 Three layers 7.1 Following the discussions above and particularly that of the MODE 2 generation of knowledge suggested earlier, one can identify three layers to the teaching enterprise. Each layer can lay the foundations for the fostering of Entrepreneurial aspiration and attitude. 1: Teaching and basic research in disciplinary areas i.e. research on subject materials taught in course modules product is a case study or report, or picture, graphic, model, video, or computer app. 2: Teaching and research in multidisciplinary areas research considers ways in which business processes relate to design (i.e. retail design and its impact; logo and brand management etc., corporate video etc.), or to software (business information systems, corporate websites, capturing and depicting business processes). Research implies synthesizing knowledge, considering how knowledge in one field can relate to knowledge from another. Products include case studies and reports and IT systems, advertising campaigns, integrated marketing communications, presentations, new ideas and innovative planning. 3: Innovation (spin-offs, incubators, joint ventures, entrepreneurship centres, etc) as well as social forums. Products and innovative ideas from point 2. Above become actionable and sustainable businesses. 7.2 Composition of the three layers:
Inner Core: This may considered the heart of the University with teaching and basic
research, both centred essentially on disciplines. Departments remain the basic structure. Freedom of choice should be the guiding principle - Gibbons mode 1 operation. Funding from Industry allowed only if no strings (Indusity projects with closely monitored academic as well as industry relevant results). Should work closely with like-minded outside academic organizations (Lerotholi Polytechnic, University of Lesotho etc.). Student projects and
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assignments aim to profile local businesses and business practice relative to student interests and intentions for placement and employment. Students should be able to pick-up basic, fundamental and generic knowledge in order to help them plan, budget, monitor and execute projects.
Intermediate Layer: Interdisciplinary teaching and interdisciplinary theme-oriented research

i.e. Gibbons mode 2 operation. Performed in centers jointly operated by several disciplinary departments with the cooperation of outside academic organizations; clustering should be based on specialization and competitive advantage. Relies more heavily on outside financing from industry, public bodies and (hopefully) donations. Three key points emerge from Cookes (2002) discussion on clustering. First is that many of these intangible assets are open to local construction manipulation, encouragement and sponsorship. The second is that local organisations and networks are of fundamental importance in marshalling a regions people and intangible assets. The third point to emphasise is the uniqueness of place in terms of knowledge assets, history and institutions etc.
This is best understood in terms of the LEAP programme, or the running of internal incubator projects (Wings, Ten-Ten, Makanlah, Wings Print etc.). Students should be directly aware of the bottom line in business that is they should be completely cognisant with finding, buying and selling product and providing service as a generic practice. They should understand the nature of supply and distribution chains, supplier partnerships, how marketing can make a difference, and charging for goods and services in order to cover costs and make profit. This has been cited as a major challenge to Lesotho SMEs.38 This learning should be applied to their own sphere of expertise and help shape business plans which will take them to the next layer.
Outer Layer: The interface with the economic world as well as the social world. This is best
understood as external incubator projects. Here Limkokwing University provides additional guidance, knowledge and mentorship to graduate-led small and micro enterprises. If the internal based incubator projects are considered as 80% incubated and 20% supported by the agency of the students, then the external incubators are 80% the entrepreneurial activity of the graduated students and 20% the agency and support of external institutions including the university, in conjunction with the government (through schemes like the UKs R&D tax credit provides an important new incentive for business investment), working with international donars and the private sector. This layer should be at least financially selfsustaining and should aim at profit-making.
In addition to the above where following the UN definition of youth we can see we will provide mentorship beyond the university, we could also introduce programs which extend into the secondary school curriculum, and have workshop/seminar sessions with local schools so as to extend our entrepreneurial teaching into secondary school education. In all, we aim not only to teach our various subjects and to train students in the skills to enact them, but also inculcate the
38
State of SMEs in Lesotho: Summary and Action Points Moholi Business Guide Spring 2009
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entrepreneurial spirit within young Besotho and a sense of reality of where they should be going in the future. 8.0 Entrepreneurialism This section shall examine more closely the definition of entrepreneurialism and its component make-up. Derived from the French word for "one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as intermediatory between capital and labour," in English Entrepreneur is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome. As mentioned earlier entrepreneurial activity is increasingly viewed by press and governments and as a driver of an economy, and then as important source of income and employment. If we consider the important dimensions or ingredients of entrepreneurship we can recognise some fundamental patterns or traits. Acs and Szerb (2008) identify three main components; two are psychologically based and the other action based, they are: entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial aspiration.39 8.1 Entrepreneurial attitude is a term used to describe the perception that there are good opportunities for start-ups in the region. It is also the perception that one has the knowledge and skills to start a firm. Fear of failure is not a barrier when it comes to setting up a business. Entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions are influenced by entrepreneurial activity but can also influence entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial attitudes are important because they express more the general feelings of the population toward entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. We, working in collaboration with the private sector, international donors and the Government, need to foster a positive image in the minds of the public towards building a creative industries sector. Several of the multi-lateral institutions - The World Bank, UNDF [United Nations Development Fund], IFC [International Finance Corporation] and USAid - have fundamentally accepted the idea that involvement of the private sector is critical for development. We need to prove the feasibility of the creative cluster and show how it can work and sustain. 8.2 Entrepreneurial activity - reflecting a process rather than an event - consists of various components (i.e. entrepreneurial intentions and nascent, new and established business activity). These multiple components of entrepreneurial activity make it possible to explore differences between the entrepreneurial processes across the three major stages of national economic development: factor-driven (agriculture), efficiency-driven (manufacturing) and innovation-driven (knowledge and service based) economies. Lesotho is classified as a factor-driven economy. Entrepreneurial action is a term used to describe readiness and willingness to become an entrepreneur. It can be measured by the possibility rate of starting ones own business after leaving university. We need to foster, through an incubation-style arrangement, the development of an industry cluster where creative industries enterprises can work together to realise their potential for becoming mutually self-supporting.
39
Acs, Z. J. and Szerb, L. (2008). Gearing Up to Measure Entrepreneurship in a Global Economy, Mimeo, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Pecs.
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8.3 Many entrepreneurs start with aspirations for self and the society. Entrepreneurial aspiration or ambition is a term used to describe the readiness and willingness to become an entrepreneur (e.g. product and process innovation, internationalisation, ambition for high growth). These aspirations drive their search for opportunities to offer products and services, obtain collaborations, mobilize resources and take initiatives for innovations. They also shape the vision and mission of the enterprise as it takes roots and stabilizes. Finally, entrepreneurial aspirations or ambitions measure the qualitative nature of entrepreneurial activity (e.g. product and process innovation, internationalisation, ambition for high growth). If aspirations are realised, they can significantly affect the economic impact of entrepreneurial activities. 8.4 These three factors above combine and interrelate. For example, positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship may increase entrepreneurial activity and aspiration, which in turn positively affect attitudes as more positive role models appear. Self-efficacy is the strong personal belief in skills and abilities to initiate a task and lead it to success (Bandura, 1997). According to Markham, et. al. (2002), it is the perceptions of self-efficacy, rather than objective ability that motivates individuals to demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviour, and this can vary according to contextual factors such as education and past experiences (Hollenbeck & Hall, 2004). A recent paper (Gibbs, 2005) concludes with a set of outcomes, or a definition of the skills, attributes and behaviours of the entrepreneurial graduate that are free from subject-based or instrumental knowledge. These
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include creative problem solving (a skill), preference for learning through doing (an attribute) and putting things together creatively (a behaviour).40 8.5 Positive aspirations may change the nature of activity, and in turn, change attitudes. So we can see the interlinking nature of future thinking and positive projection, activity, and thoughtful reflection. This is the kind of loop we wish to inspire in our students. It focuses attention on one single pervasive question: In a challenging economic environment, how can a Limkokwing graduate put to use the creative knowledge and expertise of their education and make their own way and money in the world? 8.6 At Limkokwing University of Technology we have a publicised mission to transform Basotho into confident, skilled, techno-savvy individuals who can contribute to build Lesotho's economy by expanding it with new industries.41 However, it is widely reported in the literature that young people face greater barriers in starting-up businesses and these will be discussed more fully later in this document. The median age of Lesotho is 21.4, so it is a society characterized by its young. Youth is defined by the UN as those aged between 15 and 24, so young entrepreneurs should be understood here as those who traverse the typical age-group of our undergraduates at both ends both before they come to us as undergraduates, as senior school-kids, and after they have left us as young creative industry entrepreneurs. However, to create this new breed is going to take effort and support - Only 14% of persons under the age of 30 currently own businesses in Lesotho.42 8.7 If it is true that a new age of creativity is changing the way societies organise themselves for creative projects for individuals, governmental organisations and businesses, then we must build the resources to foster and encourage this. We put forward in this document a proposal that the development of a creative industries cluster which will service part of this need. While it may not solve in its entirety the sheer scale of the unemployment problem in Lesotho, it will provide a beacon of hope and serve to fulfil the aspirations of our creative graduates and the wider youth population in general. 9.0 The entrepreneur as hero 9.1 The entrepreneur in developed nations is often struck as a heroic figure, someone who encapsulates the essence of endeavour, enterprise and capitalism boldness, ingenuity, leadership, persistence and determination. They are self-confident, have high levels of selfesteem and are futuristic in their outlook as they seek to incessantly solve problems, take risks and learn from failures (theirs and others). They thrive on change and have a natural predisposition to showing initiative and willingly accept personal responsibility for projects.
40
41 42
Gibb, A. (2005), Towards the Entrepreneurial University: Entrepreneurship Education as the Lever for Change, NCGE Policy Paper 3, NCGE, Birmingham.
Source: http://www.limkokwing.net/lesotho/highlights/achieving_vision_2020/ State of SMEs in Lesotho: Summary and Action Points Moholi Business Guide Spring 2009
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9.2 Entrepreneurialism is linked to ideas such as innovation, risk-taking, creativity and wealth. Successful entrepreneurs, extremely wealthy entrepreneurs, such as Donald Trump (Trump Organisation), Warren Buffet (one of the most successful investors in history), Jerry Yang (Yahoo), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Richard Branson (Virgin), and Steve Jobs (Apple) are global personalities of enterprise. These names add to those historical figures such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. 9.3 Many pioneers also created businesses that in turn have encouraged others to start their own enterprises. These give rise to a whole new breed of Entrepreneur often termed social entrepreneurs. Sometimes this carries the notion of social responsibility that is typified by corporate engaging in community projects, charity work and so on but it does so to a new and more pragmatic level that can also be used for generating large profits as well as social goods.43 A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society as well as in profit and return. Examples come in the shape of the idea of microloans from Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank. These have helped thousands of poor Bangladeshi women lift themselves from destitution; Yunus started his idea with a vision, he imagined what would happen if a bank extended credit to those people who would never traditionally receive it. In the process, he created a system that empowered the poor by helping them become entrepreneurs. Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs through a Social Venture Capital approach with the goal of elevating the citizen sector to a competitive level equal to the business sector. 44 The moral is a simple one enshrined in the saying - give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him to fish he
feeds himself for a lifetime...

Similarly, Pierre Omidyar's eBay has made possible many enterprises that are run from millions of homes worldwide. In 2004 he launched Omidyar Network to fund both nonprofit and for-profit enterprises that create social value.45 Omidyar Network's model has invested $60 million in nonprofits and $45 million in for-profits. Such activities have emulated, and with rewards, it has created a new class of billionaire social investors. The open sourcing social solutions model aims to challenge the traditional focus of issues like human trafficking and conflict resolution with a broader, more complete set of stakeholders. Participants include individuals, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, public corporations, private companies, and government agencies. Echoing Green and the Schwab foundation identifies individuals with ideas for social change and provides them with seed money and strategic support to help them launch new organizations.4647 Also A more commercially orientated example would be Playfish has built its entire business model around relatively tiny micro-transactions. Anyone can play its games for
43 44
http://www.fastcompany.com/social/2008/index.html http://www.changemakers.com/ 45 http://www.omidyar.com/ 46 http://www.newprofit.com/ 47 http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/index.htm
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free on social networking sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Myspace. Whether you are creating a virtual pet or setting up a restaurant, the basics cost nothing.48 For extra menu ingredients and special accessories however, players spend between 5 pence (under 0.50 cent) and 3 (37ML). The secret is in sheer numbers. Analysts predicted 10 million global sales during the first two months following the release of Modern Warfare 2 (likely to be its peak) - Playfish has a monthly customer base of 60 million active players around the world. The object is get as many people engaged in the game as possible, then try to maximise the number of those players that can be offered something interesting something that they would be willing to pay money for. 9.4 These businesses and many others, including social networking, ecological thinking and many philanthropist and cause organisations consider more the social and socio-economic requirements in their creation. However, all these celebrity investor-innovators stand upon, or have stood upon, the shoulders of many, many silent or unknown others, in ever more distributed localised levels who also can be classed as entrepreneurs, and who sometimes by shear necessity, must take up financial risk simply in order to feed themselves daily. 9.5 The economist Joseph Schumpeter was one of the first scholars to develop theories about entrepreneurship when he viewed entrepreneurs as innovators. He recognized that they indulged in an activity which he termed creative destruction. This described his view of the role of entrepreneurs in changing business norms. Entrepreneurs introducing product-market combinations move the technology frontier forward and destroy economic activity based on older technology. 9.6 It is our aspiration that our Besotho graduates, enabled as confident, skilled, techno-savvy individuals, use creative destruction, creative literacy and entrepreneurial literacy within Lesothos economy by expanding upon it with new industries, or radically revisioning existing industries. How can digitalisation and networking and design add value, cut costs, and improve visibility of Lesothos businesses? How can our graduates and the companies they work with and for benefit from being social entrepreneurs. 9.7 We wish that our most ingenuous and motivated graduates working in collaboration with Lesothos private sector, with the support and help of Government agencies and inte rnational donors, and in concert with the continuing mentorship of the Limkokwing University lay the foundation of a creative industries sector in Lesotho.
10.0 The challenge the entrepreneur as survivalist
Our sons and daughters will not hew, forge, mine, plough or weld. They will serve, design, advise, create, compose, analyse, judge and write.
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http://www.playfish.com/
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Charles Leadbeater49 10.1 In the UK 2.6% of university leavers are currently assumed to be un-employed, compared with 2.3% in the EU. In a number of developing countries, however, many highly educated young people remain unemployed. The reality of the world today is one where more than 1 billion young people are between the ages of 15 and 24, 85 per cent of them living in developing countries. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 160 million people in the world today are unemployed.50 Nearly 40 per cent of those without work are young people. Levels of unemployment tend to be two to three times higher for this group than for the adult population. 10.2 Unemployment is also highest in developing nations. The ILO report estimates that at least 400 million decent and productive employment opportunities - simply put, new and better jobs will be needed in order to reach the full productive potential of today's youth Older people rely on their youth to feed them and provide them with basic necessities. Thirteen percent of the global working population between the ages of 16 and 24 are young entrepreneurs by necessity. Most are self-employed. Only a few employ others in their endeavours. 10.3 Evidence from a range of countries shows that education clearly enhances opportunities in the labour market, as those with the best qualifications enjoy superior job prospects. This phenomenon derives from two key factors. One is that there is an inappropriate matching of university degrees with demand occupations, and degrees are often conferred in disciplines that are less expensive to teach, such as the social sciences, business and management. We at Limkokwing cannot turn our backs upon the fact that digital arts and multimedia content development is a nascent and barely recognisable aspect of the local Lesotho economy. Our efforts must be educate not only students, but also local business, publics and government to the value that design and digitalisation brings to all types of business. But more than this we must lay down the seeds now for a distinctive and healthy creative multimedia and creative content industry for tomorrow. We must go beyond being simply, or only a university, to being an entrepreneurial entity in itself - one capable of mentoring and incubating alumni-led business from inception to sustainability and profitability. Entrepreneurship, considered within its global context, is a heterogeneous phenomenon depending on the conditions of where someone lives and the economy in which they exist. Largely it strikes a different poise from that of an Edison, an Alexander Graham Bell, or Henry Ford. Again, again, these historical figures fulfil the developed worlds heroic idea of entrepreneurship. The reality is that a Bell, Ford, or Edison are unlikely to emerge from Limkokwing, Lesotho, Africa or even globally today, but a more modest view of making a mark on ones city or raising the profile of Maseru and Lesotho as a brand for x, y and z should be within the grasp of our students. 10.4 Entrepreneurship globally can be divided into two broad groups. There are those who become entrepreneurs by necessity because they are unable to find other forms of formal employment or continue their education. And there are those which can be classified as
49 50
Source: http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/upload/pdf/Creativity_Challenge.pdf Global Employment Trends for Youth, Geneva, October 2006. [source: www.ilo.org/trends]
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vocational entrepreneurs. This last group are best represent our own graduates as this group are better placed, by education and training, to identify and seize business opportunities. Weighted to represent the total global population, about two-thirds of the adults aged 18 to 64 years surveyed see themselves as entrepreneurs in pursuit of opportunity and one-third see themselves responding to necessity. Countries like Lesotho with low per capita income have high rates of necessity entrepreneurship, the absence of an efficient social security net make the majority of the Basotho dependent on the proceeds of a largely unregulated informal economy. 10.5 Entrepreneurship by necessity, is defined here as that activity undertaken by young persons who start their own business because they are unable to find other employment. And it is more generalized among the poor and those with lower levels of education, and their ventures tend to be very fragile. The majority of young entrepreneurs by necessity fail in their ventures because of the existence of barriers to business growth and to creating additional jobs and becoming employers. In addition, they lack vocation and entrepreneurial skills, as well as resources and networks. Those who succeed (survive) in this group are only able to generate very few jobs and do not have a significant impact on the economy in terms of creating sustainable jobs and income-generating opportunities. Thus, this type of self-employment works as a safety net and, in some cases, provides the needed experience to increase the likelihood that these young people will be able to find a job elsewhere. 10.6 Young entrepreneurs play a relatively larger role among high-growth entrepreneurs, who are generally well educated and belong to the middle or upper-middle class. Dynamic businesses are responsible for a significant share of the new sustainable jobs created, and contribute to the diversification of the industrial structure and to the enlargement of the small business sector. However, university training in developing countries varies in terms of quality, and local and global relevance. Instruction and training in areas such as engineering and the physical sciences, which require more sophisticated equipment and technology, are often neglected as they are too costly for many universities in developing countries to provide. Instructors, by default, repair to foreign textbooks themselves the information products of the developed world. Case studies and examples supporting theories hardly ever relate to local exigencies. Subjects are taught rote style from the book, and this has also come to be the expectation by students who do not know any better from their secondary school experience. The idea of learning by doing is very foreign indeed, the teacher is presumed to know better in every case, and by quiet absorption of the lecture the student will pick it up. Students emerge from this kind of education experience offering little value to either public or private sectors. 10.7 Due to the lack of practical training in technology or science, there is an overabundance of students graduating with degrees in such disciplines as political science or education, but there are an insufficient number of jobs available in these areas. Conversely, engineering and high-tech jobs remain unfilled and require foreign staff to fill them. 10.8 The second factor is the overall lack of jobs in the formal economy. As most new job growth is in the informal sectors of the economy, there remain few opportunities for young graduates to find work that corresponds to their level of educational attainment. Many of these highly educated
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workers end up migrating to more developed industrialized countries such as SA to improve their job prospects. The resulting brain and skills drain holds serious consequences for the future development of Lesotho. Even in fully developed knowledge age countries, more than 50 per cent of young people obtain university degrees, but the demand for educated workers lags far behind the supply, leading to qualification inflation. 11.0 Technology and leapfrogging 11.1 Technology does nothing on its own, but it is often seen as a panacea for many ills. Alone it is rarely the key to unlocking economic value: companies create real wealth when they combine technology with new ways of doing business and intense awareness of the communities into which this business and technology will sit. The exogenous growth model (or neoclassical growth model) of Robert Solow and others places emphasis on the role of technological change. The original Solow (1957) study showed that technological change accounted for almost 90 percent of U.S. economic growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.51 Mosty of that change of course was process innovation within manufacturing the development and improvement of manufacturing processes and equipment. Economic development, including that in emerging countries is today based more upon the blend of innovation and knowledge. Creating business clusters is one of the strategies used today. A well known example is Bangalore in India, where the software industry has been encouraged by government support including Software Technology Parks. They act as a magnet for talent and custom in a particular arena. Technology has to be realised in the context of a lacking or problem in order to be of use. Melding the application of a technology, in a strategic way that delivers value or creates new pleasurable experiences is what counts in the creative industries sector. Technological capability is the resources (or knowledge assets) needed to generate and manage production-based and innovative activities such as improvements in processes and production organisation, products, equipment, and engineering projects. Much of the world has followed an incremental path of technological advancement that is changes tend to be small improvements in effectiveness and efficiency. According to Efendioglu (2001), strategic competitiveness has two main aspects: the ability to stay close to the frontier of technology and of integrated international production systems (getting ahead), and the capability and flexibility to accommodate change in old and new industries (catching up/keeping up).52 Technology transfer is traditionally focused around manufacturing, products and processes of manufacture. In developing countries it is recognised that opportunities bristle for exploiting new technology and new forms of business which appear popular elsewhere. Sometimes developments in technology in developed nations offer an unprecedented chance to leapfrog earlier stages of development and also plug -into existing economies and societal and production practices. Technological leapfrogging offers an opportunity for developing countries to catch up with modern ICT resources. Steinmueller (2001)
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Solow, Robert (1957): "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function." Review of Economics and Statistics, 39: pp.312-320. 52 Efendioglu, U. (2001): Technology Development and Capacity-Building for Competitiveness in a Digital Society: A Concept Note, UN Commission on Science and Technology: UNCTAD.
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defines leapfrogging as bypassing stages in capacity building or investment through which countries were previously required to pass during the process of economic development (p.2). In practical terms, leapfrogging is bypassing some of the processes of accumulation of human capabilities and fixed investment in order to narrow the gaps in productivity and output that separate industrialized and developing countries (Ibid.)53 Such plugging-in typically takes further innovation effort in terms of training and in terms of configuring or tweaking the technology to suit the local environment. Take the mobile phone as an example. There were no precedence for Lesotho to invest in expensive R&D in order to develop its mobile telephony equipment, rather enterprises were able to buy off the shelf, tried and tested solutions when the price and state of development was right. 11.2 Digital products are being increasingly sought and developed across all industries, as well as in companies specialising in digital networked multimedia: leisure and tourism; heritage and libraries; film, broadcasting and publishing; education and health; government bureaucracy; manufacturing and primary industries. As such their strategic direction and the scope and scale of their deployment are very broad. The creative industries and digital multimedia sectors are thus an employment pathway rather than a true, discrete industry, as the activities of such sectors are dispersed across the range of industry types. That is, they can service in a business-to-business sense, a very wide range of enterprises. The employment sectors that show the strongest pathways into digital and creative industries are education, media, entertainment, publishing and the arts, but general business, design and advertising are also important. 11.3 New technologies open up new prospects and new ways of doing traditional projects. Government as an institution relies on data and information. The digitisation, manipulation and storage of government files, including medical files, is one example of directing increasingly efficiencies in the public sector. The appearance of affordable digital filming and editing technologies has enabled a much wider spectrum of entrants into the global movie and TV industries. A stronger example can hardly be found than that of the Nigerian film industry. Although Nigerian films have been produced since the 1960s, affordable digital filming and editing technologies have stimulated the country's video film industry to make them the second largest provider of movies in the world. As well as utilising new technology they simultaneously open up new means and methods of distribution and help break down barriers to entry for others to takepart and compete in the blossoming market. They cater for an obvious place in the market for locally produced, locally relevant and locally meaningful programming. There is openness to technology and especially media technology; however it needs creative direction, discretion and knowledge to make it deliver. Bollywood, the Indian counterpart to Nigerias Nollywood, is the worlds premier movie success story. It sits clearly upon the confluence of new business models, application of cutting-edge digital technologies, and changes in social and economic behaviour. Bollywood (the Indian Holywood) produced 1,091 feature-length films in 2006 compared to 872 productions (in video format) from Nollywood - Nigerias film industry. By contrast, the United
53
Steinmueller, E. (2001). ICTs and the possibilities for leapfrogging by developing countries. International Labour Review, 140 (2), pp.193-210.
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States produced 485 major films.54 Not only is business achieved, but localisation, consolidation and preservation of culture happens when digital technology is utilised in this manner. 11.4 Entrepreneurs can take advantage here, and benefits realized, if they know how to integrate what is new in technology, have a grip on production and filming techniques, and can respond to what is fashionable or desirable with respect to consumer tastes. While radical and breakthrough innovations are a major concern of firms like Microsoft or IBM and leading Japanese firms, latecomers in developing countries, on the other hand, are mostly pre-occupied with the need to catch up through small, incremental improvements to existing products, production processes, and equipment on the basis of non-R&D activities (involving copy, imitation, assimilation, and experimentation). For instance translating to the realm of Film and TV, there is no reason to reinvent a new programme style. One can copy the melodrama of a soap opera, its formulaic aspects and add it to ones repertoire in ones own language (like having something like SABCs Generations for Besotho and speaking in Sesotho). 11.5 As we have noted already, the major drivers of the worldwide growth in the creative industries can be found particularly in the convergence of multimedia and telecommunications technologies that has led to an integration of the means by which cultural content is produced, distributed and consumed. At the same time the deregulation of media and telecommunications industries in many countries and the privatization of previously state-owned enterprises in these spheres have opened the way for massive growth in private-sector investment, with consequent effects on output and employment across the board. Underlying these developments has been a more general trend in economic policy-making towards a broadening of the concept of innovation from one concerned only with science and technology into a more wide-reaching appreciation of the crucial role of creativity in the economy.55 12.0 The global environment- the opportunity trickle-up innovation 12.1 We have said that in todays global employment climate change is usual, it is to be expected. For Lesotho this is not so much a threat as a great opportunity to imprint itself on a global consciousness. But with change comes new demands, such as a need to be adaptive agile and flexible, and most of all to be heard, and to be heard saying the right things. Mobile intelligence means adaptability and a propensity to handle all that is thrown at you as you commit to risk. Traditional institutional boundaries, regulation, security and isolation can all mean stability, but can also mean stasis lack of movement. 12.2 If a student cannot make good websites right now, can they work out on the back of napkin a better, more profitable, safer, more convenient way to sell fish in the market, or bottled water to large firms, or a bespoke settee to Mrs. Smith in Cape Town? Can you work out a way to stand out with your fish if everybody else is selling them? Can you make something with your fish that no-one else can or will do, maybe because they are trapped in traditional ways of thinking, or
54
55
Source: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=45317&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Throsby, David. (2008). Globalization and the Cultural Economy: A Crisis of Value? in H. Anheier & Y. R. Isar (eds). The Cultural Economy. Los Angeles: Sage pp. 29-41.
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believe there is only one way to skin a cat. Can you make your fish link to buying bricks in an ebusiness? Is there a market for skinned cat food and fish guts? Scotland is small cold mountainous country, but it has excelled in the packaging and branding of luxury textiles, beverages, and foods, it is known for its unique style of dress (the Kilt was originally a long blanket which could be used for sleeping on long hikes across mountains). 12.3 If current imports are food, building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products what can creative industries do to source or sell them? Similarly, if exports are manufactured goods and products 75% (clothing, footwear, and road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals what can digitalisation and creative industries do for them? A competitive environment, in turn, gives rise to efficiency, meritocracy, and further innovations and entrepreneurial drive. Moreover, the potent combination of entrepreneurship and technological innovations contributes to an ecosystem - including government policies - that is conducive to further entrepreneurship and technological innovations. Can you make a car out of fish? The truth is that the digital sector in more developed nations is still unsettled and chaotic. Many sectors such as the newspaper, travel, television, film, telecommunications and games industries are grappling with dramatic changes in their business landscape. This should be seen as the opportunity to make a mark. 12.4 That change is usual - few people in marketing yet understand that the shape of the economy is changing radically. Only in poor countries do things seem to remain the same. The biggest jobs growth and business growth in the next few years is set to come in sectors like health, care, education and environmental services, not in cars, skyscrapers or retail banks. Design of public services and institutions to deliver these things will become important. Problem solving is likely then to occur in identifying and formulating solutions and positive outcomes directly and indirectly related to these phenomena and issues. These should form the themes of students projects and can suggest businesses that can be incubated to provide for them domestically and overseas. Cities around the world are grappling with significant challenges, including: An ageing population, associated with increased financial burdens on health and welfare systems. Economic restructuring and increased unemployment and informal work. Disasters, including natural catastrophes, terrorism and epidemics. Issues of crime, safety and security. Migration and immigration, segregation and poverty. Social cohesion and inequality. Sustainable development and economic growth. Environmental degradation including pollution in all its forms, waste and water shortages. Unsustainable energy consumption and high energy prices. Provision of good quality, affordable housing.
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Connectivity including effective public transport and electronic motorways, border crossing.
12.5 All of these aspects create challenges and opportunities for business focused on the big picture, the global market of the future. Whether the above trends are reflected in Lesotho, or even whether they take such central prominence locally is no matter- they and other global trends can guide our young entrepreneurs towards what can be delivered to the wider world beyond the borders and across continents that is delivering to global markets. But it will require drive and focus from entrepreneurs who will take advantage of this, and a proactive and globally aware investment climate to support innovations which address these challenges and their specific needs. This of course does not mitigate the value of local knowledge and investigation. Many problems found by detailed investigation at local levels can and will translate into global solutions, especially if it means items such as assistive devices for the old and infirm, or elegant ways of dressing up ugly technologies (such as hiding mobile telephony microwave aerials behind plant like faades). Finding solutions that work in developing economies that are relevant globally is being termed "trickle-up innovation." In a period of economic downturn which is forcing frugality on companies and consumers everywhere, developing markets can be the harbinger of new cost-effective solutions to everyday problems. 12.6 There is a need to realise how new business models and processes and/or new technology can open up new and diversifying markets for creative goods and services? Take for instance the case of millions of people in Africa and Asia, with no connection to electricity grids or unreliable and expensive power access. This has mitigated the use and utility of mobile telephony in these regions. Solar-powered mobile phones and other gadgets are proving to be revolutionary. Farmers can check market prices before deciding which crop seeds to sow, speak to buyers from their fields and get weather forecasts. And unlike with standard mobile phones, they do not have to worry about their phone battery losing power.56 Trevor Baylis Wind-up radios and wind-up lights are other well-cited examples, as are solar powered cookers, but there can be many more.57
56 57
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200910150672.html Source: http://www.sunoven.com/;
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12.7 Sometimes it is not only innovation which is necessary, but imitation can be usefully employed as well. The success of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is based upon this and many other industries which have reversed engineered how things are done. Both invention and imitation require entrepreneurship in order to leverage market share and profitability. For instance, opening a new mall may not be a unique event, but opening a new mall in Lesotho may represent a significant departure in local terms with regard not only to the delivery of goods and services but also the range of products that can be offered. 12.8 Like consumers everywhere, the poor are constantly looking for products and services that improve their quality of life at an affordable price. The poor are also vital producers and distributors of an immense range of goods. Four billion low-income people, a majority of the worlds population, constitute the base of the economic pyramid. Their incomes in current U.S. dollars are less than $3.35 a day in Brazil, $2.11 in China, $1.89 in Ghana, and $1.56 in India.58 Taken together, the economies of scale suggest very substantial purchasing power: the BOP constitutes a $5 trillion global consumer market. C.K. Prahalad proposed three years ago in his best-selling The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, a largely invisible emerging market - the world's underclass - and called for global companies to kick over their tired notions of the poor as victims and to start treating them as "value-conscious consumers" and "creative entrepreneurs" in their own right.59 Prahalads interest is in business innovations that will bring those at the bottom into the market-driven economy. At other socio-economic levels of developing societies we can see other products scaled and aimed at particular market niches. Tata Motors' tiny $2,200 Nano, while still outside the affordability of many of those at the bottom of pyramid is but one example of a product which begins the process of inclusion for many more than was possible before. The firms ambitions do not end there; Tatas new tiny studio and one-bedroom apartments will range from about $7800 to $13400 and will be between 218 square feet and 373 square feet. Design and manufacturing assumptions honed in the developed world are turned on their head in these processes and offerings. ...one Indian entrepreneur has developed what is, in effect, a $200 portable bank branch. For the village housewife, a wood-burning stove has been reinvented to make more heat
58
Hammond, A., Kramer, W.J., Tran, J., Katz, R. and Walker, C. (2007 ) The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid; The World Resources Institute and the International Finance Corp 59 Prahalad, C.K (2004) The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing
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and less smoke for $23. For the slum family struggling to get clean water, there is a $43 water-purification system. For the villager who wants to give his child a cold glass of milk, there is a tiny $70 refrigerator that can run on batteries. And for rural health clinics, whose patients can't spend more than $5 on a visit, there are heart monitors and baby warmers redesigned to cost 10% of what they do elsewhere.60 12.9 Other innovations coming from India include the development of a $10 laptop. 61 Creating and fostering the specific types of environment where entrepreneurial and creative industry activity flourishes is ultimately the job of government. It must be driven by political will: ...given the multi-disciplinary aspects of the creative economy in dealing with the interface between economics, culture and technology the creative economy called for innovative cross-cutting policy responses involving ministries of culture, trade, foreign affairs, technology, labour, tourism and education. To be effective, public policies had to be put in place in a coherent and integrated manner for harnessing the potential of the creative economy for socio-economic growth and employment.62 Following imperatives aimed at expanding their investment in infrastructure needed for the use of ICT and creativity in the education and training of young people must lay incentives to incubate the sector, and support industries using ICTs to develop products and services, including creative products. To a large extent this is already in place through the Government of Lesothos invitation to the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology to educate its young people. But such investments should not only be undertaken by the public sector, the private sector should be very clear of the kinds of impact that new forms of education, both in subject matter and in style of delivery, can offer business development. They must open their minds to how creative industry development can accelerate their business growth whether this is in the form of a new website, new billboard advertising, events, tradeshows and so forth. Under our tutelage our students can: Research and identify existing and potential benefits of arts and culture. Liaise with business to identify needs and opportunities to increase investment in Lesothobased arts enterprises. Encourage collaboration between the arts and business sector based on recognising the significant contribution design can make to industry and industry can make to design. Promote the value of the arts and culture and their contribution to the social, cultural and economic well being of Lesotho. A truly creative society celebrates and honours the things of the past. Help country-brand Lesotho. Lesotho among many countries should develop a highly sophisticated branding program with one focus to attract the worlds eyes on their beautiful country. Turning in some eyes the disadvantage of being on the other side of the
60 61
Eric Bellman, Oct 21 2009, Indian Firms Shift Focus to the Poor Technology Wall Street Journal Chris Dannen, Jan 30 2009 India's $10 Laptop Fast Company [source: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chrisdannen/techwatch/indias-10-laptop?nav=inform-rl] 62 th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 12 session, Accra, Ghana [Source: http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/td423_en.pdf]
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world far away from Europe and the U.S. They should introduce themselves as a place to visit say, at the New Year, with spectacular fireworks displays shot from surrounding mountain tops. A product from countries respected in the worlds public eye tends to do better than brands spinning out of a no-where-land. A great opportunity to establish the attributes of its future brand that will bring more direct foreign investment. Lesotho could, for instance, start a process of exclusive luxury branding, from Africas mountain Kingdom. ''Luxury' is a broader segment than what anyone can define. It includes various products ranging from clothes, footwear, jewellery, watches, leather goods, and many others. Global luxury market is now undergoing rapid transformation. Industry analysts predict the market to grow and reach $2 trillion USD by 2010, of which US alone will constitute 50% of the worldwide market. If young entrepreneurs come to be involved with existing businesses in Lesotho, or in South Africa and beyond, they should be empowered with the capacity to revision, to restore, revitalise and directly and indirectly sell to the wider world the firms they work for and work with. They should additionally be able to adequately sell themselves and their ideas to the firms they wish to work for and with. In order to best do this they must fully understand these firms, their markets, their products and their processes.
We also have, then, a responsibility to educate both relevant government departments and private industry in terms of how design and creative endeavour can fuse to create good business. 12.13 Supply chains Clearly one of the most challenging aspects of growing and sustaining creative industries in Lesotho is first establishing the country as a location that provides quality creative products and expertise. The production of culture and cultural goods is deeply intertwined with consumption and the participation of consumers and audiences to the construction of meaning. Access to products and or expertise, will depend upon several crucial mechanisms. Firstly, the availability of what is on offer will need a consolidated publicity effort, regionally, then globally. Emphasis should be placed upon the mode through which transmission of products and expertise will happen.
Modes of Supply in Trade in Creative Services

Mode I: Cross-border supply Supply of services from one country to another, for example, sound engineering services or architectural services transmitted via telecommunications. Consumers from one country using services in another country, for example, cultural, festival and 49
Mode II:
Consumption abroad
heritage tourism. Mode III: Commercial presence A company from one country establishes a subsidiary or branch to provide services in another country, for example, setting up a booking agency. Individuals travelling from their own country to offer services in another, for example, an artist or band on tour.
Mode IV:
Movement of natural persons
According to the above model the various modes of access to/transmission of cultural product/expertise are delineated. In some cases, such as tourism, it is clear that consumers (visitors) must travel to the host country. However, harnessing the power of digital communication networks it is possible to provide specialised services and processing of digitised material (film, databases, architectural drawings etc.) at a distance. 13.0 Fostering the right environment for entrepreneurs Sabeer [Bhatia, Caltech grad and founder of Hotmail the web-based email program] refuses to give the credit to anything other than the culture of the Valley itself: Only in Silicon Valley could two twenty-seven year old guys get three hundred thousand dollars from men they had just met. Two twenty-seven year old guys who had no experience with consumer products, who had never started a company, who had never managed anybody, who had no experience even in softwareall we had was the idea. We didnt demo proofof-concept software or a prototype or even a graphic sketched on a piece of paper. I just sketched it on Steve Jurvetsons [Silicon Valley venture capitalist] whiteboard. Nowhere in the world could this happen but here.63 13.1 The story above captures the birth of hotmail, the online email program. Nowhere in the world could this happen but here refers to the fact that this story takes place in a venture capitalists office in Silicon Valley perhaps the best known ICT industry cluster in the world. This is an environment which has grown around the prospects and development of ICTs, and in a sense it has become an eco-system of innovation. New businesses and new business models can attract investment, the more start-ups the more support infrastructures and institutions gather. There has been much written regarding the culture of Silicon Valley and just what makes it conducive to start-ups and entrepreneurialism. Having likeminded people and businesses about, having access to capital and those willing to take risks, landmarks such as the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose evoke commemoration, identity construction, and exhibition it uses to mirror, focus, and construct and reinforce a Silicon Valley ethos and culture. 13.2 25% of total population of Lesotho live in its towns and cities, and cities are typically where creativity and culture flourish. Manuel Castells, showed that cities with a thriving creative and cultural sector would then attract other high-end knowledge jobs and set off a spiral of economic
63
Bronson, P (1999) The Nudist on the Late Shift and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley New York: Random House also: http://www.dfj.com/team/SteveJurvetson.shtml
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and social growth.64 They play host to many of a nations proudest achievements great libraries and hospitals, schools and parks, art and culture. Cities are synonymous with civilisation, civic governance and progress. The diversity, bustle, trade and civic life of cities make them dynamic and exciting. We must see cities less as machines to be planned by engineers, and more as organic, self-organising systems. This is the spirit of the new creative arts cluster can it be built in Maseru? 13.3 Foster the rights environment and shaping the right contexts are key elements to this proposal in that they often dictate the scope and scale of how entrepreneurial an activity is for an economy or region. Engaging civic and business leaders in those conversations is absolutely critical. But it is rarely enough. Creative cities need many places in which these creative conversations can take place in city council debating chambers, university seminars, coffee shops, community groups and squares. Successful cities Portland in the U.S., Curitiba in Brazil, Barcelona in Spain have many, distributed spaces for civic creativity. This includes not only intangibles: legal and financial frameworks, disposition and motivations of the population to embark on risk, the cohesiveness, openness and transparency of originations within both public and private sectors and so forth. But also tangibles: creatively inspiring locations, art galleries, arts centres, places for children to play while adults pursue continuing education. The arts and artists are hot houses and seedbeds for creativity and innovation - the new drivers of knowledge-based economic performance. [Members of the Creative Class] like indigenous street-level culture a teeming blend of cafes, sidewalk musicians, and small galleries and bistros, where it is hard to draw the line between participant and observer, or between creativity and its creators . . . More than anything, they crave intense experiences in the real world (Florida, 2004 [2002]).65 13.4 We should have within the creative industries a new centre for the arts, plays, concerts, exhibition, and films. There should be cafes and restaurants, activities and adventure playgrounds,
64
Susser, I. (2002) The Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Florida, R. (2004) The rise of the creative class: and how its transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life New York : Basic Books. p.166
65
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exhibition spaces, and nestled in-between, our creative industries incubation units.
Creating, developing and maintaining a creative industries business culture, especially from the ground up, is not an easy task. It takes patience, knowing that the process will be slow and develop over time. Development of new cultural infrastructures have acted as catalysts for urban regeneration and given cities more of a cultural image that also acts as an attractor for tourism and direct foreign investment. 13.5 Also government and donor organisations can help as in the case of the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre (GMIC), is a joint project ran by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications.66 Other development focused organizations such as the World Bank are also beginning to take a serious interest in the Creative Industries for development. The Bank has established a Culture and Sustainable Development Thematic Program, which is influencing aspects of the Banks work. Educational institute s, in collaboration with public and private sectors and foreign donors should work closely in making use of collaborative local, national and international networks to generate shared knowledge and a proactive environment where they each consecutively fulfil mutual and consecutive needs and attain their individual goals the so-called facilitated networks mentioned earlier.
14.0 The Creative Industries In the 1950s, in the developed world, the biggest companies were industrial manufacturers and raw material suppliers. Now, broadcasters, publishers and entertainers head the list. 14.1 The phrase creative industries (or sometimes creative economy) refers to the interpolation of the arts, culture, business and technology - Those industries that have their origin in individual
66
Source: http://gmic.gov.gh/
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creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.67 New value is created in this sector when technical innovation, artistic creativity and business entrepreneurship are deployed together to make and distribute a new cultural product.
The Creative Industries a Stylised Typology (Work Foundation 2007).
14.2 Creative industry sectors focus upon creating unique property, content or designs that previously did not exist. It comprises of the cycle of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use intellectual and creative capital as their primary input, as opposed to husbandry and natural resource management, or the preparation of raw material into physical and chemical goods. These industries draw upon culture, customs, craft artforms, and social experiences. The real assets of the modern economy will come out of our heads not out of the ground: imagination, knowledge, skills, talent and creativity.68 Such a cluster will propel Lesotho into its first excursion into the knowledge age economy agriculture, industry and knowledge age will then sit together and draw from each other.
67
The original 1998 definition adopted by the Creative Industries Task Force set up by Tony Blair source: http://www.wikipedia.org/Creative_industries
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Hutchins, M.; Kay, S.; Schwarz, M.; Summerton, J., (2002) Cultural Entrepreneurship in the UK: a suitable case for treatment ? Managing Cultural Entrepreneurship. The Second International Conference on Cultural Policy Research Wellington, NZ.
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14.3 Products of this sector are not at all unfamiliar to consumers, however they are diverse, ranging from folk art, conferences, festivals, music, books, games, paintings and performing arts to more technology-intensive subsectors such as the film industry, broadcasting, digital animation and video games, and more service-oriented fields such as architectural and PR/advertising/direct marketing services. Right now there is no definable youth culture in Lesotho, there is no homegrown music industry we can start this. This sector harnesses the creative power of collective desire and the political nature of any cognitive product (idea, brand, media, artefact, happening, experience, message, and event) in order to create wealth. Globalization and connectivity are new realities that have brought profound changes in lifestyles worldwide. This is reshaping the overall pattern of cultural production, consumption and trade in a world increasingly filled with images, sounds, texts and symbols... In this era of transformation, creativity and knowledge are fast becoming powerful means of fostering development gains...69 14.4 All activities listed above are intensive in creative skills and can generate income through trade and intellectual property rights. All of these activities form the subject matter for our teaching at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology - whether in design, IT, business, or communications. Discipline
Design
Example of Product
Photography, Desktop Publishing, Graphic design, Packaging, Stationary, event backdrops, Billboard, Signage, Retail display, web design, interior design hotels, restaurants, business premises, homes, fashion, architectural drawings Editor, copywriter, correspondent, journalist, Press releases, media management, video production, sound production, radio, film and television production, conference, concert, play, Business Process reengineering, business model production [ including digital and ecommerce], organisational design, industry research and reporting, business plan deployment, project management, quality control systems, brand development and positioning strategies, tourism and innovation Databases, interfaces, Web 2.0 development, application development
Communications
Business
IT
14.5 Designs influence on economies and sustainability is ubiquitous and undeniable. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. Business to business and interoffice communications are often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia developers may be hired to design for governmental services and non-profit services applications as well. Both in emerging and established markets, design products, services, packaging, textiles, games, interiors, music are
69
Creative Economy Report 2008: The challenge of assessing the creative economy towards informed policy-making United Nations
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each shaping lifestyles worldwide,. Design of products, services and experiences will come to dominate and define 21st century lifestyles for people or all ages, incomes and cultures. What do the Basotho students watch on TV, what music preferences do they have, what would be their ideal house be decorated like. Take any dried agricultural product, give it a nice box, and double and treble its value, as it hits the shelves in South Africas supermarkets. 14.6 So why is it that we cannot have a permanent Morija festival, at least somewhere to go with the family at weekends? Live performances; traditional dances, theatre, art, poetry and music which include kwaito, jazz and gospel concerts, art house film screenings, science displays, well thought-through activities for youth and children, including an adventure playground and arts, technology and science exhibitions such as a pared down version of the wonderful Exploratorium in San Francisco?70
14.7 We have already mentioned Silicon Valley, the most famous technology cluster; perhaps the most famous creative industries cluster is Hollywood, in California U.S.A. home of the U.S. film industry. Why cant Besotho have their own Nollywood? 14.8 What about a Besotho fashion magazine for those girls and women working in the garment industry? Servicing Cambodias massive population of young garment industry workers, Precious Girl is an affordable quarterly magazine with glossy, full-colour pages are packed with health and beauty tips, creative ideas, inspirational stories and practical help for girls facing real-life dilemmas. The factory worker's photos, comments and letters are also printed - the only stars in this magazine are the readers themselves.
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The Exploratoriums goal is to help develop future generations of curious people who can think for themselves. Source: http://www.exploratorium.edu/
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14.9 What of a Besotho music industry? Music is pioneering the creative industries advance into the digital world. The task of creating commercial value from content online or through mobile platforms confronts a swathe of creative content industries from newspaper publishing to television and film. However, musics digital market share by revenue is higher than in any other entertainment sector except games. A release from an artist today may appear in dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different products. Consumers have more choice than ever as to how they want to connect to and experience the music from their favourite artist they can buy a download, a CD, wallpaper for their mobile phone, a mastertone, an e-ticket, a music video, become their friend on a social network or sign up to a subscription service. In many cases consumers will choose various products and acquire these on many different platforms. 14.10 One analysis of the South African music business it is evident that almost half the sales (R442,790,888 or 13,009,961 units out of a total of R1,020,2982 or 24,182,659 units) are coming from local artists.71 It is clear that music has central stage in the interests of young people, and within the digital arena commands more revenue than any other digital product including movies. However Lesotho is impoverished when it comes to recording studios. 15.0 Branding Lesotho 15.1 Every country is already a brand. It already exists in the minds of others as an entity with positive and negative attributes. Based on these perceptions, other countries and individuals will interact with it, either contributing to its development or hampering it. Very few African countries have an identity of their own, and in fact most people cant tell the difference between Zimbabwe and Botswana, Cameroon and Congo, Zambia or Senegal. This lack of differentiation throws them all into the African melting pot. Thats why countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana have ignited nation branding programs in order to gain a nation brand of their own.72 15.2 Countries like Singapore, Scotland and Ireland have become "brand states", they contrast with other countries in peoples minds eye they capture images and develop feelings. In the aftermath of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, war-torn Croatia was left with a very negative international image. Its government decided that trying to rectify the situation head-on would directly play into the hands of its critics by making it an easy target to counter. The strategy chosen, still in effect today, was to promote the tourism sector aggressively. This paid off in a
71 72
Marketing Mix A dynamic South African music industry [source: http://www.marketingmix.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=1139] Source: http://www.nation-branding.info/2009/09/23/nation-branding-african-countries/
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number of ways. First, Croatia came to be seen as a country of lovely beaches and picturesque towns - an ideal vacation spot. Second, based on this attractive image, investors and tourists brought much-needed revenue to the economy. 15.3 In a short time, Croatia has managed to escape from its negative image and brand itself as an attractive place to visit and do business. Destination branding combines visual communication and marketing techniques to promote a destination. As in the branding of commercial goods and services, specific rules govern the positioning of the brand, the way its reputation is built, how customer preferences are addressed and loyalty is achieved, and how the brand is managed. It is an integrated effort, and draws from across the creative industries. When branding a country, structural, cultural, social, and political aspects interfere with goods and services, marketing techniques, and visual communications. As such destination branding should involve every sector of the country's political and civil society. The government and its opposition, official bodies, and local communities are all to be considered stakeholders. Not to be excluded, however, are private associations, opinion makers, the media, and private citizens. Although the goal of destination branding is often to promote a country abroad, there are also significant opportunities to infuse a genuinely positive emotional engagement within national borders. Destination branding helps ensure that whenever there is an opportunity for a country to express itself, the key messages and tone of voice come across with strength and consistency. Just think of France, Italy or Japan, wine, Sushi, Pizza, Cuisine - gastronomy is an important part of some nation branding efforts. Such an exercise could fashion an ongoing project for students and graduate spin-off companies alike. 15.4 The 2007 Annual Report on Tourism South Africa identified hospitable and friendly people as the second highest driver of visitor satisfaction, second only to the natural attractions. This is the face of Lesotho. The benefits of a consistent and professional country branding can be observed in every region they include the ability to win more investment business because the country image says the right things about taxation, labour skills, safety, the environment, political stability plus the chance to apply a made in label because it will positively aid the sale of a product in an overseas market. 16.0 Sustainable, eco-friendly, development design 16.1 The transfer of water through underground tunnels has made it possible to drive a 72 MW hydropower station, which is currently producing all of Lesothos electricity requirements, thus making it one of the cleanest and greenest countries in the world. Many major design companies including San Francisco firm IDEO (perhaps the best known design house in the world), and Design Schools such as the UKs Royal College of Art, have ongoing projects in Africa. They get involved with community projects as it helps frame their thinking. IDEO estimate their Kick start pump a low tech design solutions - generates $37m a year additional profits for African farmers.73 Design thinking can bring solutions to all sorts of problems, even or particularly
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Source: http://www.ideo.com/work/featured/kickstart
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problems of poverty.74 A project on the creative industries by the UKs Royal College of Art is planned in Ghana, Africa, for 2009. Why cant a home-grown design outfit work on such worthy projects, even teaming up with the worlds greatest and best looking for ecological solutions, green solutions to practical problems in the community? Why cant brand Lesotho showcase its green and sustainable design solution practical for the lower end of the pyramid as well as those in the west who already have security but wish to contribute? 16.2 If one of our main priorities in Lesotho is to develop our students into these young creative industry entrepreneurs - graduates in business who appreciate the value and importance of design and digitalisation in growing new business they should have the flexibility to design for the young and old, the able and physically or mentally challenged, for public services as well as individual clients, and for the luxury as well as the ecologically friendly client. They should register the benefits of digitalisation in revitalising existing or failing business, through design and IT specialists who fully understand the value of what they bring to a vast range of potential business partners. We would like to see many of them coalesce and cluster to form fully independent and interdependent businesses. Businesses creating products aimed at socially uplifting society while financially sustaining themselves through competing by ingenuity and cost with similar offerings in the Southern African region. 16.3 We therefore need to create impetus for working in partnership with external stakeholders with a stronger focus upon development out of design and business research rather than just the traditional university route of publication. The latter demands a greater emphasis upon interdisciplinary approaches and teaching particularly between design, IT, communications/PR and business. 17.0 The promise Always design a thing by considering its next larger context a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in city plan. - Eliel Saarinen 17.1 Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Great Britain noted in 1997, More people work in film and TV than in the car industry let alone shipbuilding. The overseas earnings of British rock music exceed those generated by the steel industry75 17.2 The film industry in Nigeria, the Nollywood story, shows how developing countries can be creative even if theyre too small to be engaged in the [world] market. As mentioned previously, the cinema of Nigeria is a nascent film industry in Nigeria, growing quickly in the 1990s and 2000s to become the second largest film industry in the world, in terms of number of films produced per year. The use of English rather than local languages served to expand the market and aggressive marketing using posters, trailers, and television advertising also played a role in Nollywood's success.
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Source: https://client.ideo.com/rippleeffect/workshop_kenya/materials.html. Blair, Tony, Prime Minister of Britain, The Guardian, 22 July 1997
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17.3 Nigeria has a big population that would like to see films about their own stories that have the actors that they know. Indirectly Nollywood inspires its creative young to look for the mechanisms where their voice can be heard as well: Dayo is in his 20s, studying to become a mechanical engineer for much of his life all he can remember is his love to one day play music, the huge amounts involved to get a studio session, forced him to circumvent and make do with a computer software which allows him to record beats for the lyrics of his songs on his desktop computer, but to be known he has to travel some 800Km to Nigerias commercial capital Lagos to solicit a record label and a good distribution outlet, he does not have the money to do this and with a gap in the digital divide Nigeria, does not have an outlet like You Tube yet which would allow him upload his songs and build a repertoire of local fan base which would guarantee him been discovered as a budding talent as obtains abroad. So for now he would have to make do with the dream in his heart and the songs on his computer and hope for luck some day. 17.4 A creative entrepreneur from Mali, Alioune Ifra Ndiaye is the creator of BlonBa Company, which highlights the interplay of several creative sectors, from production of artistic performances to the new media, TV production, theatre, advertising and music. The aim is to be a long-term cultural enterprise with independence in the production and implementation of free artistic proposals. A major success was the finishing of a performing arts center and studio with high quality cultural equipment with a seating capacity of 200 to 700 according to the events. This illustrated the importance of combining creativity, entrepreneurship and new ICT tools in the digitalized era. Infrastructure, financing and business opportunities are key ingredients to allow cultural producers and artists to be able to create quality and competitive products. BlonBa has been successful in mobilizing private funding and investment for the development of creative industries in Mali. 17.5 At present, BlonBa is in the process of building a creative study and residence. Under the support of the lOMJA (Office municipal de la jeunesse dAubervilliers), the project aims to upgrade from a training centre for professionals to a film studio specialized in animation 2D and this in cooperation with CEGEP from Montreal and the Canadian editor for the animation software (TOON BOOM). This will contribute to the development of cultural industries in the production of TV visuals such as Malian cartoons. BlonBa also has an antenna in France with the aim to ensure its theatre spectacles in Europe and international diffusion. 17.6 In many respects the dynamisms of BlonBa follows the kind of innovative approach to television which made success for Moses Znaimers Citytv in Toronto. With a view to creating a very different kind of television Znaimer and co-founders strove to "escape the studio system," in
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which "programs are invented in little boxes called offices and executed in big expensive boxes called studios." Sets at Citytv were therefore located on street level, with their walls consisting of floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows that swing open to allow pedestrians access. Hosts of Citytv's Electric Circus dance show routinely step onto the street to interview onlookers and welcome dancers. Citytv tries to make every corner of Toronto and its environs accessible too. The station has 100 remote-controlled cameras - the "Eyes of Toronto" - at key locations, including City Hall and police headquarters. MuchMusic another channel ran from the same building, tapes interviews with musicians in view of passers-by and hosts live performances with the windows wide open. All parts of the building can accommodate performances or presentations, hydrants provide access to sound and TV feeds, and lighting controls, so equipment can be plugged in any location, even Znaimers office. 17.7 Rather than sitting behind a desk, CityPulse anchors glide around the set amid working reporters. Sports reports are delivered from a corner of the newsroom decorated with lockers. Traffic reports are given in front of a bank of monitors relaying images from fixed, remote-site cameras that watch Toronto 24 hours a day. Rather than send a three-person crew out to cover news, CityPulse typically sends out "videographers," one person with portable video equipment that allows the reporter to host and tape simultaneously. 17.8 In cutting costs Moses Znaimers ideas also produced innovation and a very flexible, modular, no hold barred approach to creativity in broadcasting. This could work in Lesotho. The focus shifts to "Lesotho first," Stories fall in descending order of importance from "what's happening in my home, on my street, in my city, in Lesotho and then in the rest of the world?" 18.0 Real economic impact 18.1 In terms of income generation and real economic impact, the creative industries are among the most dynamic emerging sectors in world trade. In 1996, the UNs Commission on Culture and Development, in its report Our Creative Diversity argued that the world was undergoing profound change; that the old certainties were being challenged by a new era of imagination, innovation, vision and creativity. Since then the share of world GDP related to creative and cultural activity has increased ten-fold growing globally at 10 per cent a year.76 18.2 Over the period 2000-2005, trade in creative goods and services increased at an unprecedented average annual rate of 8.7 per cent. World exports of creative products were valued at US$445.2 billion in 2005 from US$234.8 billion in 1996, according to preliminary UNCTAD figures.77 Creative services in particular enjoyed rapid export growth 8.8 per cent annually between 1996 and 2005. This positive trend occurred in all regions and groups of countries and is expected to continue into the next decade, assuming that the global demand for creative goods and services continues to rise. The World Bank estimates that in G7 countries more than 50% of consumer spending is now on outputs from creative industries, and that globally the creative industries account for 7% of world GDP.
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Source: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001055/105586e.pdf Source: http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Webflyer.asp?docID=9467&intItemID=5107&lang=1
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18.3 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) believes that as many as 20% of all jobs in the US, Australia and Canada in addition to the 15 pre-accession EU member states could be affected by the international sourcing of labour by service industries. Perhaps even more significantly Knowledge Process Offshoring (KPO) is expected to grow significantly over the next few years. KPO is the process whereby businesses outsource high end knowledge or judgement services such as, research, sales and marketing, case writing and even animation design. Business analysts Evalueserve predict that KPO will grow to $16.7 billion in revenue by 2010 2011, implying an annual growth rate of 39%, employing some 390,000 professionals by March 2011.78 18.4 Among emerging market economies, Indias film industry, the worlds largest producer of films, personifies the notion that culture is big business. The industry is worth approximately US$2.3-billion and employs over 4-million people in India alone.79 18.5 In the UK and India the creative industries represent the fastest growing sectors of the economies in the respective countries. For example in the UK, the creative industries sustain over 2-million jobs, and account for 7.3% of national GDP, comparable in size to and equally important as, the financial sector. The South African Department of Trade and Industry estimates the craft sub-sector alone contributes about R2-billion or 0.14% to South Africa's GDP annually. In addition, it provides jobs and income for approximately 38000 people through at an estimated 7000 small or micro enterprises. The SA Designer of the Year, Tonic Design Studio in Johannesburg, supplies furniture to designers and retailers in Europe, the US and Africa, as well as handling numerous large-scale projects locally and abroad, plus retail and restaurant design.80 Heath Nash, who won the flooring section for his mats made from recycled cooldrink bottle tops, showed at London Design Week and supplies numerous international outlets like Isandi in Norway. South African design exports range from recycled bottle top mats to bathplug chain chandeliers and are being snapped up from Mumbai to Hong Kong and are increasingly contributing to local job creation and wealth generation. 19.0 Where are our students going on graduation? 19.1 Refsings (1987) four function model of the post-industrial education institution has as its fourth element the institution as depository or crche for grown up children. Here they are held until the labour market is ready to absorb them. This is a pessimistic view of the educational value of the institution. However, it does beggar a question which should be central to our very being: Where are our students going after they graduate is of great interest and concern to ourselves and the government and parents of Lesotho. While the country continues to be dogged by the high failure rate of the small and micro enterprises, we must look towards the foundation of new industries concordant with the needs of global economy, and to link them with those who would be interested in paying for them.
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Source: Evalueserve, the growth and future of Knowledge Process Offshoring industry, 2007 Source: http://www.ibpn.co.uk/creative.asp 80 Source: http://www.tonicdesign.co.za/
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19.2 However, many developing-country producers and investors are already benefiting from the creative industry boom, particularly in Asia. It is our conviction that given the right opportunity, and armed with our expertise in creative industry development taken from Asia, that we can help the Lesotho economy to diversify and develop to knowledge age status. 19.3 While it is a reality that today Lesotho lacks anything like a recognisable creative industry sector which can absorb our students after graduation, this does not mitigate the sector being founded and developed by our students. Indeed the current state of the private sector and media, advertising and PR industry in Lesotho generally lacks proper and cohesive understanding of the immense value design thinking can bring to all industry sectors. 19.4 So in addition to the focus upon the education and training of young people, it is imperative for the Limkokwing University of Technology in Lesotho to help spearhead two further objectives that of what may considered educating the wider population, and that of the government [Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC)] and private sectors: The relevance, distinctive impact, profitability and ubiquity of design in business. The role of design in the creation of socially uplifting, sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyles. How design thinking can significant contribution to some of the core aims of the Lesotho 2020 vision in fostering the creation of Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) that is inculcating A well-developed entrepreneurial culture in the Basatho.i
19.5 In addition we wish to develop in concert with the Government of Lesotho, principally, Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC), the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing, Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture, Ministry of Education and Training, Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation, Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, the public and private sectors, and with local business support agencies such as Business support organisations in Lesotho, and others such as the Business Council of Lesotho, Chambers of Commerce, and foreign investors and donors and aid a creative industries hub or incubator where new businesses can cluster in a way that promotes rapid growth. Cultural policies should be harmonized with technology, trade, social policies and tourism. 20.0 SME 20.1 The small and medium sizes enterprise has long been the unit of interest in economies wishing to develop and grow, in both developed economies and in developing economies. It is the unit which epitomises the need for support, although due to the diverse nature of their activity and the scope and scale of their enterprise they do constitute a problem for a general catch-net, or one-size-fits-all approach. However, the need to garner support is based upon the fact that the world of business is not comprised of multi-conglomerate trans-national corporations but smaller
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concerns that provide for basic or niche needs in consumer or business to business markets. This true in the creative industries sense as we may be speaking of short-run designer clothing; or conceivably a cartoon animation series. 20.2 All organisations, be they governmental or private, play an important role to play in creating a strong and sustainable future for a country, none more so perhaps than the SME. SMEs represent over 90% of private businesses in Africa and contribute to more than 50% of the employment and GDP in most African countries. In Lesotho 95% SMEs have annual turnover of less than M1 Million (81% less than M200,001).81 In a liberalized and open economy, competitiveness increasingly depends on the ability to incorporate new technology and management practices and often SMEs, due to their size have the ability to manoeuvre and adapt in the market place more than an incumbent whose momentums have driven them in particular directions to accommodate for their economies of scale. 20.3 The statistics on SMEs micro, small and medium enterprises - are often poor for a number of well-known reasons: lack of a uniform definition, high cost of an industrial census, and the fact that many SMEs do not register and remain outside the formal economy the entrepreneur by necessity phenomena. Strictly using the World Banks definition of SME can also send the wrong impression, as they may cover up the reality of entrepreneurs by necessity, by absorbing them under a definition that also relates to a firm of 300 people. For instance, it is projected that Lesotho has over 125,000 SMEs providing employment for approximately 200,000 operators/workers. About three quarters of the SMEs are headed by women, and are concentrated in straw work, garments, and services, brewing, vending and retail/wholesale. Lesotho must shift from comparative advantages (i.e. low-cost labour, etc.) to competitive advantages, namely the ability to compete on cost and quality, delivery and flexibility. 20.4 The majority of Leothos SMEs are actually at the micro-level, and could be classed as Entrepreneurs by Necessity. One third of them are operated solely by the business owner, and another third employ only one additional person to the owner. Most are retailers. Tourism, the professions and financial sectors constitute the largest of the SMEs. 20.5 SMEs also characterize the creative industries sector. A recent survey by NESTA in the UK, highlights the typical make-up of SMEs as consisting of small firms consisting of one or two people. Among those companies represented in the NESTA survey, music (45%) and Film & Video
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State of SMEs in Lesotho: Summary and Action Points Moholi Business Guide Spring 2009
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(43%) were most likely to be comprised of only one full time employee, while TV & Radio are most likely to be at the bigger end of the SME scale (23% 20-49 employees based on small sample size). 20.6 Three-quarters (72%) of one person operations have a turnover of less than 100,000 (1,246,518 ML) per year a figure that drops to 52% of 2 person businesses, 17% of 4-5 person businesses and to a low of 5% among companies with 20-49 employees.82 20.7 Across all businesses surveyed in the UK NESTA study one in five (19%) turnover less than 50,000 per year (623,259 ML), a similar number (21%) turnover between 50k-100k (1,246,518 ML) with a further 18% between 100k-250k. One in ten (12%) have a turnover 1million plus (12,465,180 ML). These companies were most likely to be found in the advertising (16%), TV & radio (15%) or high tech (16%) sectors. Design companies are much more dependent on local clients (61%) than any other creative business, although just under half of TV & radio companies (48%) are also highly reliant on local sales. 21.0 Business Incubators 21.1 Business incubators are championed by pundits as an effective tool to promote these new businesses. Business incubators provide managerial, financial and technical support to fledging enterprises. They offer office space, equipment and other resources. They facilitate networking, cross-fertilization and exchange of ideas among innovators and new, as well as seasoned, entrepreneurs. Business incubators help by offering solutions for the common people, and our graduating students to articulate their genius and turn them into commercial products. And in many countries globally, especially in local and regional tiers of government, policy makers have turned to business incubation as a means of achieving a wide range of economic and social objectives, such as combating unemployment. 21.2 We prefer a more broadly defined concept as the development of new or improved products or processes, and their incorporation into an economic or social activity. Effective technology transfer should increase productivity, by introducing new or improved products, by increasing value, reducing costs or both. Its ultimate object is to increase profitability, competitiveness. It is widely accepted that industrial success of a country depends not only on its capacity to produce at low costs but also on the ability to innovate and utilize key technologies effectively. 21.3 As stated earlier competitiveness is considered by all countries to be a prerequisite for maintaining high levels of income and employment. According to Altenburg et al. (1998), enterprise competitiveness is the ability to sustain a market position by, inter alia, supplying quality products on time and at competitive prices through acquiring the flexibility to respond quickly to changes in demand and through successfully managing product differentiation by
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NESTA (2006) Survey of Creative Businesses NESTA by ICM Research: NESTA Policy and Research Ltd.
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building up innovative capacity and an effective marketing system. Greater competitiveness allows developing countries to diversify away from dependence on a few primary-commodity exports and move up the skills and technology ladder, this being essential in order to sustain rising wages and permit greater economies of scale and scope in production. 21.4 SMEs then, comprise the vast majority of all businesses in countries such as Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana and so on. SMEs are being increasingly recognised as a key factor in creating social upliftment in developing countries. Most are owner-operated and employ one or two people. Most wish to improve and expand their operations, however, they are constrained by limited resources, limited skills, market access limitations, and related risk factors. The continuing health of our economy, our communities and our environment will depend on the health and growth of SMEs. Impediments to SME development in Lesotho have been cited as: lack of a clear policy framework; absence of enabling environment; unfavourable monetary and credit policies; ineffective and fragmented education and training programmes; lack of market driven specialised technology institutions; lack of supportive legal framework - no small claims courts etc.; lack of holistic and comprehensive sectoral programmes, linkages/subcontracting etc.
export
development,
21.5 This must be contrasted with a recent global conference which had barriers to entry for entrepreneurs in ICT as: participants to the Global Forum identified several fundamental challenges facing ICT-enabled business incubation in developing countries. These challenges included:

Insufficient national, regional and international networking opportunities to exchange best practices and lessons from experience. Difficulties in raising public and private sector awareness of the importance of business incubation. Limited knowledge resources for business incubator managers, their clients and financial organizations on the appropriate financial mechanisms, exit strategies and risks mitigation tools, which could facilitate investment in new small enterprises in developing countries. Scarce overall financial resources to help start-up businesses expand to the point where they can attract risk capital; and Inadequate access to expert advice on urgent issues facing business incubator managers.
21.6 According to Michael Porter, the competitiveness of nations depends on their economic creativity. Economic creativity is measured using a technology index (innovation index and
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transfer of technology index) and a business start-up index (Porter, 2000). The start-up index includes the ease of starting a business, access to loan capital without collateral and access to venture capital. Commercial banks and investors have been reluctant to service SMEs for a number of reasons, including the following: SMEs are regarded by creditors and investors as high-risk borrowers because of insufficient assets and low capitalization, vulnerability to market fluctuations and high mortality rates; Information asymmetry arising from SMEs lack of accounting records, inadequate financial statements or business plans makes it difficult for creditors and investors to assess the creditworthiness of potential SME proposals; High administrative/transaction costs of lending or investing small amounts do not make SME financing a profitable business.
21.7 The lack of appropriate financing is one of the recurrent major obstacles to the success and sustainability of new entrepreneurial activities. Youth, especially, are considered a very high risk by lenders, making it difficult for them to gain access to credit. Young entrepreneurs have the added burden of lack of a credit history, which thwarts their efforts to get credit or raise equity financing from the banking system or elsewhere. Youth currently rely on savings or turn to family and friends for start-up funding. Those without such alternatives have little chance of starting their own businesses unless special credit programmes are set up for them. This is a market failure that justifies government intervention. Innovative ways to assist this group include guarantee schemes that would allow young businesspeople to finance initial purchases of equipment and tools and provide working capital. Young, high-growth entrepreneurs could be eligible for seed capital and angel investors. There are promising joint public-private efforts and resources to develop and fine-tune this type of financial instrument. Also, almost invariably, SMEs are unable to comply with the cumbersome and complex licensing procedures, import control measures, taxation etc., hence they cannot access the incentives. Some straightforward examples of this included everything from the printing of business cards and brochures at reduced rates to providing an up-to-date directory of SMEs for interested parties. Government could help here as well. An example of how government and the private sector can come together to help the Lesotho Creative Industries Cluster include:
The consideration by a telecommunications operator in India to provide broadband access to all Indian business incubators at a roughly 90% discount. A meeting between the representatives from China participating in the Global Forum and their local government authorities involving to raise awareness and encourage their support in expanding ICT-enabled business incubation.
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The formation of regional and sub-regional business incubation networks in Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean. These networks will support the development of ICT-enabled business incubation initiatives and will seek to link these with existing initiatives participating in the "The Global Network on Business Incubation for Development." Enticing transnational companies to come and utilise the talent of the cluster. The World Bank, partnering the Nigerian Ministry of Science and Technology to establish Information Technology parks. In Indonesia ten award winning businesses started by youth entrepreneurs received around $1,900 USD from ShellLivewire, as well as places on entrepreneurial training events and invaluable media publicity. Included were businesses built upon ideas such as organic crisps, painted shoes and re-usable nappies. We will seek out other types of competitions and financial opportunities with transnational companies.
21.8 The incubation centres were envisioned not just as cradles for cultivating new-technology industries, but they were also seen as an important policy tool for fostering industry-academia cooperation and for promoting development in their respective regions SMEs. Currently, Taiwans incubation centres are managed mostly by universities and colleges. However, such centres that are found on university campuses have their developmental bottlenecks, such as those in relation to fundraising, and a limited grasp of market information, etc. For instance, commercial banks are generally biased towards large corporate borrowers, which provide better business plans, more reliable financial information, better chances of success and higher profitability for the banks and have credit ratings. 21.9 A high level of creativity does not, of course, imply that business success is automatic. In the UK Nesta study, many additional barriers are perceived to exist which prevent creative businesses growing as fast as they would like. Chief among these is access to new customers, which is something that 39% of all businesses surveyed mention. This rises to 54% in the TV & radio sector, 47% in interactive software and 45% in advertising. A high level of creativity does not, of course, imply that business success is automatic. Indeed, many barriers are perceived to exist which prevent creative businesses growing as fast as they would like. Chief among these is access to new customers, which is something that 39% of all businesses surveyed mention. This rises to 54% in the TV & radio sector, 47% in interactive software and 45% in advertising. It points to need for strong creative marketing companies to be set in the midst of a creative industries cluster. 22.0 Industry related clusters 22.1 Closely related to the notion of SMEs and business incubation is the idea of clusters or clustering of industries. Over 120 years ago, Alfred Marshall in his Principles of Economics (1890), addressed the notion of clusters with particular reference to the changing industrial geography of
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19th century Britain. In the first instance, industries locate near those parts of the country where the physical raw materials are most available (such as steel mills near coal mines), but the patronage of wealthy individuals and governments could also attract skilled people to a city or region, as with artisans and tailors moving to be near particular courts. Essential characteristics of cities as spatially polarized ensembles of human activity marked by high levels of internal symbiosis. Streets in towns and cities were often dedicated to specific product categories, where artisans producing the same kinds of products, belonging to the same guild, would share knowledge and techniques. 22.2 What Marshall observed in 19th century Britain was not so much the movement of the population from agriculture to manufacturing, as the use of large-scale machinery meant that growth in output was steadily less dependent upon additional supplies of labour, but rather the growth of service occupations and industries, that cluster around growth centres. The rise of services, for Marshall, tended to increase the specialization and localization of industries (Marshall, 1990[1890]: 230), as they can make a region less vulnerable to the cyclical fluctuations and the rise and fall of particular manufacturing industries. 22.3 A renewed interest in localised innovation, as exemplified by firm clusters, regional innovation systems and the concept of city-regions' (Porter, 1998; Cooke, 2002; de la Mothe & Mallory 2006).83 Cluster policies have been adopted by policy-makers at several levels of government in order to foster localised innovation and economic development and most have involved attempts to strengthen the links between industry, universities and other knowledge producing institutions (Gunasekara 2006; Charles 2007). This dynamic clustering will aim to achieve critical mass in the creative industries thus sparking off a new knowledge age imperative for Lesotho. Cluster theories bring together two dynamic trends in economic geography. The first is the tendency towards localization, or the clustering of firms in similar or related industries in a particular city or region, and the positive externalities that can arise from such co-location. The concept of cluster development is based on work by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter. Porter argues that economic vitality is a direct product of the competitiveness of local industries. Porter contends that regions must develop a competitive advantage based on the ability to innovate continually. Innovations are based on the following four key elements: Factor conditions, such as a specialised work force or infrastructure Home demand, or local customers who push companies to innovate, and whose influence is especially important where their needs or tastes anticipate global or local demand Related and supporting industries which create business infrastructure and spur innovation and spin-off industries Industry strategy and a local culture that influences individual industries attitudes toward innovation and competition.
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Cooke, P. (2002), Knowledge Economies: Clusters, learning and cooperative advantage. Routledge,. London
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22.4 Cluster development strategies are now being used extensively throughout the United States and elsewhere as a basis for regional economic planning. The new economy of California is now predicated on the development of nine industry clusters of which four are culturally-based entertainment, apparel and fashion design, multimedia and telecommunications. A distinctive feature of creative enterprises is that they thrive best in each others company, in places that have both a strong local identity, and are also open to the world. In the creative economy, place matters. At every level, from the media centre in a small town to global centres like Hollywood, creative enterprises gather together in visible hotspots which, when fully established, become self-sustaining clusters of creative activity.84 This aspect of knowledge development is important for our students who are facing industrial placement; some may not be able to be placed internally with firms in Lesotho, and so some may have to commit to real world skills development internally (the LEAP programme), or find placements in S.A. 22.5 University and independent science parks, technology parks, research parks, business incubators, technology centres, business parks, innovation centres, technopoles all represent conscious attempts at clustering related industries in order to enhance capacities for innovation. A classic example and fundamental to Finlands redevelopment in the 1990s, for instance, was the establishment of 22 Science Parks, specifically located on or near universities to promote the creation of new businesses in the regions. Fifteen years of experience has shown that they foster the founding, growth and internationalisation of innovative high-tech companies and act as conduits in collaboration with universities, companies and local authorities. They successfully bring together many players in joint research and development projects and actively identify research breakthroughs for commercialisation and technology transfer. Following this view, which sees the importance of co-location limited without understanding the systems of interactions which are embedded in a specific place, a new centrality of interactions emerge - specifically those interactions which cannot be captured by a supply-chain model. The importance of exchanges based on knowledge sharing and the multi-level of interaction direct us towards a knowledge pool understanding of the dynamics of the sector. 22.6 Indias phenomenal growth in software development owes itself partly to the creation of preferential treatment for firms in zones. It is viewed that India's IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services industry could earn revenue of $60 billion by the year 2010, growing at over 25 percent a year.85 Software Technology Parks of India is an autonomous organisation set up set up by the Department of Communication & Information Technology, Government Of India, in 1991, with the objective of encouraging, promoting and boosting the software exports from India. It provides infrastructure assistance and communication links.86 These centres get
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Hosting Creative Clusters Request for Proposals, Creative Custer Ltd. [source: http://www.creativeclusters.com/docs/docs/HostingCC.pdf] 85 Source: http://www.nasscom.org/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id=53404 86 Source: http://www.stpi.in/
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duty free import, income tax exemptions, dedicated high speed data communication links and single window government clearances. 22.7 In Singapore, the development of high-tech activities is linked to the development of six Science Parks, while in India developments have been clustered in regions with Science Park elements. China and Brazil have followed the same example and the developments in the Balkans are similar. 22.8 While the concept is new to the Southern African region, the Gauteng Provincial Government, through Blue IQ, took a bold step in 2000 when it announced the development of The Innovation Hub as one of its major projects to stimulate economic growth in the province. 22.9 The Incubator concept is considered one of the best means of promoting business growth by effectively linking Talent, Technology, Capital and Professional know-how. For instance, the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre, a partnership between with the UNDP, and the Ghanaian Government through the Ministry of Communications was set up to help overcome bureaucratic obstacles and provides affordable Space and Business facilities, thus reducing the costs of Business Start-ups. It will also provide Advisory, Training and Information Services, Management and Marketing Support, linkages to Research facilities and access to Capital thereby greatly enhancing the chances of success of the early-stage Technopreneur, to coin a term. 22.10 The case of Ghana was presented where they are seeking to promote educational curricula which lift their artisans out of the trap of producing tourist artefacts, which honour the sophisticated artisan craft skills and which begins the process of producing products and services that are attractive to international markets. Ghana has begun this process by establishing a Design Research Lab at the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. Their multi-disciplinary approach seeks to: lobby for supporting policies where required, understand and work from the local contexts and levels of development, create a value network of local institutions, organisations and commercial interests, create supporting centres of excellence, place international teams of designers with local designers to create new products and services, mentor teams with subject matter experts, create sustainable networks across an entire value chain from conception through realisation, distribution and sales of products establish teaching curricula which support a design led, constructive approach establish teaching curricula which support and actively encourages innovation creates products and services which can be crafted locally, and which are attractive to international markets use internet enabled distribution methods where possible
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22.12 In any Incubator project there will be five major processes that must be established including putting up necessary infrastructure, identifying and selecting tenants, training of tenants and other stakeholders, uploading content, and launching of the programme which will include an exhibition of products by tenants who have already gone through the pre-incubation and incubation processes. 22.13 Development aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, social and political development of developing countries. The EU (comprising the 27 Members States and the European Commission) is the world's biggest donor of development aid. The EU spent 48,6 billions in development aid in 2008. The creative industry ecology is one of whales and plankton: a handful of high-profile global players, stars and multinational companies, dependent upon vast shoals of projectbased micro-enterprises. From the surface, only the bigger players are visible, but these big fish are wholly dependent on the small fry further along the supply chain . . . Although new creative content tends to be made by small enterprises, most of the distribution channels are controlled by large multinationals. Many of these are household names: Fox, AOL-Time Warner, Reuters, Disney, Sony, EMI, the BBC. Because of the disparity in size and scale between creators and distributors, communication along the supply chain is often problematic.87 22.14 The Creative Enterprise programme of the British Council is designed to engage with creative industries professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its vision is to create an active network of artists and creative entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa with the professional skills to advance their careers, businesses, and the creative industries sector in their country. The mission is to help artists and creative entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa foster a growing and sustainable creative sector through a programme of professional development and networking which draws from the best of a decade of experience from the UK. There are several different activities which form the Creative Enterprise programme: For instance in several countries across the continent, regular WAPi events provide artists, representing a multitude of art forms, with a forum to explore and foster their own freedom of expression through performance and visual arts.
The Creative Enterprise training programme aims to help creative entrepreneurs in SubSaharan Africa foster a growing and sustainable creative sector through a programme of professional development and networking.
87
Source: http://www.creativeclusters.com
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The International Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards helps identify and celebrate some of
the brightest creative and entrepreneurial talent in Africa, which in turn feeds into WAPI and the Creative Enterprise training programme. 22.15 The aim of clustering is to create an infrastructure to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, strengthen horizontal production links and lobby joint interests. The start-up does not possess all the resources and capabilities needed. It experiences a gap between the competences it has and the competencies required for formulating and implementing its strategy. It experiences a gap between the resources it has at hand and the resources which may be required. It experiences a gap between the product and the markets in which it circulates. Bridging these gaps with little or no loss of time is the challenge. This translates further into congregating competent people and technology, and facilitating learning and networking within the resource constraints of the enterprise. 22.16 Clustering of firms is playing a prominent role in fostering competitiveness and growth in many countries. As illustrated there is now growing evidence that when large firms and SMEs work in clusters, individual efforts are complemented, resulting in increased collective efficiency and improved management both at strategic and operational levels. Clusters that have reached critical mass need relatively little support or maintenance. 23.0 Conclusion The creative economy also seems to be a feasible option for developing countries. If effective public policies are in place, the creative economy generates cross-cutting linkages with the overall economy at macro and micro levels. It thus fosters a development dimension, offering new opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.88 23.1 It may seem at first glance looking through the dearth of high-tech programmes on offer at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology that the institution has fallen upon the country from Mars. The BSc. (Hons.) degrees in mobile games design, the Diploma course in Virtual Reality, hardly the type of skills one may need to more effectively grow crops in the difficult soil or those that help one enhance the efficiency of the production line. 23.2 But surprise may come to those who learn that Virtual Reality (VR) has already been applied, along with Artificial [or computer] intelligence and geographic information system (G.I.S.) data, to the study of agricultural scenarios. These include the impact of different pest infestations or if certain soil improvers and fertilisers were employed, or what might happen to our crops if we have a very hot summer. And not just in agriculture, VR appears across many industry sectors from mining to medicine to the design of kitchens. ICTs and their propensity for saving time and
88
Source: Creative economies Report, UNDP [source: http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ditc20082cer_en.pdf]
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performing number-crunching, visualisation, and processing are only bound with what one can imagine thus the need for developing, adapting and assimilating ideas. 24.3 You may also be surprised to learn that mobile phones and more precisely, mobile games on mobile phones are being employed in distance education trials in India. As in Lesotho, there are very remote areas where it is very difficult for poor children to go to school regularly. ii The mobile phone is being tried as a provider of basic education, while for the parents; it can also provide access to essential agricultural information such as current market prices for their goods. 24.4 Presently we dont offer either Mobile Computing or Virtual Reality at Limkokwing Lesotho but that is not to say we wont in the future. As we can see virtual reality and mobile gaming, both information age technologies - have relevance to both to so-called agricultural and industrial age activity. But our mission here is not simply to propel Lesotho abruptly into the information or knowledge age. It is to go one further, taking our students to what has been described by the business writer Daniel H. Pink as the conceptual age - a new age in economic history which will elevate those who are nimble and creative.iii
22.5 In the caption above we can see the move from unskilled [agricultural age] work, through skilled [manufacturing industrial age] work, through the knowledge and information-based work to what Pink refers to as the conceptual age. To leapfrog from a factor-driven economy to one which propels its development and competitiveness by innovation these conceptual age ideas must not only be encouraged by leading-edge educational principles but also by a political will to make it happen and financial and other resources to kindle the flame. 22.6 Economists have long searched for the holy grail of economic growth: three factors emerge as key over the long term - innovation, which is the invention and application of new ideas; population - the quantity and quality of human resources; and what could be called institutions, being the financial, political, legal and cultural milieu within which people and ideas can come together. Education is a crucial determinant of peoples life chances, and it particularly affects the integration of youth into labour markets. An American survey of incubated firms found that most
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firms that graduate from business incubators - an average of 84 percent remain in their communities, the study concludes, and business incubation programs assist companies that create many new jobs. In 1996, incubators reported on average that their firms had created 468 jobs directly and 234 additional "spin-off" jobs in the community for a total of 702 jobs.89 A cluster of creative enterprises needs much more than the standard vision of a business park next to a technology campus. A creative cluster includes non-profit enterprises, cultural institutions, arts venues and individual artists alongside the science park and the media centre. 22.7 Clearly, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and so cannot be viewed as a large-scale solution to the youth employment crisis. Joseph Shumpeter gave two theories regarding entrepreneurial activity, sometimes called Mark I and Mark II. In the first one, the early one, Schumpeter argued that the innovation and technological change of a nation comes from the entrepreneurs, or wild spirits. He believed that these individuals are the ones who make things work in the economy of the country. However, we must track the development of students as they come to realise the challenge and potential rewards of striking out on their own. We have to be au fait with the perception of students towards self-employment intention? What is the current entrepreneurial aspiration of our students? What is the students perception of their attitude towards self-employment? What is the students perception on constructs such as subjective norm, community support, entrepreneurial efficacy and entrepreneurial interest?
22.8 Schumpeter in his Mark II manifestation, developed during his time as a professor at Harvard, asserted that the actors that drive innovation and the economy are big companies which have the resources and capital to invest in research and development. The research that must be done here must be in the nature of: Who are the big players, globally and regionally in creative industries products both in production and in buying? How can we best facilitate large media and creative TNCs to take our products? What are the barriers to entry in the global and regional creative industries markets? How can the creative industries help develop other business sectors in Lesotho to help them grow? How can we, as an institution help with the R&D activities of local firms?
89
The study, completed in October, was conducted by the University of Michigan, NBIA, Ohio University and the Southern Technology Council [source: www.nbia.org]
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22.9 Both Mark I and Mark II are complementary today. Entrepreneurship requires some business acumen and an entrepreneurial spirit, which many youth do not have and cannot acquire, even after training. Furthermore, micro and small enterprises tend to experience very high rates of failure, so they have a limited capacity to create sustainable employment. Self-employment can therefore be considered part of an integrated youth employment strategy, but not a solution in itself. So some of our graduates will have to join both the local and South African skills market. It will require incisive knowledge development of the creative industries sector, the distribution and value chains that can be built, and a determined and powerful marketing effort. The reviews of de La Mothe and Mallory (2006) emphasise the widespread significance of local innovation initiatives involving local institutions, regional and national governments and multinational agencies in constructing advantage. What emerges is that local economic advantage is an artifice, and a dynamic artifice at that. It blends comparative and competitive advantage increasingly with what has been termed constructed advantage. 22.10 Based upon the recent economic downturn it is not likely that the American dream of luxury and excess will sustain. It is more likely, following the advice of leading economists and designers that developed nations will seek out ways to live more simply and source more locally, while the developing world will still seek to upgrade its living conditions and build more concrete and steel tower blocks.90 Words like green, sustainable, Eco, followed by friendly, conscious, aware etc have become a mainstay in the national and international vernacular, because the effects of our actions as a human race is becoming more apparent. We believe there are great opportunities in using Lesotho as a test-bed and lab for exploring trickle-up innovations that is, relevant and costeffective solutions to everyday living problems for all regardless of income. We are not alone in some of the worlds top design firms and schools are also shifting focus to this such as IDEO and Stanford's design school, where there is now a class within their curriculum entitled: Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability.91 22.11 It may be in the future, in the name of sustainability that a plateau or meeting ground will form. New dreams rooted in the ideals of equality, independence, responsibility, community, and creativity, can flourish, and businesses should take note of the new trends. Perhaps materialism is on the decline forever, and quality of life or existence is the new plateaus?
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The twin towers of Gold Tower 42 in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, are to be 42 storeys high - almost three times higher than the current tallest building. It is the first of three skyscrapers planned in the capital, where the skyline has been kept low - in part to avoid overshadowing royal palaces. But the government has encouraged the new buildings as symbols of Cambodia's development after decades of conflict. 91 http://extreme.stanford.edu/big_picture/our_vision.html
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i ii
Lesothos Vision 2020, p.6
iii
http://www.millee.org/ Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. New York: Riverhead Hardcover
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Kickstarting a creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Dr. Derek W. Nicoll Nov. 2009

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Mode of knowledge production

Individuals or discipline-based groups

Where knowledge is produced

Traditional sites: universities and research centres

Quality control mechanisms

Internal mechanisms (e.g. academic peer review)

Source: Gibbons et. al., 1994.

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

GOAL: manipulation of knowledge

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Intermediate Layer: Interdisciplinary teaching and interdisciplinary theme-oriented research

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

feeds himself for a lifetime...

http://www.fastcompany.com/social/2008/index.html http://www.changemakers.com/ 45 http://www.omidyar.com/ 46 http://www.newprofit.com/ 47 http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/index.htm

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

10.0 The challenge the entrepreneur as survivalist

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200910150672.html Source: http://www.sunoven.com/;

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Kickstarting the creative industries sector in Lesotho: A discussion paper

Modes of Supply in Trade in Creative Services