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A14 LOCAL
Thursday 13 december 2018

Encouraging Creative Entrepreneurship within the Aruban CCI

Maastricht – Developing new economic pillars in Aruba act as incen- tions for collaborative creations is a
tives for further economic growth opportunities for local and interna- plus for creative businesses. Along-
tional entrepreneurs. Last week we started looking at other elements side this, creators should know how
that effect the economy, which are namely employability prospects to benefit from social networks and
and creative skill development for the 21st century. Today we will dis- professional networks to boost this
cuss how entrepreneurship is connected to economic developments development amongst NGOs, cre-
of the Aruban Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI). In this context, en- ative businesses, academia and
trepreneurship has been transitioning and is becoming more explicit. the government. Lastly, continuous
According to Central Bureau of Statistics, besides having the tour- learning and upgrading is an inevi-
ism industry as our primary source of income, the back bone of the table in the CCI. Like mentioned
Aruban Economy relies on the growth of small-medium enterprises and funding. The CCI can be a before, all niche markets in the
(SMEs). So, next to implementing a new economic pillar in the form very technical industry, involving CCI are changing rapidly due to
of a CCI for Aruba, it is important to also take a look at the entrepre- different tools and equipment to technological advancement and
neurial implications this brings for current and prospective creative produce content. It costs money it is almost impossible not to keep
entrepreneurs. to buy these tools or recreational education yourself deeper into the
items to produce, build or design 21st century.
a final product. Not only with the
Creative Entrepreneurship production, starting a business cost Challenges for Creative Entrepre-
When talking about creative entrepreneurship it seems as if this is a money and in many instances, it is neurship
separate kind of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship on its own is not hard to allocate funding for par- These are all important aspects all
limited to CCIs, but can be found in all types of industries. For Aruba, ticular cultural and/or creative entrepreneurs in the creative sec-
think on the tourism industry, service industry, retail industry, culinary project. Also, with the new tech- tor should be aware of, seeing all
industry and so on. However, creative entrepreneurship is specifically nologies, there is a constant need the challenges they face start-
related to any economic development of the sectors within CCI. In for update of the distribution of ing businesses. One of the central
one of the previous columns we elaborated on these sectors, which creative content. ICT forms an im- challenges for creative entrepre-
are niche markets that revolve around creative works, culture and/ mense part of the CCI and cannot neurs and the most common ele-
or art. These include for example businesses in media, fashion, music, be excluded as one of the chal- ment that came up in my thesis
performing arts, visual arts, publishing and more. Putting this aside, lenges, when considering financial research, is the access to finance.
there are certain aspects that are particularly important for the de- means of reaching new levels of This remains one of the key hurdles
velopment of creative businesses. economic growth for these types for creative entrepreneurs look-
of startups or businesses. ing to resize their creative ideas.
Literature suggests that there are certain areas creators or entrepre- In economies where the financial
neurs should be exposed to. One of the first elements is related to last Another element of importance is sector is better adapted to financ-
week’s topic, which is employment. Creators should have information having an open-minded spectrum ing small businesses and where
on wages for the CCI, working conditions, knowledge on contracts toward the business model for busi- creative industries are officially
and regulatory information. CCI is known to being one of the most nesses within the CCI. Since culture recognized, small-medium size en-
flexible and dynamic industries, based on the high level of creativity, and creativity are dynamic in na- terprises (SME) are at an advan-
so having ground knowledge on how the labor market works for this ture and are continuously evolving tage. Now, entrepreneurs on Aru-
sector is important. Also, the government should consider facilitating over time, businesses within the CCI ba have more local resources of
this for the CCI working community. have an extra opportunity of pro- funding, through Qredits programs
Next to this, and probably one of the most popular challenges for the gressing into “change” mode. Hav- for example, but for some business-
creative entrepreneur is locating financing tools and access to credit ing new business models, new op- es is still limited.
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