Marcel Zounon, cultural heritage expert and President of the NGO TOWARA-BENIN (the only Beninese NGO accredited by UNESCO), holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Finance and Management Control from the University of Abomey-Calavi (2007)
As the global economy increasingly values intangible assets and authenticity, the Bénin stands at a critical juncture. Home to Vodoun traditions, ancient royal legacies, living arts of rare virtuosity, and a youth brimming with creativity, our nation possesses an unparalleled cultural wealth. Yet, a paradox endures: this exceptional heritage remains an economic giant in slumber. For too long, culture has been treated as little more than an ornamental afterthought or a decorative budget line.
The vision we champion for 2035 is bold, systematic, and sovereign: positioning culture as the fourth pillar of Beninese economic development. This is not about romanticizing the past but about structuring a productive sector capable of generating wealth, decent jobs, and territorial innovation. To achieve this systemic transformation, eight high-impact initiatives must be implemented.
1. Legal imperatives: securing artists’ livelihoods through law
A robust economy cannot be built on shaky legal foundations. While recent regulatory steps have been taken, the time has come to go further. The status of artists and cultural workers, along with the establishment of the House of Artists, must not depend on fragile decrees subject to political whims.
True progress requires laws enacted by the National Assembly—laws that ensure lasting legal stability and binding force. In the absence of an immediate framework law, rigorous, accelerated implementation of recent decrees must serve as a temporary bridge. It is time to enshrine social protection for creators, modernize copyright governance, offer substantial tax incentives to private investors, and legally recognize intangible cultural heritage professions. Securing artists means securing investment.
2. Human capital: refounding cultural engineering
The lifeblood of this creative economy lies in its human resources. Amateurism must give way to elite professionalization. Bénin must launch a massive upskilling plan covering artistic disciplines, cultural management, entrepreneurship, conservation-restoration techniques, and digital technologies applied to heritage. Every municipality should incubate its own talents by aligning training with local specificity.
3. Knowledge sanctuaries: specialized schools and centers of excellence
To institutionalize this transmission, the country’s academic architecture must rest on three pillars:
- National Advanced School of Arts: Forging the avant-garde of contemporary performance (dancers, choreographers, scenographers, theater technicians).
- Higher Institute of Cultural Heritage: A cutting-edge scientific hub dedicated to safeguarding tangible and intangible heritage, museography, and archives.
- Academy of Beninese Arts and Traditions: A sacred space for cultural diplomacy and transmission where master practitioners document and legitimize ancestral knowledge for future generations.
4. Physical footprint: deploying world-class infrastructure
Creativity demands spaces worthy of its ambition. Bénin’s territorial network must be reinforced with modern, versatile, and decentralized infrastructure. From communal cultural centers to regional theaters, digital creation hubs, and artisan villages, every department must have the physical tools for creation, production, dissemination, and public engagement.
5. Financial revolution: unlocking funding for the cultural sector
Artistic boldness without financial means remains a fantasy. We advocate a three-dimensional financial architecture:
- National Cultural Development Fund: Focused on pure creation, research, and international mobility.
- Creative Economy Window: Within financial institutions, offering preferential-rate credits, guarantee mechanisms, and loans tailored to the unique cycles of artistic production.
- Public-Private Cultural Investment Fund: Capable of raising capital from the state, local authorities, the private sector, and the diaspora.
6. Value-chain approach: from craftsmanship to visual arts
Bénin’s cultural sector suffers from fragmentation that dilutes its impact. Whether cinema, fashion, music, dance, or literature, each discipline must be structured as an autonomous industrial value chain. This requires:
- A decade-long strategic plan for each segment.
- A dedicated training roadmap.
- Specialized distribution channels.
- Aggressive marketing strategies for regional and international markets.
7. Immaterial heritage: the goldmine of Beninese uniqueness
Our masks, ritual rhythms, initiation narratives, and artisanal know-how are not mere folklore—they are intangible assets of immeasurable value. By investing in digitalizing collections, labeling heritage festivals, and creating national cultural itineraries, Bénin can transform living traditions into powerful drivers of local development and tourism appeal.
8. Strategic convergence: culture, tourism, and agro-industry
The global appeal of Beninese identity hinges on an organic symbiosis between culture, experiential tourism, and agro-industry. By highlighting local products through our aesthetic lens and designing territorial excellence labels, each region can turn its culture into an economic prosperity argument. The tourist of 2035 will not just seek landscapes—they will seek to live a culture, taste a terroir, and inhabit a story.
Toward the 2035 milestone
Building tomorrow’s Bénin demands breaking free from the rent-seeking paradigms of the past. By 2035, our nation has the historic opportunity to emerge as a beacon of the creative economy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This transition is not poetic—it is a high-stakes state strategy. By equipping our artists with protective and ambitious legal frameworks, financing boldness, and sanctifying our memories, we will make culture the engine of sustainable, inclusive growth firmly rooted in Beninese genius. The hour is no longer for decree promises—it is for sacralization through law and decisive action.
