In the heart of Ghana, a transformative movement is underway, one that is revolutionizing the creative landscape of Africa. Meet Bernard Kafui Sokpe, the visionary entrepreneur behind Jambo Spaces, a community-led creative hub in Accra that is not just a physical space but a beacon of opportunity, empowerment, and connectivity for African digital creators. In an exclusive interview with Africa Talks Business, Bernard shares the journey of Jambo Spaces and the profound impact it aims to make on Africa’s creative economy.
Tell us more about you and how your Journey Started ? Company, and how
its journey started.
My name is Bernard Kafui Sokpe, and for 13 years I have built a career in Brand and marketing in Ghana,
having the opportunity to work with many local and multinational brands. I also run a brand agency for 6
years with my current co-founders Therese Jones and Natasha Mann-Dedey, and we executed over thirty
brand campaigns working closely with some of Africa’s largest influencers and digital creators. At the
peak of my career, I had the opportunity to work as Senior partner manager for Twitter Africa, and I was
responsible for amplifying the largest voices on the continent across news, entertainment and sports
verticals. Based on all these experiences, my co-founders and I realized there was a large gap between
African digital creators and global digital creators. A gap in opportunity, payments, partnerships,
knowledge and infrastructure.
With our combined experience, expertise and an unflinching purpose to close that gap we identified, we
embarked on a journey to support African digital creators. This led us to set up Jambo Spaces, which is a
community-led creative hub in Accra, complete with creator studios and co-working spaces that enable
African creatives/creators to bypass the limitations that prevent them from competing on a global level. At
Jambo Spaces, we have created physical offerings such as Co-working Spaces, Meeting Rooms, Private
Offices, Podcast studios, a Music studio and a Merch Stand. We are also about to launch digital offerings
like Jambo shop, an online marketplace, Jambo Live, and Jambo distribution services.

Tell us more about the company vision and why it is making a positive
impact
Africa contributes only 1% to a $250BN global Creative economy, and this challenge is what spurs our
company vision and drives us towards our purpose. The key things that hinder African creatives from
contributing substantially to the global creative economy are as simple as Internet Access, lack of Tools &
Resources, Effective Payment Integration Systems, lack of business & monetisation knowledge and the
right partnerships & opportunities. We have a vision to curb youth unemployment by enabling African
creatives monetise their creativity digitally, and compete on a global level. And we aim to achieve this
vision by building a creator ecosystem on the pillars of creation, collaboration and connection. By
achieving this, we will simply make it possible for any African youth with a smartphone to earn a living.

What impact does the company hope to make in Africa?
At the moment, Africa’s creative economy currently employs an estimated 5 million people and accounts
for $5 billion in GDP across Africa ( UNDP ) . By enabling an estimated 15 million creatives through our
initiatives at Jambo Spaces, we have the potential of generating over $15 billion by 2025 in key sub
saharan markets. In totality, this creator ecosystem will not only be curbing unemployment, it will be
generating revenue which will impact development and growth in African countries that invest in it.’
What is up and coming that you would like the public to be aware of in the
company?
There are three up and coming things we are working on that we believe the public should be ready to be
a part of.
DIGITAL CREATOR ACADEMY : A 3 month course packed with courses, sessions and masterclasses to
ready select members of the community to become full fledged professional digital creators. Launching
Q1 of 2024.
EQUIPMENT RENTAL :Give creatives access to whatever equipment they require to create regardless of
their financial status. We will partner on I.P splits as guarantee. Launching Q2 of 2024.
JAMBO AFRICA CREATOR FUND :A self-sustaining fund to enable us fund digital creator projects in
exchange for revenue or I.P. splits
NEW MARKETS : We intend to open our next hub in East Africa, specifically Rwanda, Nairobi and
Uganda.
What challenges are being faced by the company at the moment
The key challenges being faced by the business are :
- Lack of brand support and sponsorship, as most brands are used to supporting fully tech-focused
initiatives and less of creative initiatives.
- We struggle to gain access to grants, funding and support

What does the company need right now to achieve its goals?
Two key things we need to achieve our goals are :
- Partnerships in other African countries. The partnerships can be in the form of spaces, access,
and equipment.
- Funding is an essential ingredient to us achieving our goals. We call creative funds, and
organizations looking to invest in creative industries to support us.
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