New Year, IMF and creative economy

The popularity of songs such as Manike Mage Hithe and Why This Kolaveri Di in social media can be considered a message reiterating the power of creativity and innovation with the essence of new technology

Sri Lankans are celebrating the New Year and we can see despite many obstacles people want to move back to their normal life as it was. Our nation has encountered three different blows which are unique among other countries. The Easter attack, COVID-19, and the economic crisis triggered many hardships for the general public. If you really analysed this, there is a problem in economic management in Sri Lanka and we need to accept the fact that there is no policy plan for the country for the last 4-5 decades. Anyway, now the time has come for us to have a paradigm shift in the economy of Sri Lanka. 

Traditionally we celebrate our Sinhala and Tamil New Year also with a time of renewal and rejuvenation, and many people use this occasion to reflect on their lives and think about new beginnings. The same new beginning we can propose to our economy as well.

IMF and reflections

This is the 17th time we are going for the IMF rescue program. There is a need for policymakers to study this and have a proper analysis of the loans taken by Sri Lanka for the last five decades (as an example: foreign debt – multilateral, bilateral and market borrowings) and outcome. This study would give experts about the so-called ‘debt trap’; and its implications for the future. There should be proper Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for loans taken and for the utilisation of same. Sri Lanka needs to learn lessons from the past by analysing numbers. It can be recommended to have a separate independent body comprising experts in Economics, Business Management, Accounting, and Finance to make decisions on taking loans and utilisation aligning with a sustainable competitive advantage. Anyway, it is worth noting that having loans with a dependent mentality is not driving any country for the future. Hence we can propose the entrepreneurial model with a creative economy for the country.

Creative economy

In Sri Lanka, we are still concentrating on traditional exports like tea, rubber, and coconut with garments and something ‘out of the box’ is required to compete in the world market – even if it will utilise the resources at full capacity. This article focuses on how the concept of a ‘creative economy’ can be used as a new strategy for the country in order to achieve sustainable economic development.

The concept of a ‘creative economy’ is not a new concept at all. It is better to discuss the creative economy with an example of ‘Nollywood’. The emergence of ‘Nollywood’ is remarkable and it came into the world picture within 20 years. According to PwC.com, “The Nigerian Film Industry (Nollywood) is globally recognised as the second largest film producer in the world. The industry is a significant part of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector which contributed 2.3% (NGN 239 billion) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016. It is one of the priority sectors identified in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government of Nigeria with a planned $ 1 billion in export revenue by 2020.”

We have to study the success story of Nollywood to see whether we can apply that to our Ranminithanna Film Village which is also with more potentials. University undergrads in Sri Lanka can conduct a study on Nollywood and see the Key Successive Factors (KSF) and uniqueness in the film industry. We can then see how we can apply these models (with some modifications) in the Sri Lankan context with Ranminithenna.

It is worthwhile to understand the meaning and implications of the creative economy (sometimes referred to as the creative industry). John Howkins, the author of ‘The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas,’ refers to a range of economic activities that are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. Howkins divides the creative economy into 15 sectors, which are: 1) Advertising; 2) Architecture; 3) Art; 4) Crafts; 5) Design; 6) Fashion; 7) Film; 8) Music; 9) Performing Arts; 10) Publishing; 11) Research and Development; 12) Software; 13) Toys and Games; 14) TV and Radio; 15) Video Games.

According to Landry & Bianchini (1995), “The industries of the twenty-first century will depend increasingly on the generation of knowledge through creativity and innovation.” Human capital can be considered important and KSA factors – namely, knowledge, skills and attitude – as prime factors that will govern the world economy at this moment. As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCAD) “significant 3% contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP) makes the creative economy a powerful emerging economic sector that is being strengthened by a surge in digitalisation and services.” So the effect of the creative economy on any country cannot be underestimated.

Creative economy and Yohani

Recently we have witnessed the success story of viral marketing in Sri Lanka with the glocalisation of the song ‘Manike Mage Hithe’. The Manike Mage Hithe cover by Yohani and Satheeshan has exceeded 239 million views and trending mainly in India and the globe by translating the same into Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu and Tamil. This can be considered one of the historical events in the music industry in Sri Lanka. If you need to “go global” we need to understand the global trends and all environmental factors. If we really analyse trendy songs such as Manike Mage Hithe most of the time they can be seen targeting the new generation/s (Y, Z and Gen A). 

One decade back from India we can see a song ‘Kolaveri Di’ which was successful at that time in the globe. Unlike Sri Lanka, at that time it can be seen the Indian higher education sector took that as one of the success stories in viral marketing. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) ranked amongst the topmost business schools in India and Asia conducted some discussions on this with some own case studies. Even in IIM Ahmedabad there was an hour-long discussion between the professor and students of that class. Most of the Professors of IIMs – Bangalore, Rohtak and Lucknow – have played the song in class and reflected on the strategies played including viral marketing. 

Furthermore, the marketing club of IIM Ranchi organised a seminar on campus to study the strategy that has turned the song ‘Why This Kolaveri’ into an overnight rage. The popularity of songs such as Manike Mage Hithe and Why This Kolaveri Di in social media can be considered a message reiterating the power of creativity and innovation with the essence of new technology. It is truly an internet generation that articulated the fashion and trends in the world. This is one example of the practical implications of the creative economy in Sri Lanka with the blessings of young talents such as Yohani Diloka de Silva.

Conclusion

What we have to understand is the importance of moving away from traditional markets such as manufacturing and seeing the creative industries as a key strategy in a new knowledge economy (Abeysekera, 2011). Two years back a webinar hosted by Central Bank’s Centre for Banking Studies; in my presentation I had set the ground conditions for having a creative economy for the country’s future development (available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkg91Pev4TM). The same presentation was reviewed by Dr. W.A. Wijewardena in his article titled “A creative economy for SL’s future development” (https://www.ft.lk/columns/A-creative-economy-for-SL-s-future-development-Much-more-to-be-done-to-realise-the-goal/4-716359). 

The time has come for us to take initiation and the goal of policymakers and intellectuals should be to understand the importance of this. This crisis has created an opportunity to “stop and see” (reflect) our policies in the long run. So with the New Year with reflections on our lives and thinking about new beginnings, there is a need for the nation to have new policies in the economy as well.

(The writer is a Professor in Management Studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka. You can reach Professor Abeysekera via [email protected].)