In the West and across much of Asia, the wealthy treat the arts as infrastructure. Not decoration. Not charity. Infrastructure.
Film, music, museums, literature, fashion, architecture—these are not viewed as indulgences but as long-term strategic assets. They shape national identity, export values, influence geopolitics, attract capital, and outlive any single business cycle. In these societies, culture is understood as soft power with hard economic consequences.
This is not accidental. It is designed. Culture Is a Compounding Asset Hollywood did not “just happen.”Korean cinema did not randomly explode onto the global stage. Japanese art, French fashion, Italian design, British theatre—none of these emerged by luck or talent alone. 
They were deliberately funded, protected, and scaled over decades by states, private capital, and elites who understood that culture compounds. Consider the data:
- The U.S. creative economy contributes over $1 trillion annually to GDP and employs millions directly and indirectly. Film and television exports alone shape global perceptions of America more powerfully than any embassy.
- South Korea’s government and private sector invested aggressively in culture beginning in the 1990s. Today, the Korean Wave (Hallyu) contributes billions of dollars annually, boosts tourism, drives consumer exports (fashion, beauty, tech), and positions Korea as a global cultural authority.
- France spends over 1% of its national budget on culture—far above global averages—not as charity, but as preservation of identity and economic leverage.
- The UK’s creative industries generate more than aerospace, automotive, and oil & gas combined, while British theatre and literature continue to export language, prestige, and influence.
In these systems, the wealthy play a critical role. They bankroll films that may not turn profit immediately. They endow art schools. They sit on museum boards. They fund experimental work. They collect aggressively, sponsor residencies, underwrite publishing, and protect archives.
Why? Because they understand one truth: culture outlives quarterly profits.
A single successful film industry creates thousands of jobs across value chains—writers, technicians, distributors, marketers. It exports language. It shapes global narratives. It attracts tourism. It turns national identity into a product the world consumes willingly and repeatedly.
Africa’s Inverted Investment Logic. In much of Africa, the investment pattern is inverted. The wealthy invest heavily in:
- Real estate
- Oil and gas blocks
- Imports and trading monopolies
- Politics
- Churches and religious infrastructure
- Private jets and luxury consumption
But rarely in the arts as a system. When engagement does happen, it is often transactional:
- Sponsorship for visibility
- One-off concerts
- Vanity film projects
- Proximity to fame
- Short-term brand alignment
What is missing is patient capital—the kind required for:
- Film infrastructure (studios, sound stages, post-production)
- Distribution networks
- Publishing ecosystems
- Archival institutions
- Arts education and research
- Risky, non-commercial creative experiments
As a result, creativity survives in spite of wealth, not because of it. The Structural Consequences This absence of sustained elite investment has predictable outcomes:
- Artists operate hand-to-mouth
Even globally recognized African creatives often lack health insurance, pensions, or stable income. This limits experimentation and long-term mastery.
- Industries remain undercapitalized
Film industries struggle with poor equipment, limited financing, and weak distribution. A single failed project can end a career or a company.
- Distribution is fragile
Without owned platforms—cinemas, streaming infrastructure, publishing houses—African stories depend on external validation and foreign gatekeepers.
- 4. Preservation is almost nonexistent
Decades of films, manuscripts, music recordings, and visual art are lost due to neglect, lack of archives, or poor storage. Cultural memory erodes.
- Narrative sovereignty is compromised
Africa’s stories are still largely written, financed, edited, and validated elsewhere. Even “African stories” often reflect foreign priorities and lenses.
6. Success remains accidental, not repeatable
When global breakthroughs occur, they are usually individual—one musician, one film, one writer—not institutional. There is no pipeline behind them.
The Paradox of Cultural Wealth
Africa is one of the most culturally rich regions on Earth. Its music, languages, aesthetics, philosophies, and storytelling traditions are vast and deep. Yet it is structurally poor in arts funding. Talent is abundant. Systems are not. And systems are expensive.
They require:
- Long time horizons
- Risk tolerance
- Governance structures
- Professional management
- Intergenerational thinking
These are precisely the advantages that wealth is supposed to provide. Art Is Strategy, Not Sentiment. For African wealth to mature, it must undergo a conceptual shift. Art must stop being viewed as:
- A hobby
- A charity case
- A PR tool
- A side project
- A luxury for “after development”
And start being seen as:
- Strategic infrastructure
- Economic leverage
- Narrative power
- Intergenerational capital
- National branding at scale
Countries that control their cultural output control how they are remembered, consumed, and understood. Those that don’t will forever export raw talent while importing finished narratives about themselves.
The Cost of Inaction
Without a deliberate shift by African elites:
- Cultural extraction will continue
- Value will be created elsewhere
- Identity will be packaged by outsiders
- Influence will remain external
- And Africa will remain culturally rich but structurally dependent
The question is no longer whether Africa has talent. The world has already answered that. The question now is whether African wealth is ready to think beyond immediacy, to invest not just in what extracts value today, but in what defines value tomorrow. Because in the long run, culture is not soft. It is power.For more post with depths like you just read, stay tuned to www.openletter.com.ng
This special contribution is authored by Adeleye Fabusoro, PhD., MBA, FIIHP, FTA, a seasoned Group Marketing Director whose career spans building and scaling market share for leading automotive and technology giants across Africa. A former executive with CNBC and Forbes Africa, Adeleye brings to this piece a rare blend of strategic clarity, media intelligence, and cross-regional insight. His writing reflects a deep understanding of brand, culture, and growth, shaped by years of telling Africa’s stories with precision, purpose, and global relevance.
