A team of Executives from ENDEAVOR, the global leader in media and entertainment were in Ghana last week to explore ways by which they could work with local creatives to help them maximize the profitability of their work.
Leading the delegation was Bozoma Saint John ENDEAVOR’s Chief Marketing Officer of Ghanaian heritage who has been involved in bringing global celebrities and business icons to Ghana since the inception of the “Year of Return” campaign.
Speaking to the media on the fringes of a meeting between her team and local content producers, last Saturday, March 7 at the Ghana Tourism Authority Head Office in Accra, Saint John said bringing her team to the West African country was in part a personal undertaking to explore the business potentials of the local media and entertainment industry.
“I felt that I needed to bring my company and its expertise to Ghana to understand the business opportunities that we have here, especially within the media and entertainment space. Clearly there are so much stories and artistes that can be broadcast to the world but how do we do that in a way that provides great business opportunities here.
“So for me, it’s partly a personal pursuit given the work I have done on the Year of Return and now, Beyond the Return, but how do I turn this into a business opportunity for the artistes’ community that is here in Ghana,” she said.
She added that Africa and Ghana in particular with its young demographic presents an opportunity for digital content distribution which ENDEAVOR is ready to help explore its business viability.
For Saint John, the most important task is “to make sure that the people who are coming are in my standards, super committed to making sure that they actually deliver on the businesses opportunities as they get the chance to do that. At the end of the day, it’s our opportunity and whether or not we turn it into something is wholly within our power.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman said this falls in line with the objective of the Beyond Return which among other things, seeks to court investments and create business linkages in the country.
“We’ve started this time with the creative arts as the first port of call. We have Bozoma and the ENDEAVOR group in town and we felt this is the perfect opportunity to start that conversation around building some collaboration between them.
“So whether it’s the issue of music, events, content, contented production, merchandising, the literary side of things and everything, we feel it’s the perfect opportunity for people to come, sit down, and understand the trends and how we can push out quite strongly the Ghanaian content into the global space,” he said.
Discussions between the ENDEAVOR team and the local content producers which included actors, music producers, film directors and producers, musicians, event organisers, among others centered on areas such as merchandising, events, copyrights, production, literary works and others.
